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Killing Stumps By Medication

Categories: Fruit Growing

Will boring into green stumps and inserting a handful of saltpeter kill

the roots and cause the stump to readily burn up a few months later?



We have tried all kinds of prescriptions and have never killed a stump

which had a mind to live. Many trees can be killed by cutting to stumps

when in full growth, whether they are bored or not. Others will sprout

in spite of all medicinal insertions we know of when these are pla
ed in

the inner wood of the stump. We believe a stump can be killed by

sufficient contact with the inner bark layer of arsenic, bluestone,

gasoline, and many other things, but it is not easy to arrange for such

sufficient contact, and it would probably cost more than it would to

blow or pull out the stump. One reader, however, assures us that he has

killed large eucalyptus stumps by boring three holes in the stump with

an inch auger, near the outer rim of the stump, placing therein a

tablespoonful of potassium cyanide and saltpeter mixture (half and

half), and plugging tightly. Another says: Give the stumps a liberal

application of salt, say a half-inch all over the top, and let the fog

and rain dissolve and soak down, and you will not have much trouble with

suckers.



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