December 28, 1912. 



I'HE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



THE REMOVAL AND 

 DESTRUCTION OF TREE 



BUTTS. 



The felling and disposal of timber is 

 often a more simple matter than the 

 traction and destruction of tiie stumps, or 

 butts, and the owner of a garden some- 

 times finds a difficulty in accomplishing the 

 work. Some people get over tne difhculty 

 by leaving the butts in the ground to rot. 

 That, however, is usually out. of the ques- 

 tion where ornamental trees are concerned, 

 and at the best of times it is not a wise 

 plan, if it can be avoided. 



It may be argued that butts are fre- 

 quently left in the ground in forest areas 

 which are to be replanted; therefore there 

 is no reason why they shoidd not be left 

 in gardens. It is, however, almost solely 

 a matter of expense in forestry operations; 

 and were it possible, in felling, for the 

 same expense or a little more, to remove 

 the roots from the ground, they would un- 

 doubtedly be removed, except in places 

 where they are absolutely necessary for the 

 purpose of binding the soil. Decaying 

 butts do a certain amount of good by add- 

 ing humus to the soil ; but they are often 

 a source of danger to the succeeding crop 

 from the presence of insect and finigus 

 pests which infest them. Considerable 

 areas of young plantations have at times 

 been devastated by the pests which' have 

 had their origin in decayed stumps ; and 

 deaths amongst ornamental trees have 

 Ijeen traced to the same source. 



The familiar Collar Rot fungus (Armil- 

 laria mellea), which attacks most kinds of 

 trees, often spreads fixnn decaying roots to 

 living trees. The presence of partly-buried 

 butts is also a source of danger to people 

 and animals, particularly when a heavy 

 rainfall succeeds a period of drought, for 

 the decayed parts give way, and a sudden 

 subsidence of the surface soil is the result. 



posal is by burning. Theoretically, the 

 lop and top of an ornamental tree is con- 

 sidered to be sufficient small material to 

 burn the butt. This does not always hold 

 good, though, and the thicker branches are 

 too valuable to put to the purpose; there- 

 fore it is advisiible to remove all to one 

 centre, and allow them to dry for a few 

 months, when they may be made to burn 

 one another up. The writer has known 

 over 100 butts, varying frojn 1^ to 4ft. in 

 the diameter of the sawn surface, burnt in 

 less than a fortnight by two men. 



Small butts may be easily removed to a 

 convenient burning centre by two men with 

 a cart or trolley. By tlie aid of a hoi>e, 

 planks, rollers, and levers, the sanfe num- 

 ber of nien can load butts up to IScwt. ; 

 while with another 



an, or two^ greater 

 weights may be dealt with. For large, 

 heavy butts, a low, strong, broad-wheeletl 

 trolley is very necessary ; while, wbcre 

 many have to be handled, Barron's tree- 

 lifting machine will be found to be a great 

 acquisition. With such a machine four or 

 five men can remove butts two or three 

 tons in weight from the holes in which they 

 may be lying, providing they have sufficient 

 planks to carry the machine over loose 

 ground. 



When the butts are in an open position, 

 where there is little danger of anything 

 being damaged by concussion or by flying 

 pieces, blasting may be resorted to for re- 

 ducing unwieldy butts to a size at which 

 they may be conveniently handled. This 

 is done by boring a hole at least one inch 

 in diameter from the yawn surface to the 

 point of union between trunk and roots. 

 In the case of a perfectly sound butt, the 

 hole should be as near the centre as pos- 

 sible; but with one which is partly decayed 

 the soundest point should be chosen for 

 the hole. Take from thre^ to five ounces 

 of blasting powder, according to the size 

 of the butt, and place one-third of it in 

 the bottom of the hole. Then insert a sec- 



^Mien tree butts are to be removed from tion of fuse, to extend at least 3 or 4in. 



the grounds, the trees ought always to be 

 grubbed — that is, a trench made round the 

 trunks, and the roots cut through. The 

 leverage obtained by the trunks when the 

 tree falls is usually sufficient to raise the 

 butts well out of the ground, thus simpli- 

 fying their removal to a considerable ex- 

 tent. Before the butt is severed from the 

 trunk it should be cleaned by the removal 

 of as much soil as possible. During the 

 progress of the work a number of large 

 roots and buttresses may be removed, which 

 will substantially reduce the weight. The 

 ground lieneath the biitt must then be 

 made up^ and a stout piece of timber 

 placed so that the root cannot fall over 

 when the trunk is removed. A heap of 

 soil or log of wood placed on the margin 

 of the hole in the direction in which the 

 tree is to fall sometimes helps to lift the 

 butt out of the bole. This is only the 

 case, however, when the head is consider- 

 ably heavier than vthe butt. 



When trees have been sawn off a few 

 inches above the ground it is often diffi- 

 cult to extract the butts, for there is no 

 top leverage to assist in tearing away cen- 

 tral roots which cannot be cut. The soil 

 cannot be cleared away from the roots, 

 nnd the whole mass is deep in the ground. 



There are various ways of disposing of 

 these butts. They may be used for facing 

 informal terraces for the culture of plants 

 like rambling roses; or be upturned and 

 eovered witli ivy or some other trailing 

 plant. In such cases disease does not ap- 

 penr as prevalent as when the butts are 

 left in the ground. "WT^iere firewood is 

 scarce and fuel dear, workmen Avill some- 

 times undert^ike to break them up in their 

 own time, if they are given the wood. 

