APPLES 



109 



for their first cost in reducing the ex- 

 pense of clearing, the product of the flock 

 thus becoming a clear profit. 



BeniOTiug Stumps 



The following methods are used: Blast- 

 ing, stump puller, stump puller in com- 

 bination with blasting, burning. 



Blasting 



A word should be said at the outset rela- 

 tive to the supposed injury to the soil by 

 powder. No chemical injury is done to 

 soil by the use of powder. It must be re- 

 membered, however, that in blasting out 

 a quantity of large stumps in a soil closely 

 underlaid with clay, sand, gravel or hard 

 pan, much of the poor subsoil is likely to 

 be thrown out upon the surface and in 

 this way have injurious effect. 



Powder Used 



Space cannot be here given to methods 

 of handling the powder. 



That most commonly employed is a 20 

 per cent nitro-glycerine powder for warm 

 weather and a chlorate powder for cold 

 weather as the latter does not freeze. 



Placing: the Powder 



Tools employed are a bar six to seven 

 feet long made by welding a rounded 

 steel dub at one end and a chisel at the 

 other end of a one and one-half inch gas 

 pipe, the round end being used for thrust- 

 ing aside gravel in the auger hole and the 

 chisel end for cutting roots, a three-inch 

 auger with a long shank, a long-handled 

 spoon or shovel, and an ax. 



By means of these tools the operator 

 makes a hole large enough for his charge 



Fig. .3. Beginning tbe Boring of Holes Under 



Stump for Blasting. 



Fig. 4. Finishing Boring of Holes Under 



Stump for Blasting. 



at the point which, in his judgment, is 

 the center of resistance of the stump, one 

 to three feet below the level of the ground. 

 The amount of powder used will be deter- 

 mined by experience although there is no 

 economy in tearing a stump all to pieces. 



Cost of Blasting Stumps 



By this method the government ex- 

 perts removed green fir stumps from 

 sandy, gravelly loam, the stumps ranging 



Fig. .-I. Inc. >tiimps \\ licsf llnot.s; .\re !<o I ii; 

 Grown Together That a Single Charge Can- 

 not Be Placed to Blast Them Economically. 



The Uesiilt of a Battery Shot Upon 

 the .Stumps Showii in Fig. 5. 



