Martin Brown wrote
Big tree roots
take a very long time to rot away so you might want a stump grinder
instead.

You know, I've heard so much about these the last 3 or 4 years and
never seen one. You inspired me to look them up on the net.

What's the trick? You just remove the stump down to a few inches
below the soil? I can't see from the pictures that you'd get much
deeper than that.