Less than a year afterward nitro-glycerine was being exploded in large quantities down deep in the earth to shatter the oil-bearing rock and make wells flow, without noticeable public or physical disturbance. Any one who has watched farmers blow up tree stumps with dynamite may imagine what effect eighty quarts of nitro-glycerine would produce at the bottom of a deep eight-inch well. The “oil-shooters” are necessarily men of steady nerve and extreme caution. A shot will vary from ten quarts to as much as three hundred quarts, as the well to be treated may seem to require. For this purpose the nitro-glycerine is contained in tin tubes or shells five feet long and two inches or more in diameter, pointed at the lower end and having bail handles at the top. From five to fifteen shells, as the case may be, are lowered into the hole with extreme delicacy, and then the “go-devil”--a five-pound pointed shell--is released point downward. Nowadays, it is customary to use a nitro-glycerine squib wound with a long fuse more often than a “go-devil,” since the lowering of the cans of explosives may loosen earth which forms a cushion above the shells. An example of the presence of mind of a well shooter was provided a few years ago. Just after the first shell had been lowered, the rope suddenly slackened. This could only mean that the well had unexpectedly begun to flow and that in the space of a few seconds the shell containing six quarts of deadly explosive would be hurled from the well mouth. There was no time to run and the only thing that could be done this “well shooter” did. Bracing himself directly over the well he grasped the shell as it came to the surface, and although the impetus with which it had ascended threw him across the derrick and dislocated his shoulder, he held it free from contact and saved the lives of the entire crew. Under the careful arrangements now made, a well is controlled with no more loss of oil than the driller thinks necessary to flush out the dirt and debris caused by the explosion. The early or flush production of a well is usually of considerably greater volume than its normal or settled flow after it has been in operation for a few weeks. This decline in production is often as much as 50% in the first 30 days. Where wells do not flow naturally, various devices can be used to stimulate the output. Gas pressure has much to do with the problem. As a general rule the well of low gas pressure must be pumped from the beginning. The “gusher” which is the result of high gas pressure usually recedes rapidly in the matter of flow and becomes what is known as a “pumper,” the name given to wells when pumping is resorted to.