t3« 



heavy breaking hammer of sixteen pounds weight will be 

 very useful, even on a small job, for many a shaky or brittle 

 rock can be broken and handled much easier than while 

 whble, and a few blows of the hammer may often save 

 drilling. In undertaking any very extensive piece of re- 

 claiming we shall have to call in the aid of dynamite, which 

 seems to be the cheapest and most powerful explosive ma- 

 terial that we can employ. 



Dynamite is a mixture of nitro-glycerine with some more 

 solid material to give body, and varies in strength from 

 thirty-five to sixty-five per cent., according to the amount of 

 nitro-glycerine used in the mixture. Five years ago, it cost 

 from forty cents to sixty cents per pound, but can now be 

 bought for twenty-four cents or less, for the thirty 'five to 

 forty per cent., which is the quality generally used, and 

 these figures show it to be the cheapest explosive that the 

 farmer can use. Caps cost one and one-half cents each ; 

 waterproof fuse one cent per foot, and common fuse about 

 twenty-five cents a hundred feet. It is put up in one-half 

 pound cartridges, from one inch to one and one-half inches 

 in diameter, and eight or nine inches long. It is exploded 

 by percussion, and will only burn if set on fire, making a 

 very bright light. A heavy percussion cap is used for ex- 

 ploding the charge, and the cap is attached to a common 

 fuse, care being taken to have the end of the fuse reach to 

 the fulminate or white powder in the cap, so that the con- 

 nection may be good. It can be exploded under water, 

 and generally gives the best of satisfaction when so used, 

 as water makes the best of tamping, only it is necessary to 

 keep the water out of the cap, and to do this, put the cap 

 on to the end of the fuse, open one end of the cartridge, 

 make a hole with a small stick, insert the cap and fuse, and 

 tie the paper lightly round the fuse ; sometimes it may be 

 well to smear the joint with wheel grease, hard soap, or 

 something of the kind. One cap in a cartridge will explode 

 as many cartridges as are placed near it, perhaps within a 

 foot or two. 



