NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



289 



STEWART'S PATENT STUMP MACHINE. 



By invitation of Mr. Wm. W. Willis, proprietor 

 of Stewart's patent Stump Machine, we were pres- 

 ent at an exhibition made by him in Orange, Mass., 

 on Tuesday, the 19th inst. We took the morning 

 train, and arrived at the depot a few minutes past 

 11 o'clock, where a carriage was in readiness to 

 convey ns to the field of operations, which was 

 about half a mile south of the village. On arriv- 

 ing there we found the field selected pretty well 

 covered with stumps, varying in size from one to 

 three feet in diameter. Quite a number of the cit- 

 izens and several strangers from a distance were on 

 the ground. One gentleman informed us that he 

 had come some 50 miles over the hills in his car- 

 riage to witness the operation of this machine. 



There were two machines on the ground, (one 

 with a 10 foot, and the other with a 30 foot lever,) 

 both of which were soon put in operation, each re- 

 quiring three men and one yoke of oxen to man 

 them, or two men, and a boy for driver. 



It was there shown that with a 10 foot lever, 

 stumps varying from 1 to 2 1-2 feet in diameter 

 could be extracted in one and a half minutes after 

 the machine was brought to bear, and Mr. Willis 

 informed us that he could, with a narrow spade, (a 

 very convenient tool which he uses for digging un- 

 der the roots) dig the holes, hitch the chain and 

 take out such stumps in less than four minutes, on 

 an average, in a good field. The machine was al- 

 so api)liod to large rocks, estimated to weigh from 

 10 to 20 tons, and they were taken out of their 

 beds with all possible ease. The larger machine 

 was applied to several stumps with the same re- 

 sults, one in particular we noticed measuring 3 feet 

 in diameter, with roots extending some 12 feet 



each way from the centre. This slump was taken 

 out in a very few minutes, and it was really beauti- 

 ful to witness the regularity, certainty, and appa- 

 rent ease with which the work was performed. 



We were on the ground about an hour and a 

 half, during which time some twenty-five or thirty 

 stumps were taken out. 



A gentleman present, thinking that a stump 

 speech would not be inappropriate on such an occa- 

 sion, mounted the largest upturned stump, and edi- 

 fied the assemblage, numbering some two hundred, 

 (including several ladies,) with a short and spirited 



address. 



The occasion was enlivened by the presence of 



the Orange Band, who did themselves honor. 



Mr. Willis, after satisfying all that no stump 

 could be produced that his machine was not capa- 

 ble of removing, invited us to the hotel, where we 

 found a dinner served up in Mr. Gibbs' best style. 

 After doing justice to the viands, we took the three 

 o'clock train for Boston. 



The day was fine, and every thing passed off in 

 a pleasant and satisfactory manner to all. As in- 

 credible as it may seem, we were informed that by 

 actual experiment it had been ascertained that one 

 yoke of oxen attached to the end of the 30 foot lev- 

 er, were capable of producing a power upon the 

 object to be removed equal to 400 tons. 



We deem it unnecessary in this article to go in- 

 to a minute description of the machine, or its mode 

 of operation, as full particulars have been published 

 in previous numbers of our paper. 



We are happy to say that our highest anticipa- 

 tions were more than realized, and that all the re- 

 ports and descriptions that wc have seen published 



