The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1911-11-03
PLANTING TREES With.
DYNAMITE.
INTERESTING INFORMATION FOR AGRl-
CULTURISTS.

OrchardiStS indicate tnaC Lne planning
ANA cultivation of fruit trees j. be
ing revolutionized.
Although the attention of farmers
has but recently been directed in gen.
eral to the use Of dynamite for vari-
ous agricultural purposes, expert
ments have been going on for many
Years To determine Its exact efficiency
and how it can best be used.
II is obvious that several years are
required after the planting of fruit
inst how its life or growth differs
from one planted i'm a spaded hole,
and further experimentation will be
necessary to show whether 1t IL nee
essary or advisable to use more or
less dynamite per hole to get max
imum results, cost considered.
The following results already de-
termined should be OF interest to pro
gressive horticulturists everywhere:
LIST. Planting trees with dynamite
practically eliminates the loss OF
Young trees during the first year.
I'd. Trees can be planted much
more rapidly by the dynamite method
than by the old method.
Sd. Trees planted with dynamite
come into bearing from one to two
years sooner than those planted by
the soil method.
4th. Trees planted by dynamite
grow much more rapidly and yield
much more heavily than those plant
ed in the old way.
One OF the chief elements OF loss In
orchard work is the loss of trees the
first year. s. H. Bollinger, President
Clear Creek Lumber Company,
Shreveport, "a, stated that he used
dynamite In blasting the holes In
which 1880 pecan trees were planted
one year ago, also for planting 5000
peach trees. He says the percentage
of loss on the pecan trees (Which are
among the most difficult to set so they
will live), was almost nothing com
pared with the loss on other trees
planted In the ordinary way.
Another point OF great Importance
to orchardists is that trees planted
with dynamite come into bearing
much sooner than when planted by
the old way. w. w. Stevens, Orch
ardist OF Mayfeld, Ca, reports that
he has been using dynamite for tree
planting for eighteen or twenty years
and that in the planting of peach
trees by this method he gained two
years ia six as compared with the
old method. lin other words he got
as much fruit from a tree planted
with dynamite at four 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
her trees with dynamite as result
OF careful tests to show the benefits
Of Che odvicnd that q
trees be set i'm wet weather al this
insures a storage of moisture under
the tree This Is the chief reason
why planting trees with dynamite il
beneficial.
Trees planted In spaded
holes must fight their way into the
compact subsoil which has never
been disturbed, whereas when plant
ed in a dynamited hole the ground
being thoroughly broken up under the
surface soil makes an easy path for
the roots 50 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 i'm November 1910. she
found it necessary to remove two fill
er trees seven months after setting
out; one of these had been set with
dynamite and the other with a spade.
They were taken up with the greatest
care in order to set the roots out
intact, because they had both been
planted at the same time under sim
liar conditions and the trees were
equally healthy at the start. The
spade set tree had fine bushy and
vigorous tassel Of roots about
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 dyna-
mite tree touched the earth, and 1t
had a great quantity of medium and
short growth roots. The difference
in root growth was 20 great and con-
vincing that she now has thirty acres
OF new orchard Ia which every tree
has been set with dynamite.
She is SO enthusiastic that she uses
dynamite for subsoiltng her flower
garden and states that her hardy
first season, 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 fertile
elements OF the soil must be absorb
Cd i'm water before they can b. alb
sorbed by the terminal roots. Hence
the larger the area throughout which
these terminal roots are spread, the
greater 7 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 rows OF
old OF falling trees renews their
vigor, because most of the water is
taken UP by the terminal roots which
run out many feet from the trunk
and the blasting creates water res
ervoirs fri the soil between the rowA
Orchardists who have never used
dynamite should be sure to get all
possible information from the manu-
facturers Of the explosive before at
tempting to use H. While 1t Ii no
more dangerous to use than gun
powder or gasoline, 1t is a poor thing
for people to fool with ignorantly be
cause it is very powerful.
Contrary to quite general belief,
dynamite does not explode from drop
ping or ordinary shocks and will not
go OFF spontaneously. It has to be
"detonated" or exploded by the shock
OF printing cap which Is set OIL by
fuse.
PTYr-