34 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



will be a number of snags to dig out afterwards, but these can all be dug out by 

 hand without a great deal of work. This system is not suitable for stumping in a 

 large way, particularly if done with hired labour, but it is a very convenient one 

 where a man is doing all his own work, as he can start one or two stumps each 

 day and leave them for many hours while he is doing other work, and if he is doing 

 it himself it is more likely to be done thoroughly and with particular care than if 

 a hired man were doing it. The actual length of time spent on this work is com- 

 paratively small, but if the ground is not suitable or care is not exerciseM there 

 will be a considerable amount of digging-out of small roots afterwards; but if the 

 work is well looked after and the ground is suitable there is very little of this. The 

 system is particularly suitable for small acreage where the settler is in the poultry 

 business, as it avoids blasting and enables him to get rid of his logs first without 

 detriment to the getting rid of the stumps afterwards. 



THE BIG-BLAST POWDER METHOD. 



Another method of stumping which is very popular, and a very good one too in 

 many cases, particularly if the settler has some small means, is to use powder in 

 rather large quantities, sufficient to take the entire stump out at one blast. For 

 this a hole should be dug underneath the centre of the stump about as deep as the 

 length of a long shovel-handle (this is for large first-growth stumps). One must be 

 sure the hole is deep enough and as near as possible in the centre, and the powder 

 must be well tamped in. When the blast goes off it will lift the entire stump. It 

 is true there is a large hole to fill in afterwards, but it is much easier to fill in the 

 hole than to dig out the stump, and a good deal of the stump can be burned in this 

 hole, and it is generally deep enough for many of the pieces to be safely buried in 

 it. This system, however, can only be adopted to advantage where the settler has 

 a team, as the pieces of stump blown out are, as a rule; far too large to handle by 

 hand. Plenty of powder must be used, as if there is any portion of the stump left 

 in it has to be dug out, and it means a tiresome, awkward job. Do not dig around 

 dug and pulled out with teams and blocks and tackle, with the aid of an occasional 

 the stump to be blasted or expose any of the roots. The idea in blasting by this 

 method is to blast the earth underneath the stump, as the whole thing is then lifted 

 together. This system cannot be followed with hollow cedars. They have to be 

 small blast. It is impossible to give anything more than very general hints as 

 regards the blasting of these big stumps, as experience and the means at hand will 

 decide the system of work. It can safely be said, however, that the cost of getting 

 the stumps out, if the work is intelligently and systematically done, is, as a rule, 

 very much lower than has been generally supposed. In burning the fragments of 

 stump afterwards, careful piling is important It should be remembered that, so 

 long as two pieces of wood are either touching or within an inch or two of each 

 other, the fire will not go out and will burn continuously until everything is burned 

 up, but if they get 4 inches apart the fire will gradually die, so that one should 

 always try and pile up logs and roots so that as they burn they will fall towards 

 each other. This is one of the advantages of burning in a hole which has been 

 blasted out or in a burning-pit, as there is a natural tendency for the partly burned 

 fragments to settle and fall in towards each other. Careful piling saves a lot of 

 extra work afterwards. The greater the depth at which the explosion disturbs the 

 soil the more likely it is that all the roots will come out "at one blast. This is 

 always the thing to be aimed at, as, if the stump does not come out at the first 

 blast, as it blows the soil out and bares the roots, it is usually impossible to get a 

 satisfactory blast again and the roots will have to be chopped. Sometimes when 

 the hole is being dug a large root will be struck. Where it is impossible to chop 

 this, to save starting all over again a stick of powder, or sometimes half a stick, 

 should be put in the hole alongside the root and fired. This will cut the root and 

 blow a hole sufficiently big to allow of its being finished with a shovel. To avoid 



