EOUGH COXVERSIOX. 259 



(e) Conversion of stumps and root-wood. 



The most laborious of all works in conversion of wood is that 

 of the stumps and roots. If the tree has been uprooted, the 

 roots are separated from the stem by means of the saw, and they 

 are then freed from the soil which may be attached to them and 

 reduced in size by means of the wedge and axe, or by blasting 

 them with powder or dynamite. 



In separating the roots from uprooted trees, it sometimes 

 happens, in easily cloven wood, that when the saw has gone about 

 half through the base of the stem, the stump splits the stem 

 owing to its weight and falls back into its original hole. To 

 prevent this disaster, a chain may be wound round the stem 

 below the saw-cut and tightened by driving in wedges, and the 

 stump supported by pieces of wood. 



i. Conversion of Stiinq^s by means of Ordinary Tools. 

 Small stumps up to 3 inches across are not split. Those 

 from 3-6 inches are split lengthwise by means of the axe and 

 Avedges, the wedges being usually placed on the sawn section, 

 and if it is also necessary to begin splitting from below as well, 

 always from the projection of a side-root, where the stump is 

 most easily cloven. If possible, the wood should be split to the 

 core, but this cannot be done in the case of thick stumps of 

 coarse fibre, from which pieces are split-off gradually from the 

 circumference. This method of splitting is more easily effected 

 while the stump is still in the ground, than after it has been 

 extracted. Wooden wedges, holding better than iron ones, 

 are more serviceable in splitting stumps. In order to tear the 

 pieces more thoroughly apart, iron crowbars are used, and the 

 ordinary screw-jack is very serviceable. It has already been 

 stated that machines may be used for splitting stumps. 



ii. Blasting Stumps hy Gunpowder. 

 The stump which is to be blasted by a charge of gunpowder 

 is best bored from its flat surface by means of a large auger, 

 (fig. 129), so that the bore-hole may go down to the junction of 

 the roots. In case the tree is rotten at the heart, the boring 

 must be made from one of the sides. The charge should consist 

 of 1^, 3 or -ih ozs. of blasting-powder, and a fuse sbould be 



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