The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1919-03-04
Facts Relative to Stumps.
By George D. Lowe. Baxley, Ga.

BY George d. Lowe, Bailey, Ga.
A lightWood stump blasted from a fiela
near Bailey turned out hghtwood that solo
for five dollars for fuel purposes, although
at least third of it was left on the farm.
The entire stump weighed 1900 pounds, but
there were a dozen larger in the field. This
one was selected for weight test because
it had a big hollow root system that pre-
vented the cultivation of $50 square feet OF
land around it. Sound dry, resinous stump
wood is in demand by the distillation com
panies and the pay is from $3.50 to 81 the
ton for it. When there is a good proportion
of roots in it stumpwood weighs two tons
to the cord.
Georgia towns and cities this winter have
paid from six to twelve dollars the cord for
lightWood, much of it inferior quality South
Georgia fields are full Of lightwood stumps
that block the path Of tractors, reapers and
binders, and that make our wonderful sec
ton famous for cutivating less land to the
pillow than any other impor ant farming area.
Oil mills, lighting and water plants, gin
neries and mills in our towns use large
quantities Of fuel wood each year, and the
large cities buy thousands Of cords each sea-
son. There are several large distillation
plants that use thousands of cords also Can
not we South Georgians hook together the
needs of the towns and the nuisances of the
farms and make our agricultural progress
a bit more rapid?
Burning Wasteful and Inefficient
The only place to burn a stump is in the
fireplace or under a boiler. Burned in the
field the work is rarely done efficiently, the
roots are left to break pillow points and the
lghtwoOd is wasted. Nature is making little
more lightwood in Georgia, and in many
sections the top ightwood is about gone.
Many farms have no more except in their
stumps, but the owners do not seem to know
how to get them into freWOod cheaply and
easily. 1t can be done and is being done
by those who have learned how.
Stump-blasting and stump-blasting meth
DDS have undergone important changes re-
Gently here in South Georgia. Particularly
has the cost of blasting lightwood field
stumps been reduced and the efficiency of
the operation increased by a method work
ed out here and now shown in practice by
a Georgia faIAiy1, v B. Afford, of Macon.
This man, who is now employed by Dupont
blasts average field stumps for about fifteen
cents each and RECEIVERS all the lightwo0d,
cutting off the taproot at least eighteen inch
es underground and in many cases two feet.
The lateral roots are pulled out whole with
the body of the stump. This is the work of
farmer who understands the farm require
ments, low cost and clean job. Many ex-
plosive experts have failed utterly to meet
the farmers requirements in stump blasting.
Handling Pulled Stumps.
At Sumency lately saw this man shatter
a large pulled stump into lightwood at
cost of a dime and the piled up lightwood
measured a half cord. Over at Collins for a
tar company he got out a ton of stumpWoOd
for q little over dollar, five stumps cut off
twenty inches below the surface, all lateral
roots out and good job of subsoiling and
vertical drainage done at the same time
When it is possible 70 eradicate stumps at
such cost there is chance to get rid of
our stumps and to make them pay their way
out of our fields.
Georgia towns ard cities, Georgia indus
tries using wood fuel and Georgia plants dis
tilling wood should use only stump wood
! from fields for several years to come until
our fields are clear. Then South Georgia
will show the world the greatest food and
feed producing area in the United States
| The section is rapidly diyersfying its agri-
culture; we have cotton, corn, tobacco pea
nuts velvet beans, oats and hay as money
crops. Stump-free fields viii enable us to
handle almost the acreage with the same la
Dor so far as preparation and cultivation are
concerned. We can have permanent pas
lures for hogs and cattle when stumps are
out So moving can control the weeds we
will never have them otherwise. The stump
blocks the march of progress: so it must
come out of the way, and handled Alright it
will nay its way out of our way.