MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
23 
American Stumping Machine, but we have 
not been able to procure a copy of the 
drawing. We shall however keep the 
subject in view, and will gladly insert 
suggestions from practical men, formed on 
the results of their experience. 
OBSERVATIONS ON THE EXTRACTION OF 
THE STUMPS OF TREES. 
I could most sincerely wish that the task that has 
devolved upon me of offering some observations on the 
method to be adopted for extracting front the earth, the 
stumps ot trees, had fallen to some more experienced, 
or to some practical man. I feel it due to my auditors 
tp warn tuem that ^ I have no practical experience in 
this matter, and I feel it due to mvself to state that I 
had no idea till I saw it in print that I should be called 
upon to read this paper- I soon found, however, when 
my name had been announced in connection with the 
subject, in what a very important light tho question of 
stumping” was regarded in this colony. I have had 
frequent enquiries during the last three or four weeks 
for information, as to the best mode to he adopted, and 
on my own part 1 have been very industrious in uiv en¬ 
quiries from all those, who! thought at all likely to 
impart information. I have also searched through’the 
English Scientific Journals for many years to see if any 
machines had been patented there for the purpose, but 
I have not been able to find a .single invention. The 
American Scientific' Journals, which would bo more 
likely to give tne the information I sought, I 
have not yet lieen able to procure, but from several citi- 
of that very ingenious nation, I have gleaned much 
information as to tho mode adopted there. 
In an andience such as that I have the honor to ad- 
dress, it would be a waste of rime to point out the injury 
that is done to a very largo proportion of the land of 
this colony, by the presence of these stumps. It is not 
only then* unsightly appearance, though that is a griev- 
ous offence to eves accustomed to the well kept farms of 
England; but it is the impossibility of properly culti¬ 
vating the land in which they are found, from their 
interfering with the plough, the harrow, and other 
farming operations. I have been informed, that on 
many farms, one acre in every five may bo calculated 
as tying waste, on this acoount. Every person with 
whom I have consulted on the matter has' acknowledged 
the great importance of the question, and has confessed 
that the methods at present in use, to extract them are 
tedious, expensive, and inefficient. The most common 
plan appears to me to be that of burning them out, which 
is thus effectedA trench is dug ronnd the stump, 
.exposing the thick roots, and in this and coverin rr the 
stump are disposed faggots and dead branches to form a 
large body of fire. Iho heap is then covered with earth, 
r a few vent holes being left, and the pile is fired, it is 
left covered up until the whole is reduced to charcoal, 
and I am informed tjiut not only is the stump entirely re¬ 
moved, but a very large jKirtion of the roots are 'also 
destroyed at the same time. The time taken bv this 
process of course varies with the size of the stump to be 
removed, and the quality of the timber ; some lar<re 
ones taking a month, and smaller trunks, of more com¬ 
bustible trees, being removed in two weeks. It is evi¬ 
dent that this is ^an expensive and a very tedious plan, 
but I believe it is the most commonly adopted in New 
fcouth \v ales. I liavo also been informed that some 
bushmen use gunpowder to blast the stumps out of the 
earth. The mode adopted is as follows .—About a foot 
above the surface of the earth a hole is bored with an 
auger, an inch in diameter or larger, extending three or 
tour feet into the heart of the tree, in a downward di¬ 
rection. In this a heavy charge of blasting powder is 
inserted.^ The orifice being properly tamped and fired 
. ler with patent fuze or by means of a train, the tree 
is generally nven and split, but is rarely extracted 
from the earth. It frequently happens, however, that 
from the rotten or hollow hearts of many varieties of 
the trees of Australia, this mode of operation fails of its 
effect, and tho charge is wasted on the yielding material 
in the interior. In most cases, the only advantage 
gained is, that the trunk is more? manageable, as it 
may be removed by tho axe and the pick in shattered 
fragments* I can, however, hear of very few instances 
in which the trunk and roots have been extracted en¬ 
tirely from the earth by the blast, and they are only 
when the charge of powder was very large. ” This mode 
is open to several objections ; first, its expense; next, 
the limited benefit derived, and lastly, the danger 
attending it, for however carefully blasting is managed, 
accidents do frequently happen. A third plan is 
adopted now in tlie falling of trees, w hich apjicars to 
nm to have a great deal of practical value in it. It is 
to loosen the earth and the roots all round the base to a 
considerable distance, and then to use the trunk of tho 
tree as a long lever, by afiixiug ropes to its upper 
branches, and thus extracting the true roots and all. I 
think this plan may be generally recommended in place 
of cutting the tree down, and leaving the stamp standing 
as in that Case two operations have to be gone through, 
and die lmshtnun is deprived of a very great assistant 
by losing the leverage of the trunk in the extraction of 
the stump. The American phins that I have had de¬ 
scribed to me, consist generally of various systems of 
levere of great size and power. In some eases, one end 
of a long lever is fixed horizontally, by means of chains 
to a stump, and a yoke of bullocks is attached to tho 
other end and driven in a circular direction, like ahorse 
in a mill. In this case, where the soil is yielding and 
alluvial, tlie stum]) is fairly twisted out of the earth. 
Another plan is to insert the short end of a very large 
and powerful lever, sometimes SO and 40 feet in length, 
under the stump, as far as possible, tho long end pro¬ 
jecting into the air, at an angle of 45 degrees; to this 
ropes are attached and passed through double pullio3 
affixed to the base of a neighbouring tree : oxen are 
then put to the ropes,* and if the tackle hold, the treu 
must be tom out by the roots. But the general plan 
in Canada, I am informed, is to burn out the stumps, 
and this operation, the softness of the Canadian timber, 
renders very facile. 1 myself, have had some experi¬ 
ence in England, in one of the Hoyal Parks, where a 
number of large elms and oaks were, cut down. In ex¬ 
tracting the stumps I gave the “blasting system a fair 
trial, but on the elms, T am bound to sav, it did not 
succeed, as that timber i? of an exceedingly tough anil 
fibrous character, and 1 also think the stumps were too 
green when the experiment were tried. The plan I 
ultimately adopted there, would be quite inapplicable 
here. I gave two woodmen in the adjoining village 
jxjnnission to extract the stumps for tlie firewood that 
was in them. This they were willing to do when they 
had no regular work in hand, but it was evidently not 
a task that they at all relished, or that they could earn 
any tiling like even English wages at. In America it 
is a common practice when a tree is cut down to strew 
the freshly cut surface with salt. This keeps it con¬ 
stantly wet— it soaks into the fibres and soon rots them 
away, especially with the soft wood that predominates 
there. A similar plan ls adopted in some parts of the 
bush here, I am told, but it is only to cut a small 
hollow in the top of tlie stump, with a hatchet, 
whenever a tree is felled. In this, of course, the rain 
water collects and decay is facilitated. Leading 
from this, an ingenious friend suggests, whether 
some chemical compound could not be discovered 
which should have the power of accelerating tho 
decay of timber with extreme rapidity. I must $ ay 
that I cannot think of any compound that would be 
likely to answer the purpose, and if one could be 
found it would probably no too expenrive for com¬ 
mon application. With regard to the obvious mode 
of digging out the stump? and cutting the main roots 
with an axe, I assume that this is too expensive a 
method to be adop.ed on any large scale, at the pre- 