 T sually, however, the best means of dis- 



l>eyond the surface of the hole, previously 

 ascertaining the length of time per inch 

 which is taken for fire to consume the fuse. 

 Round the fuse the remainder of the pow- 

 der must be placed, the hole being after- 

 wards plugged tightly up with slightly 

 damp paper, felt, or clay. Apply a light 

 to the fuse, and seek a safe place imme- 

 diately. Such a charge will blow a good- 

 sized butt into several pieces. Should any 

 pieces be too large to handle conveniently, 

 they may be reduced in size by small 

 charges of powder. 



Blasting operations may also be carried 

 out by means of dynamite cartridges, but 

 unless the operator is expert in the iise of 

 that explosive, powder had better be re- 



lied on 



Whichever is used, it is neces- 



sary to make a trench round the butts and 

 cut the main roots before using the explo- 

 sive. 



Reference has previously been made to 

 the removal of butts to a central burning 

 place by the aid of a trolley or machine, 

 but a few" hints are necessary as to the re- 

 moval of the roots from the holes ready 

 for loading, for a machine cannot always 

 be placed in the necessary position for lift- 

 ing. There are seA'eral ways by Avhich this 

 may be accomplished, the following being 

 a few of the simpler ones. For heavy work 

 a steel rope attached to a windlass may 

 be secure<:l to one of the stronger roots ; 

 then, by winding the rope in, the butt is 

 gradually removed from the hole. This, 

 however, is only possible in places where 

 plenty of tackle is available. Heavy butts 

 may also be removed by means of blocks 

 and tackle, chains such as are use<l for 

 loading timber being substituted for ropevs. 

 A steady-pulling horse or two may be uti- 

 lised for this work. A slower method is 



the removal by means of a lifting-jack. 



Small bottle-ja/cks are of little use for the 

 purpose, an ordinary rack timber-jack with 

 double purchase being much better. An 

 im4)rovement even on this is Trewhella's 

 Australian Monkey Jack. This may be 

 obtaineil with double or triple purchase, 

 is easily manipulated, and will move 

 weights up to ten tons. It is use<l largely 

 for the extraction of butts on forest areas 



ees 



bee 



lelled. By cutting a few of the stronger 

 roots, it is possible for a good workman 



to 



40 



surface up to 2ft, in diameter, by it^ aid. 

 A German invention, known as a forast- 

 devil," is used extensively both on the Con- 

 tinent and in this country for the removal 

 of r(K)ts and inni trunks. It consists of a 

 long, strong shaft, with three chains at- 

 tached to one end. A long chain on one 

 side is made fa^t to the object to be moveil. 

 The other two chains, which are compara- 

 tively short, are furnished with hooks. A 

 fourth chain is attached to a strong tree 

 or other stationary object some distanct^ 

 away; and into the links of this chain the 

 hooks of the small chains are secured. B^- 

 moving the lever formed by the pole or 

 shaft backwards and forwards, the butt or 

 tree is gradually removed from its bed, 

 and as the work proceeds, the hooks are 

 gradually moved up the fourth chain, thus 

 securing the weight as it is moved. A 

 niodification of the block and tackle system 

 is that known as the Hawkeye machine. 

 In this case blocks and tackle are used, 

 but a windlass is substituted for horses for 

 haulage. Throughout the whole of the time 

 that the work is about nothing but perfectly 

 sound tackle must be used, for an inferior 

 plank or rope might easily cause a serious 

 accident. 



When the roots are dry enough for burn- 



ing, a tire of the smaller ones, and pieces 

 of heavy wood, should be started. When 

 a good heat has been obtained, the larger 

 butts should be jacked on to the fire. As 

 the roots burn, work as much soil as pos- 

 sible out with the aid of a sharp iron bar, 

 for soil prevents burning. It may be pos- 

 sible to reduce the size of some butts by 

 means of steel wedges and a heavy beetle 

 or mallet; or some may be reduced with 

 an axe. The smaller they can be made 

 the easier they will burn. 



Another means is sometimes recom- 

 mended for destroying butts. This is to 

 bore one or more holes into the surface, 

 according to the size of ^the butt, each hole 

 being an inch or more in diameter, and 

 extending to the greatest possible depth. 

 The holes are then filled with saltpetre 

 and a little water, and corked up. They 

 are left for three or four months, and are 

 then uncorked, the holes filled with para- 

 ffin, and set on fire. They ought then to 

 gradually smoulder away. It is a long- 

 drawn-out process, and something often 

 goes wrong, so that the result is not very 

 satisfactory. As a matter of fact, it is 

 wiser to go to a little more trouble, and 

 remove butts bodily to a burning ground, 

 or place them where they can be covere<l 



W. Dallimore. 



by a trailing plant. 



Potentiiia Veitchi. 



— This is 



pretty shrubby species of potentiiia, be- 

 longing to the same class as the well- 

 known P. fruticosa. A native of China, 

 Potentiiia Veitchi is one of the many sub- 

 jects we owe to Mr. E. H. AVilson, when 

 travelling in the Far East on behalf of 

 Messrs. J, Veitch and Sons. It forms a bush 

 from three to four feet in height, and keeps 

 up a succession of its snow-white blossoms 

 from spring till autumn. — T. 



