Holbrook argus., 1911-12-19
DYNAMITE SUCCESSFULLY
 USED IN PLANTING TREES

At the Agricultural Department the experiments being conducted in vari- ous portions of the country under the direction of the agricultural colleges different states, i'll farming with dy- namite" are being watched with great 1 interest. A preliminary report was just issued from the Census Depart ment showing that there are $50 great fertilizing producing concerns in the ! country, and that in 1909 the value of | their products wass$103,9 GOO. If the theory attached to the use of dynamite in agricultural persuits is found to be correct, and the Du Pont company is evidently so sure of it that they are spending large sums to prove their claims, then all this great outlay for fertilizers will be unnecessary. It is pointed out that in ordinary blowing the same old soil is merely turned over only few inches from the sur face ear after year, and decrease in crops is only prevented by rotation of expensive fertllizing. The theory of farming with dynamite is that by planting sticks of dynamite at regular intervals of space, and exploding them, that the underlying soil is dis turbed to depth of several feet, mak- ing it porous and capable of absorb ing plenty of water in rainy weather, and this water, which is the principal plant food, is drawn to the top by the roots of the plant as needed for it's growth, carrying with it not only moisture but necessary soluble fertil- of the south, production has been multiplied several times over from blowing with dynamite, while in- creases of thirty-three per cent are re- ported from corn fields. Melon patches also show remarkably increased yields
 J. H. Hale, the great orchadist from Connecticut, has become a convert to the scheme, and has planted thousands of trees with dynamite, with surpris- ing results. Illustrations have been received here showing how the use of dynamite permits the roots of fruit trees to take their natural downward course in the lower stratas of the soil in which plenty of plant food elements are available, aTd the development of the trees planted with dynamite. and without, ill the same orchards demon strates more than anything else the success of the experiment.. Cornell University is authority for the state- nent that trees properly planted can absorb 60 per cent of the moisture sur rounding them, and where the under lying soil is especially prepared for this purpose it is not strange that photographs prove that trees set out m land prepared by dynamite look fully 100 per cent more healthy, and are much more productive ill three or four years, than the trees set out in plots where cramped roots prevent healthy growth. In the wooded sec tions of the country the settlers dis. covered for themselves many years ago that a few sticks of dynamite could beat all the p tent stump pullers in the universe. The agricultural de. pertinent was the last to be convinced out Mir. Wilson's bureau has finally acknowledged that there is TO ques- ton about this-iust as they are go
 Ing to wake up to the more wonder ful discovery of the practicabllity of farming with dynamite when there is uo longer any question about it. Now that congress is about to re-assemble it has been suggested that the passage uf the Simm mons agricultural eXperi
 ment bi'4 of the sixty-first congress would result in the taking up of such mattars as farming with dynamite il practical manner that would ad
 vance the agricultural interests of the country to great degree.
 w R Who'd clerk Ofthe SuO