In preparing a charge for fuse ignition, the cap is crimped to the end of a piece of mining fuse and this is inserted in the dynamite stick and securely fastened as previously described.

These prepared charges are placed in a basket and carried very tenderly to the stumps which have been prepared by the dynamiter’s assistant.  All the work is handled very carefully, for while there is not much danger of an accident unless fire is placed near the explosive, nevertheless extreme caution is used at all times.  It requires a nature serene, calm, and deliberate.

Deep oblique holes were then made with a round crowbar under the stump singled out for execution.  This hole should be as nearly horizontal as possible and directly under the stump so that all the explosive force may be expended on the wood and not on the earth between the dynamite and the stump.  The earth acts as a cushion and the natural tendency of dynamite to exert force downward is counteracted.

As soon as a small strip was blown, the Italians, gathering up all the stumps, roots, and fragments, removing any pieces that were loosened but not completely torn out, and piling them at intervals, immediately burned them.  This cannot be done when stumps are removed by any other method, for by the digging process the earth must be picked and scraped from them and ultimately the stump hacked in pieces before it will burn.

By our method the stump is burned and the finest kind of unleached wood ashes—­containing lime to “sweeten” and potash and phosphoric acid to furnish plant food—­are spread upon the ground a few hours after the stumps are blown out.  These ashes would under other circumstances have to be purchased at a cost of perhaps two dollars a barrel, and as five barrels at least to the acre are required for good fertilization, these ashes gave us the first credit upon the books.

Following the burners came the manure spreaders; five carloads of manure had been purchased and was delivered before it was needed.  When the manure was spread upon the land (one half carload to the acre), the plow started its work smoothly and with none of the strain and jerk on man and beast usual in new land.  The soil was turned over with the greatest ease, for the explosions had shivered and torn out even the smallest roots, so the plow ran through the ground much more easily than in sod land.

Our friable, sandy loam, with a light admixture of clay, pulverized and aerated by the explosions, was in market garden condition at once and without the year’s loss of crops assured by old methods.

A tooth harrow was next run over the plowed section, and gleaners followed the harrow, picking up the fine roots as they were brought to the surface.  As piles of these fine roots grew, they were burned and the ashes immediately spread upon the land.  The tooth harrow was run again across the rows, the disk harrow following chopped and pulverized the earth into the finest possible condition.  Thirty five and one half working days after Larry and his gang arrived, rye was drilled into three and one half acres.