The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1911-11-09

the planting of peach trees by thi
method he gained two years in six a
compared with the old method. Ii
other words, he got as much fruit from
a tree planted with dynamite at fou
years of age as he got at six years by
the old method.
Mrs. John Rawley, of Grants Pass
Oregon, reports that she plants all heI
trees with dynamite as result of care
full tests TO show the benefits of this
method. She advised that all trees be
set in wet weather, as this insures a
storage of moisture under the tree. This
is the chief reason why planting trees
with dynamite is beneficial.
AS shown, trees planted in spaded
holes must fight their way into the
compact subsoil which has never been
disturbed, whereas when planted in a
dynamite hole the ground being thor
oughly broken up under the surface
soil makes an easy path for the roots
so that they spread out and have a
large area from which to draw water
and plant food.
In this connection Mrs. Rawley re-
ports that in November, 1910, she found
| it necessary to remove two filler trees
seven months after setting out; one of
these had been set with dynamite and
the other with spade. They were
taken up with the greatest care in or
der to get the roots out intact, because
they had both been planted at the
same time under similar conditions
and the trees were equally healthy at
the start. The spade set tree had a
fine bushy and vigorous tassel of-roots
about a foot long. The dynamite set
tree had two roots going down some
three feet or over. When held out at
arms length with her hand clasped
around the graft scar, the roots OF the
dynamited tree touched the earth, and
it had great quantity of medium and
short growth roots. The difference in
root growth was so great and convinc-
ing that she now has thirty acres of
new orchard in which every tree has
been set with dynamite.
She is so enthusiastic that she uses
dynamite for subsoiling her flower gar
den and states that her hardy peony
plants bloomed profusely the first sea-
son, although hitherto they failed to-
bloom before the second or third year.
A little thought will show the rea-
son why dynamiting is so beneficial in
tree planting. The principal plant
food is water and the elements of the
soil must be absorbed in water before
they can be absorbed by the terminal
roots. Hence, the larger the area
throughout which these terminal roots
are spread, the greater the amount of
moisture the tree can draw on and the
greater the amount of water and plant
food it can obtain.
This also explains the reason why
dynamiting the soil between the rows
of old or failing fruit trees renews their
vigor, because most of the water is TAX
en- up by the terminal roots which run
out many feet from the trunk and the
blasting creates water reservoirs in the
soil between the rows.
Orchardists who have never used
dynamite should be sure to get all pos
sible information from the macufactur-
ers of the explosive before attempting
to use it. While it is no more danger
Gus to use than gun powder or gasoline
it is poor thing for people to fool with
because 1t is very powerful.
Contrary to quite general belief,
dynamite does not explode from drop
ping or ordinary shocks and will not
go off spontaneously. 1t has to be
" detonated F" or exploded by the shock
Of priming cap which is set off by
fuse
The fact that the most progressive
orchardist in the country, including
the celebrated Hale orchards Of Georgia
and Connecticut, are using it right
along indicates that 1t is safe for any
careful and intelligent FER
son to use.