32 
that the slight extra cost of clearing entirely by hand is money 
saved in the long run. 
A third method is by the use of ‘‘explosives,’’ and this I have 
found both expeditious and profitable, especially on ring-barked 
country where the timber is dead. I have always used dynamite 
in preference to either powder or rackarock, the only other ex- 
piosives I have tried. It is not necessary to use sufficient explosive 
to blow the tree down, but merely to loosen the ground about the 
roots and create a vent under the butt of the tree. When the 
timber is dead, a fire-stick will generally do the rest. A hole 
should be bored with a 134 or a two-inch auger, not in the butt 
of the tree, but immediately under it, in the fork of the roots. 
Augers 2ft. 6in. long may have a 15in. piece welded on by a black- 
smith so as to make the length 3ft. 9in. From Mlb. to lb. of dyna- 
mite, or preferably gelignite, will be quite sufficient to shake up the 
roots and create a vent for the fire under the largest tree. If the 
tree be a green red gum (marri) and very sappy, give the bore a 
slight incline for drainage. Press gently into the hole 3 to 9 plugs 
of gelignite, according to the size of the tree, and using a smooth 
wooden thumper and never an iron rod. In the last half-plug, 
which can be eut without danger, make a hole with the blade of 
a. knife and insert with care a ‘‘detonator.’’ Into this fit a piece 
of fuse a couple of inches longer than the hole, place inside the 
hole, pressing gently. Fill the hole with earth or sand gently 
pressed, fire, and retire to’a safe distance. The result of the ex- 
plosion is that the trunk is generally splintered to matchwood, and 
when dry, about March or April, if exploded before Christmas, will 
burn readily without stacking large quantities of small wood around 
the butt. The hole should be bored to pretty well the core unless the 
tree be pipy, in which case the charge will fizzle out without the 
necessary concussion to splinter the tree. 
Large and unwieldy stumps can be treated similarly. The 
most arduous part of this method is the boring of the holes which 
has hitherto been done by hand, but an ingenious boring plant 
carried from tree to tree on a wheelbarrow has lately been designed 
by Myr. Gordon Hester of the Blackwood, which does the work 
mechanically with notable speed and therefore at a greatly re- 
duced cost. 
On stiffish clay land, where the ground is very hard, a con- 
siderable saving in time, and consequently money, is effected as 
deseribed, to loosen the ground round the trees. Gelignite may be 
had in 5lb. packets, costing 8s, 9d.; detonators cost 1s. per doz., and 
fuse 1s. per coil, pre-war prices. 
At one time it was thought the royal road to-clearing had been 
found in the use of ‘‘saltpetre and kerosene.’’ I have tried the 
following method myself, but must say have only found it to be 
advantageous with timbers that will in any case burn readily. A 
