far less expense. It can
best be described by illustrations.

[Illustrations: Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6]

Fig. 3 is a round hole drilled either by hand or otherwise, preferably
otherwise, because an important point is to get it round. Fig. 4 is
the improved form of hole, and this is made by inserting a reamer,
Figs. 5 and 6, into the hole in the line of the proposed fracture,
thus cutting two V-shaped grooves into the walls of the hole. The
blacksmith tools for dressing the reamers are shown in Fig. 7. The
usual method of charging and tamping a hole in using the new system is
shown in Fig. 8. The charge of powder is shown at C, the air space at
B and the tamping at A. Fig. 9 is a special hole for use in thin beds
of rock. The charge of powder is shown at C, the rod to sustain
tamping at D, air space at BB, and tamping at A.

[Illustration: Fig. 7]

Let us assume that we have a bluestone quarry, in which we may
illustrate the simplest application of the new system. The sheet of
stone which we wish to shear from place has a bed running horizontally
at a depth of say 10 ft. One face is in front and a natural seam
divides the bed at each end at the walls of the quarry. We now have a
block of stone, say 50 ft. long, with all its faces free except
one--that opposite and corresponding with the bench. One or more of
the specially formed holes are put in at such depth and distance from
each other and from the bench as may be regulated by the thickness,
strength and character of the rock. No man is so good a judge of this
as the quarry foreman who has used and studied the effect of this
system in his quarry. Great care should be taken to drill the holes
round and in a straight line. In sandstone of medium hardness these
holes may be situated 10, 12 or 15 ft. apart. If the bed is a tight
one the hole should be run entirely through the sheet and to the bed;
but with an open free bed holes of less depth will suffice.

[Illustration: Fig. 8, 9]

The reamer should now be used and driven by hand. Several devices have
been applied to rock drills for reaming the hole by machinery while
drilling; that is, efforts have been made to combine the drill and the
reamer. Such efforts have met with only partial success. The perfect
alignment of the reamer is so important that where power is used this
point is apt to be neglected. It is also a well known fact that the
process of reaming by hand is not a difficult or a slow one. The
drilling of