144 THE farmers' handbook. 



on each of the galvanometer terminals, test the cable as to whether any 

 flying timber or stones have broken the continuity of either of the internal 

 wires. This is the time to discover breakages, and not when just about to 

 fire the next batch of charges. In locating a breakage, should there be one, 

 the injury to the outer insulation will frequently be a guide, but by taking 

 the cable in the fingers of each hand and slightly bending it while running 

 along it from one end to the other the breakage can be detected. The 

 outer covering must be cut lengthways, the two insulated inside wires 

 separately exposed, and the broken ends fixed by twisting a piece of naked 

 detonator wire on to each broken end, thereby bridging the fracture, and 

 the repair covered with some insulation tape, so as to prevent contact with 

 the other wire, and also to prevent moisture from affecting it. As- this 

 operation often necessitates the splitting cr cutting of the outer insulation 

 for 2 or 3 inches, further insulation tape must be twisted round the cable 

 proper to cover and protect the repair. 



It is frequently found that an otherwise solid tough stump of 3 or 4 feet 

 diameter has a pipehole of perhaps a couple of inches, or may be 6 inches, 

 across, and filled with decayed vegetable matter offering fair resistance. 

 With the earth auger or bulb bar put a hole down the pipe, so that the charge 

 will be at least on a level with the ground — a bit below is better — and into 

 this put up to five plugs including the primer (the one with detonator and 

 fuse attached) ; tamp well, and use the piece of wedge-shaped gelignite to 

 light the fuse end with, remembering that fuse burns at the rate of about 

 2 feet per minute. Logs frequently have similar pipes, but the difficulty 

 there is to get the hole beyond the charge sufficiently solid to prevent the- 

 explosion from blowing right through and out the other end; at times, 

 however, it is possible to get a good basis against which the charge can blow 

 off, and a satisfactory shattering result. 



In handling solid logs, a hole should be bored from the side as centrally 

 as possible, so as to equalise the burden both ways (diametrically, not longi- 

 tudinally), and about two-thirds of the way through, standing on the ground 

 to bore, as that is easier than on top of the log. Bore the first hole about 

 6 to 8 feet from the stump end, unless the timber is exceptionally curly and 

 a bad splitter, when the hole should be closer to the stump end. Charge tho 

 hole with from two to five plugs (including primer) according to the diameter 

 of the log, the greater number being for logs of, say, 4 feet. It will be uoticed, 

 after firing, that the splitting has extended for a distance of, say, 8 feet 

 beyond the hole on the end of the log away from the stump, and in the 

 direction of the spot where the next hole is to be. As this first shot split 

 8 feet beyond the hole, it is fair to conclude that the next one will do so also ; 

 the second hole should, therefore, be bored 16 feet away from the first, or 

 8 feet beyond the extremity of the first split, and it should be treated in just 

 the same way as to the charge, unless very excessive shattering took place 

 in the first explosion. Operations should be continued on this line until 

 the whole log is handled. Of course, if a battery is available, all the charges 

 can be fired at once, with some saving in gelignite perhaps, but one needs 

 some previous experience in splitting the logs of the district to derive the full 

 benefits of electric log splitting. A big saving in explosives can frequently 

 be effected by working from the split of the previous shot, and again, 

 what one log has done is no guarantee as to what another may do. 



