CHAPTER XXVII. 



BLASTING AND BURNING TREE BOOTS. 



BLASTING by gunpowder or dynamite is not only the most 

 expeditious but cheapest method of clearing away stumps 

 and large logs. In doing so great care must be exercised to 

 bore the hole in the right place and not to use too much 

 explosive. For blasting powder the hole should be 

 H in. in diameter, and should penetrate to the centre 

 of the stump. It should not be too low down, lest the 

 bottom should blow out and the force be expended in 

 shattering the ground instead of the stump or log. In 

 selecting the spot to bore for the powder, insure an equal 

 thickness of wood all round, and even splitting of the log 



BLASTING AND BURNING TREE ROOTS. 



will be the result. The following is a good way of putting 

 in the powder : For large stumps of from 2 ft. to 4 ft. in 

 diameter about 3i in. depth of coarse blasting powder 

 should be inserted in a hole 1 in. in diameter. The 

 end of the fuse should be put into the centre of the powder, 

 and left protruding for 15 inches outside the hole, 

 this being filled with dry sand, which is consolidated 

 or packed around the fuse by means of a coarse iron wire. 



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