1854 . 
THE CULTIVATOR * 
287 
Stump Machines. 
The following account of some of the simpler machihes 
for the extraction of stumps from fields, occurs in 
Thomas’ new treatise on the principles of Farm Imple¬ 
ments, under the head of the application" of the lever 
to practical purposes :— 
A simple contrivance for allowing a succession of 
efforts in the use of the lever is represented in the’ac¬ 
companying figure (Fig. 1), and is used for tearing 
out the roots of partly decayed stumps. It may he 
also applied to lifting heavy weights, and to various 
other purposes. Two pieces of strong, three inch white- 
oak plank, eight inches wide and seven feet long, are 
connected at the ends, and are furnished with the 
movable leg, d. Two rows of holes are bored through 
them, to receive iron pins, which are to serve as ful- 
crums. A strong lev$r, a, is 
furnished at one end with a 
thick iron hook (shown in Fig. 
2,) which is first fastened on 
the root of the stump, and 
then one of the pins is inserted 
under the lever. The lever is 
now elevated, and the other 
bolt is placed under it. It is 
next pressed down, and the 
first bolt elevated one hole 
higher, and so on till the 
stump is torn out,. To prevent 
the lever slipping, a notch is 
made on its under side, on each side of the hook, as 
shown in Fig. 2. 
A more powerful stump-extracting machine, made 
on precisely the same principle, is exhibited by Fig¬ 
ure 3. The lever, a, should be a strong • stick of 
timber, furnished with three massive iron hooks, se¬ 
cured by bolts passing through, as represented in the 
figure. Small or truck wheels are placed at each end 
of the lever, merely for the purpose of moving it easily 
over the ground. The stump b. used as a fulcrum, 
has the chain passing round near its base, while an¬ 
other chain passes over the top of the stump, c, to be 
torn out. A horse is attached to the lever at d, and 
moving to e, draws the other end of the lever back¬ 
ward, and loosens the stump; while in this position 
another chain is made to connect g to h, and the horse 
is turned about, and draws the lever backward to i, 
which still further increases the loosening ; a few rep¬ 
etitions of this alternating process tears out the stump. 
Very strong chains are requisite for this purpose. 
Large stumps may require an additional horse or a 
yoke of oxen. Where the stumps are remote from 
each other, iron rods with hooks may be used to con¬ 
nect the chains. 
The power which may be given to this and to all 
other modes of using the lever, as we have already 
seen, depends on the difference between the length of 
its two arms. A yoke of oxen, drawing with a force 
of 500 pounds on the long arm of a lever 25 feet long, 
will exert a force on the short arm of Six inches equal 
Fig. 3. 
to 50 times 500 pounds, or 25,000 pounds, on the 
stump. 
It was after an examination, of the great power 
which may be given to the lever by increasing this 
difference, that Archimedes exultingly exclaimed, 
“ Give me but a fulcrum whereon to place my lever, 
and I will move the earth !” Admitting the theore¬ 
tical truth of this exclamation, and supposing there 
could be a lever which he might have used for this pur¬ 
pose, its practical impossibility may be quickly under¬ 
stood by computing the whole bulk of the globe; for 
such is its enoi’mous size and cubical contents, that 
Archimedes must have moved forward his lever with 
the strength of a hundred pounds and the swiftness of 
a cannon ball for eight hundred million years to have 
moved the earth the thousandth part of an inch ! 
Ketchum’s Mower. 
Eds. or the Country Gentleman —On taking 
up your paper of this date, the first thing that struck 
my eye, was the strictures on Ketchum’s Mower, on 
page 56. Having myself been engaged in operating 
one of these mowers, this afternoon, on the farm of R. 
P. Waters, Esq., of Beverly, and having repeatedly 
seen the operation of one of them on the farm of Win. 
Sutton, Esq .,of Salem, I think I can speak with some 
confidence of the manner in which the Work was done. 
Both these gentlemen assured me that one acre of 
grass, yielding two tons," could be cut in one hour, 
and that a well trained team would cut four or five 
acres in half a day. I have never seen grass hand- 
sojner mowed and spread than by the machine on Mr. 
Water’s farm. If your correspondent could witness 
work done by it, as I have repeatedly seen it, I think 
he would feel that justice demanded of him, to speak 
of its good qualities, as well as to point out its faults. 
It certainly mows much better over uneven ground, 
and even over fast stones, than I thought it possible 
for any cutting implement to be moved. I am pleased 
with its operation, and have no doubt it will be so 
perfected as to come into general use. I have the 
testimony of Mr. J. B. of Andover, who grows as 
much hay as any other man in this county, and does 
to much labor in getting it, that the machine works 
much better than he expected ; and he would not be 
without it for ten times its cost. Very truly yours, 
W. P. Danvers , Mass., July 27, 1854. 
