El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-06-17
FARMING WITH
HIGH EXPLOSIVES
SOMETHING IN AGRICULTURE rs ATTRACTING
NOTICE.
The Up to Date Farmer Flows With Dynamite Rids the
Fields of Stumps by Blowing Them Out of the
Ground and Digs bitches by the Same Means.
The Blasting Process For Driving Wells
And Making Post Holes.

1.-THE newest thing in agriculture
is farming with higa explo-
z sives. It is cheaper in the long
run, to pillow with dynanite-at all
events, In occasional years-and there
Is no ssuch satisfactory way to get rid
Of stumps as to blow them out Of the
ground.
The work Of digging holes for fence
posts is Ncheapened and hurried along
by the use of small dynamite cart
ridges made specially for the purpose
All necessary is to drive a crowbar
down to within six inches Of the de-
sired depth, and the cartridge. dropped
to the bottom and set off. does rhe
rest Cne should not lamp the
charge.
dynamite a HeIY.
IN plal ting fruit trees .lynlEaite is
g great help. A suitable cartridge bur
led a short distance below the surface
of the ground VIII excavate instantly
as large a hole as a man can dig in
an hour Incidentally. the explosive
Ioosens up the earth for many yards
around. giving the roots better OPP
portunsty to spread; and all the grubs
and other Injurious insects in the soil
around about are destroyed.
If. in addition, every other year,
small charges are exploded midway
between the trees and four or five feet
below the surface. the output Of fruit
it is claimed, is greatly augmented,
because thereby the soil is kept In a
loose and open condition, so that mois
ture Dereolates through it more freely.
and fine tree roots have better chance
TO spread.
Better Than Ordinary Flowing.
Ordinary blowing turns over the
same oIS soil year after year. and de-
crease of output is prevented only by
rotation of crops and expensive fertu-
ling. With dynamite, on the other
hand, 1t is possible to break up the
ground all over field to a depth of
two or three feet for less than the
cost of fertilizer and with better re-
suits Fertilizing improves only the
top ,soil; dynamite renders available
all the moisture and elements of
growth throughout the entire depth of
the blast.
In the case of a WORKOUT farm (the
trouble with which is that the top soil
has been worked out), the high ex-
plosive turns up fresh and fertile soil
from underneath. BY this means. in
many instances, land worth $40 an
acre has been augmented fvefold or
tenfold in value.
The most recently discovered way
of saving money by the use of high
explosives is in the blasting of bitches
and the dynamiting of swamps. Pos
sibiIities in this direction are especi-
ally obvious in Louisiana and certain
other parts of the United States,
where. in the aggregate, there are
something like 100000 acres Of
swampy lands which. if drained would
yield magnificent crops The cost, by
ordinary methods. would be prohibit
but dynamite viii dig bitches cheaply
and rapidly through any swamp which
man can penetrate.
Digging bitches by Dynamite.
When bitches are dug by dynamite,
practically all OF the material is
thrown out by the blast, and little
sE1oveling is necessary. The material
is not heaped up alongside along the
ditch, but throws far and wide, so as
to be spread evenly over a consider
able area on both sides. When it is
explained that the method Of proce-
dure consists merely in boring q series
Of holes along the line of the proposed |
trench, putting a cartridge in each,
and setting them off simultaneously. |
it viii be seen that the process is both |
easy and rapid.
At the present time great areas in |
New Jersey and other parts of the |
United States are being systematically |
ditched for the purpose OF draining |
them, the object in view being to get |
rid of the mosquito nuisance This is i
a kind of work that can be done to /
much advantage with the help OF high |
explosives. But there are many other |
for dynamite as an aid |
to agriculture-such, for example. as I
the establishment of boulders. Where !
such rocks occur in a field, it is the