The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1911-09-07
FARMING WITH DYNAMITE.
Removing StumpS, Breaking up Hard
pan, and Preparing for Free
Planting.

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dence to thousands of land own
ers whose cultivatable fields are
carrying a double burden of
taXes-that which legltimately
belongs to the productive soil,
and that which is being paid on
land rendered uncultivatable by
the presence of stumps, boulders,
hardpan, etc.
The use of dynamite on the
farm, or, as 1t has been so aptly
called, EARNING with dynamite"
has passed the experimental
stages, and is now as much a
part of modern farm practice as
is scientific farming, or the use
of power machinery.
Contrary to general belief, the
use of dynamite, at least, the
brands manufactured especially
for farm purposes, is safer than
the handling of ordinary gun
powder. The prejudice against
dynamite is largely due to the
somewhat frequent explosions of
dynamite factories. Invariably
these accidents happen during
the process Of making the ex-
plosive, and are never caused by
the finished product.
The few cases of injury of
users of dynamite on the farm
have, without exception, been
caused by the foolhardy action of
the victim inspecting the charge
Immediately upon It's failure to
explode. The advice of experts
is: "If dynamite fails to explode,
go away and come back next
week" While this is not to be
taken literally, in so far as the
period of time is concerned, it
does point the way to positive
prevention of accidents.
The use of dynamite in farm.
ing is extremely simple and re.
qulres but the intelligence to fol.
low few clear directions, which
information, in the form of illus.
trated booklets, is supplied free
by makers of dynamite.
While the cost of performing
the various operations of stump
and boulder blasting, ditch dig
ging, subsoil "plowlng," hardpan
blasting, ETC., varies with condi.
tlons, it is in every case decided
ly lower than the cost OF accom-.
plshlng the same results by
manual labor or with mechanical
appliances.
The Long Island, New York,
Railroad Company removed one
hundred stumps from its Expert.
mental Farm at an average cost
of but sixteen cents each, lnclud.
ing dynamite, blasting caps and
fuse. Ordinarily the pulling of
these stumps you would have re-
CURED three men and two horses
thirty.three days. One dYna-
miter and a helper blasted one
hundred and tifty.seven stumps
IN single day.
Other records show the remov.
al of seven hundred and sixty.
eight Southern pine stumps, of
an average diameter of twenty
nine inches at a cost of thirty
cents each.
Subsoil blowing" or the break
ing up of the lower layers of
earth, results, in many instances,
in almost doubling the produc,
tlveness of farm land, for the
simple reason that the natural
plant food IN the lower strata is
made available and largely IN
creased water storage is created.
This also aerates the soil. The
blasting of hardpan produces
equally beneficial results.
The manifold uses of dynamite
for farm purposes are being uni,
versally recognized, and are be.
ing developed by the United
States Government, agricultural
colleges, the great railroads and
other agencies interested in max.
ing farms more productive and
the work of the farmer easier.
Misses Minnie Dickson and