The maples, both hard and soft, are listed in the Wood Handbook as only slightly to non-resistant to decay. So they should decay much quicker than white oak or walnut.
Sorry for the blank look, as I thought you were indicating we missed some reference to maple. Now, looking back, I better understand your post. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
If you use the barrel with both ends cut out method for burning stumps, you need to raise the barrel a few inches above the ground. On rocks for example. This allows a draft to occur with the barrel acting as a chimney and makes for a much hotter fire.
<font color="blue"> 36" diameter....now that is a good sized stump! </font color>
For what it is worth, the local mountain folk near us suggest drilling holes, as others suggest, but they use sugar instead of salt....theory being that the sugar attracts ants and bugs who eat away at and dispatch the fibre more quickly. The swear it takes only about a year. If it is near your house or outbuilding you might not want to attract the ants, otherwise it may be worth a try. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]
I haven't actually tried that, but can definately attest to using a four foot trencher on the front of our tractor to make short work of digging up stumps in the 5 to 20 inch range! Works great!