gerous, and expensive to raise large masses of 
stone, but a road leading into it should be 
| formed and maintained with as gentle a slope as 
possible, in order that horses may draw the) 
stones up as produced. It is better in the first 
instance, to so arrange as to deliver the first 
| stones obtained, down hill, instead of having to 
raise them. But it must be kept in mind, that 
the elevated stone, and particularly such as out- 
crops and is visible; and has been exposed to the 
air, perhaps for centuries, is never so good and 
sound as that which is hidden or has been pro- 
tected; and pressure also seems to improve the 
formation of stone, for that which is deeply situ- 
ated in the quarry is generally more hard, com- 
pact, durable, and better in every respect than 
that found near the surface, which is tender and 
friable. On this account it may be necessary to 
work downwards, but this should be done gradu- 
ally and with caution. 
The first operation should be to remove the in- 
cumbent soil (which is called uncallowing) to such 
an extent as will expose the extent of the masses of 
stone fairly to view. They are called masses, be- 
cause although the whole rock may seem to be but 
one mass of stone, yet on closer inspection it will be 
found, in almost every case, subdivided by natural 
joints and fissures, too small, perhaps, even for the 
introduction of acommon nail, but in which the stone 
has little or no natural adhesion ; and consequently, 
at such places one block will readily part from ano- 
ther, without fear of breaking either of them, if the 
Operation is conducted with due skill and care. The 
horizontal, or nearly horizontal joints or fissures, will 
be seen without difficulty from the front, and it sel- 
dom happens that they are more than from one to 
four feet asunder, or one below the other. Vertical 
fissures do not always exist, but if they do, they 
will be just as obvious as the others. Having found 
these, the top of the stone must be searched (first 
moving all that is above it) for the fissure, in a nearly 
vertical position that corresponds with the front, 
and should this be found, the entire block of stone 
that can be obtained in one piece will be seen. The 
two end blocks that are contiguous to it must now 
be examined in the same way, in order to determine 
which of the three blocks shall be sacrificed: for the 
greatest difficulty is to get out the first block, on 
account of its being tightly wedged or jammed in by 
the end ones. One or other must, therefore, be 
broken, either by a short and heavy miner’s pick-axe, 
or by blasting with gunpowder, or by gads and the 
hammer; the gad being a thick wedge of hard steel 
that is held in its proper position, about four or six 
inches from the fissure, by the two hands of one 
workman, while it is powerfully struck upon with a 
sledge-hamnmer by another, until a sufficient quantity 
of stone is cut away, to permit the stone that is re- 
quired to be shifted or moved in a sufficient degree 
by sinall wedges driven behind it, under it, and on 
the undisturbed side of it, to cause it to become 
detached from its natural bed, when it will be ready 
for removal: and this, it might be supposed, would 
be effected by the application of strong iron crow- 
bars or levers to it in the first instance, so as to raise 
it sufficiently to get hard wooden rollers under it, by 
which it might be transferred to a platform, inclined 
plane, or truck, prepared to receive it, and such ac- 
cordingly is the method adopted for the removal of 
all large stones that come up with broken or irregu- 
lar sides and edges, and which will, therefore, re- 
quire to be scabbled or rough dressed by a stone- 
2 QUARRYING. 
mason, before they can be delivered or used. But, 
as the value of all Jarge and fine stone is much en- 
hanced by its magnitude, by having no cracks or 
flaws in it, and by having its faces as flat as possible, 
and its angles sharp or unbroken, so that the mason 
in working it need not cut much to waste, the intro- 
duction of wedges or levers of sufficient strength to 
raise its weight, could not fail to destroy its figure 
by breaking away the edges, and it is, therefore, 
found more advantageous to lift it from above, than 
to raise it from below, or at any rate, to have both 
forces in operation at the same time, so as to cause 
the lifting action to diminish the weight. This is 
effected by a very ingenious device well known to 
every mason under the name of a Lewis. 
When the natural vertical fissures before spoken 
of do not occur in blocks of stone, or whenever it 
may be desirable to raise smaller blocks than they 
would produce, fissures or cracks must be produced — 
artificially; and this is usually done by drilling a line 
of holes into the stone at regular short intervals, in 
the straight lined direction in which the separation 
is required; a row of conical steel points, rather 
larger than the holes, are then set onednto each hole, | 
and a number of men strike with hammers simulta- 
taneously upon them, which, if done equably, never 
fails to produce a separation of the piece of stone in 
the direction required. If the stone is found to 
cleave easily, dry wooden pegs, previously cut 
larger than the holes, and driven in the same way, 
will answer the purpose, and is most frequently re- 
sorted to for obtaining blocks both of granite and 
marble in this country. Should the wooden pegs 
fail, a bank or wall of clay must be built around them 
capable of holding water, and on filling this, so that 
the water ean sink into the pegs, they will swell 
with such force as never fails to separate the mass, 
provided hard and perfectly dry wood has been used. 
The drilling of hard stone cannot be effected by 
ordinary revolving drills. The drill made use of is 
a steel cold chisel, eighteen inches or two feet long, 
its breadth being equal to the diameter of the hole 
to be produced, and its edge being double bevelled 
and not tooacute orsharp. It is held by a workman 
over the place where the hole is to be made, and 
struck with a hammer in the other hand, or by a 
separate man, when the stone is very hard and the 
hole large. Between each blow of the hammer, the 
chisel (called a drill) is turned partly round, and is 
kept revolving or moving backwards and forwards, 
so that two cuts or blows never come in the same 
direction, but make a series of indentations like a 
star, and the powdered stone falling to the bottom, 
is taken out by a kind of screw-formed spoon, like a 
screw auger. In this manner holes are made more 
speedily than might be expeeted, and they are usu- 
ally paid for by the inch, according to their size and 
depth. 
The process of blasting rocks by gunpowder 
requires the same holes to be drilled, but for this 
purpose they must be deeper and larger than for 
splitting rocks. From half an inch to three-quarters 
diameter, and six or eight inches deep will, generally, 
be sufficient for the splitting holes, while eighteen 
inches to two feet is a common depth for those used 
in blasting, and they should not be less than half an 
inch in diameter. The gunpowder, for convenience of 
introducing it, is sewed in a linen or flannel bag, or 
cartridge, having a train that is confined in a straw. 
or small reed; or, if the hole is wet, the cartridge is 
made of tin, with a fine tin tube to contain the train. 
Having introduced the powder, dry sand is put upon 
it, and rammed down, when the remainder of the 
hole is filled with sand a little moistened. This is 
called, tamping a hole. Some wild-fire, or powder 
kneaded with water, or slow match, made of paper, 
or old linen,soaked in saturated solution of nitre, is 
