The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1886-04-15
stumps and Powder.
From the Country gentleman.

Eds. COUNTRY UENTLEMAN-l nav
had recently such satisfactory experienc,
with powder in blowing out stumps, tina
perhaps brief account of my experience
would be interesting. | had about TIVE
hundred trees cut down in woodland sur
rounding. my residence, and at no grea'
distance from it. l intend planting thu
space in lawn next spring so I had te
face the problem of getting rid of thu
stumps. Contract work, found was tot
expensive. It is impossible to calculate
closely the labor required to dig oat
stumpS, as one stump varies from another
in difficulty of extraction. Hence a large
margin must be allowed to cover the un
certainties of the undertaking. A good
stump-pulling machine could be found tC
do the work well, and much more cheaply
than hand work but such machine is
expensive, costing as much as hundred
dOllaas, and it is left a useless burden on
your hands after the work is done. Its
price, therefore. with the freight added
must be charged up against the stumps
The machine, Furthermore, requires team
and several men to run it successfully
This outlay, divided among the stumps
taken out, makes high ayerage-not as
much as hand work but still high. Before
coming to decision and adopting plan,
| wanted to investigate the use of powder,
but could find no one willing to make
the experiment; beside, l did not know
what powder to use. An advertisement in
the Country Gentleman relieved me of my
dilemma. By its aid | was afforded the
opportunity of trying powder, and found
it the cheapest and quickest way of re-
moving StumpS.
1t was the advertisement of the ''Judson
powder" which was represented as eSpec-
tally adapted to stump blasting. l deter
mined to try, as upon inquiry the agents
wrote me that they would send an exper-
fenced man with small quantity of pow
der, to show me how to use it and to enable
me to judge of its merits. Two kinds of
powder were sent for trial-the one very
quick and powerful powder, made up into
half-pound cartridges, eight inches long
and somewhat less than two inches in
diameter, called hudson Dynamite, f. f.
F.; the other coarse black powder, called
"Judson Powder, r. r. P" done up in
six pound bags. The man came with the
powder. The cartridges did not succeed
well the character Of the work being I'M
suited to the peculiar properties of the ex-
ploSive used in them. The r. r. P.
brand, however, worked t0 charm, &C
cording to the following modus operaddi.
n ilOlo 10 uldllC uuuCl ttlc SbuLlP u6tp
enough, at the least, to reach point ex-
actly under the centre of 1t. A crowbar
and twO-inch augur are required for the
purpose. The augur must have steel
rod welded on to it for a handle about six
feet long, and strong enough to bear con
pressure without bending. The
crowbar is first used to find free and
clear passage way for the augur between
the interlaced roots Of the tree it is also
useful in cutting through small roots and
small rocks that impede the
forward movement of the augur. After
the hole is started, the augur is inserted,
and it bores the hole to the required
depth, with an occasional assistance from
the crowbar. The boring of holes is the
most tedious and only difficult part of the
entire business. 1t is evaporation at times,
when, after many fruitless at
tempts to find an opening for the auger,
you at last succeed, only to be compelled
to abandon the hole almost deep enough,
on account of distractions it is found i'm
is. lost in this way. In fact, the facility
with which the hole can be made regulates
chiefly the number of stumps that can be
blown out in day. A day IS work with me
was about twenty stumps, but my GROUND
was full OF loose stones, and consequently
was extremely difficult to bore through.
In a soil free from distractions, think
that a man and boy could remove at
least thirty stumps in ten hours.
After the hole is bored deep enough. a
preliminary blast is necessary, in order to
form cavity at the bottom of it large
enough to receive the charge of loose pow
der. The depth of the hole is so impor-
tant that no guess work should be per-
mon a et;cE and y, io.vinnr tho
in it could get the slant Of the
anger hole and thus ascertain. by accurate
whether | had penetrated
the ground to the heart of the stump. 10
slight this precaution is practically to
throw away your time and powder. as a
clean blast cannot otherwise be expected.
The cavity or pot, as it is called is
blown out with small piece of the +. L.
f. cartridge. which is also used to explode
The loose powder. as it will not ignite from
the cap and fuse alone. One cartridge.
with economical management. can be cut
into eight pieces Into the middle of each
piece cap with length of fuse tightly
Fastened in it, is inserted. and the whole
lightly wrapped in piece of the CREASED
paper bag in which the powder comes, and
tied. One of these pieces is
forced to the bottom of the auger hole, and
covered with foot of earth loosely
rammed. The fuse is then cut off and
lighted the explosion that follows makes
The pot. Into this the powder is gradually
poured and gently rammed into place.
Another piece of cartridge is placed upon
the powder and the hole is then filled and
tightly rammed with wooden hammer.
The fuse IS lighted, and the operator re-,
tires to q safe distance to witness the re,
suit.
Great precaution must be taken in the
Of the can and fuse and in
PROPERLY locating the piece of Cartridge
in the hole, The caps come packed in
sawdust and it is absolutely necessary to
remove all of if from the can before insert
ing the fuse into II. for. unless the fuse fits
down upon the Eliminate at the
bottom of the CAP. no explosion will take
place. A neglect of this precaution is the
cause of misiIres and misfire causes an
DELAY. al all work must ne s,ls-
pended For an hour or SO. in it's vicinity.
In the next place. Won must be snre that
the cartridge ia forced to the yery bottom
of the hole when the MT is TO be made.
and that if rests mon the powder when
the final blast is under preparation, The
cartridge. or rather piece Of Cartridge. is
ALWAYS likely to catch mon some obstruc.
tion. as a root or protecting piece of stone.
on the sides of the hole. and fail to slide,
of IFS own weight to the nrOper place.
The method adopted was to mark upon
~ 1onorth ~ +bo f,,so tha roo,irod doItb