=Burning Tree Stumps.=—With a 2-in. auger bore a vertical hole in the centre of the stump from the top towards the bottom. In the side of the stump, near ground level, bore a horizontal hole towards the centre, so as to open into the vertical hole, drop some fire down the vertical hole, and if the wood is at all dry the draught of air entering by the horizontal hole will, like the draught of a chimney, maintain the combustion of the fire in the centre, until this slowly spreads and ultimately burns away the stump. Another and equally simple method of destroying stumps of trees is as follows:—In autumn bore a hole 2 in. in diameter and 18 in. deep, put in 1½ oz. of saltpetre, fill with water, and plug up close. In the following spring put in the same hole half a gill of kerosene oil and then light. The stump will smoulder away without blazing, down to every part of the roots. =American Method of Blasting.=—At Studley Horticultural College, Warwickshire, the American method of blasting was successfully carried out and reported upon by Mr. A. P. Long as follows:— A hole is bored with a long auger or crowbar in a sloping direction from one side of the stump to its base, generally from 2½ ft. to 3½ ft. deep. The bore-hole is cleaned out, and a number of dynamite cartridges inserted, each being firmly pressed home by a wooden rod. A primer cartridge containing a detonator is then placed on the top of these, and the bore-hole is filled with clay and tightly rammed. The primer is either connected directly with a safety fuse, or to a high-tension battery, by a cable, and is afterwards fired. As dynamite strikes downwards as well as upwards, the effect of the explosion is that the roots and stump are all either ejected or loosened, so that they can be easily removed by hand. The American method is less costly and more speedy than the methods hitherto used in England in removing stumps. If there is no man on the estate qualified to handle explosives, an expert must be employed at about £1 per day, besides travelling and hotel expenses. Three men—an expert and two labourers—can bore holes and blast thirty sound stumps per day easily. If the stumps are hollow in the centre, two or three bore holes are necessary for each stump, and in that case twenty only can be blasted during the day. Taking the pre-war wages of two labourers at 2_s._ 6_d._ each per day, the cost of boring and firing averages 2½_d._ per stump, exclusive of the expert’s fee. The expert’s fee increases the cost by about 2_s._ per stump. The explosive used is Nobel’s dynamite, in the form of cartridges, costing 9½_d._ per lb. The average quantity used for each stump is between 2 lbs. and 3 lbs. (about twenty to thirty cartridges), so that the cost of the explosive is not more than 2_s._ 6_d._ per stump. The detonators and fuses required only cost a few pence. Summing up, the cost per stump is:—