In this study, the effect of the hole spacing and the detonation delay time in the long hole blasting of two free surface rock mass on the variation of the principal strains in the vicinity of blasting holes is investigated by use of the finite element program, Visual FEA. The cross section perpendicular to blasting holes is modelled and the maximum principal strains at some major points in the cracking zone are examined. As a result, it was found that the maximum principal strain in the cracking zone becomes larger in the long hole blasting with the narrower hole spacing and the longer detonation delay time. The maximum principal strain was affected by the detonation position in charge hole.