The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-12-12

were pulled up by tho roots and tho
largo crowd assembled witnessed
feature of twentieth century farming
operations that was intensely intor-
cstiuE. Tho crowd that oome TO sec
these things was mado up of every
day farmers from all around In this
neighborhood, and the trolley cars and
something more than dozen Rutomo-
biles brought out many Richmond and
suburban agrioulturists, who are maxi
Ing study OF oultivating the soil by
modern methods, among them not a
few charming women. These agrIcul-
turiBts. men ana women, came from
Wcsthampton farms from Ginter Park,
from Forest Hill, from. South Rich
mond and other nearby agricultural
regions.
Somebody has defined farmer an
the man or tho woman who makes Ms
OF her money on the farm and blows
1t in" In tho city. and tho agriculturis,
as the man OF woman who mnkos hiH
or her money In the oity and blows
1t on the farm 1t Ia possible that the
majority. a small majority, Of tho
crowd out hore to-day was made up of
agrioulturistp, according to tho above
definition. These paid very st.iot at
tention to the lectures Of the demon
strators in dynamite and tho others.
tho farmers paid particular attention
to the visible results after the dyna-
mite had done Its work, and all went
away satisfied.
The demonstrators were men from
powder company, A. H. Burkholder
and II. Z. First. All the morning
these two experts. with q small force
of hands. were kept busy getting the
land ready for the demonstration. and
by 2 o'clock. the appointed time. the
denomination commenced. and In tho
meantime the crowd OF 500 or more
had assembled to SEQ and to learn all
about the use 9t dynamite on the
farm.
measured half-acre was Hrst SUBJ
soiled, tho holes for the dynamite
cartridges having been made fifteen feet
apart. requiring ninety-eight charges
of dynamite for the half aero. A dozen
holes for tree planting had also been
made and properly charged Before
lightning the fuses the demonstrators
made short talks. fully explaining tho
uses Of dynamite In farming. how TO
operate It and how to do the work
with the element OF danger to life
and limb cut out. They also told the
assembled crowd OF tho advantages of
blowing with the explosive. The farm
ers and the agriculturists took much
interest In these lectures. and auos-
toned tho lecturers very closely. All
oil the questions were satisfactorily
answered.
This being over, the subsoiling COM
menced by ignitinB the fusss with tho
aid of matches. and In very short
while the booming commenced, and
almost before one know what about
1t ell the half-acre had been subsidized.
Next came the tree planting part of
the program, and here again matches
were used to Ignite the fuses. This
was pretty much the same as sub
soiling except that It was q little more
intense. and the explosives consider
ably more pronounced.
A ditch nifty feet Ions was then
blown open. and in this case an cleo
trio battery was used to set or the
dynamite. the whole fifty feet being
blown out In an instant. the dozen or
more sticks of dynamite being ex
ploded at once. There was some dirt
flying going on then.
Next came the biggest event OF the
afternoon the blowing UP OF the thirty
foot remains of a giant oak that stood
In the beautiful grove surrounding
the Bellwood home. Two years ago
m imitation cyclone came across the
Bellwood farm and laid low several OF
the monarchs of the forest. One waf
twisted off about twenty-five, maybe
.