Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1912-04-11
DYNAMITE IN ORCHARD
Should Be Done Only Where Tree
Is to Be Planted.
Advantage Is That the Roots VIII
Pentrate to Greater Depth and
Irrigation viii Go Deeper
Resistance to Droughts.

The first thing TO be known in
planting an orchard is how to prepare
the ground to be planted. The ground
should be treated just as If we were
going to plant 1t to any grain crop.
such as wheat. oats. barley or corn.
All trash should be removed and the
ground should be well plowed How
deep to pillow must be determined by
the nature of the soil. Some soils are
naturally loose and open. In such
cases the blowing need not be very
deep for the simple reason that such
soils cannot be materially changed by
blowing, writes +. Walden in the Den
yer Field and Farm. But when the
ground Is compact ana hard II should
be loosened up to the depth of a foot
or more. In many such cases If the
stirring plow could be followed by a
narrow subsoil pillow, much good
would be accomplished. If there is
hardpan within one or two feet of the
surface, then the use of dynamite is
to be recommended
1t would not be best TO dynamite the
whole field to be planted for that
would be attended With much labor
and expense. Instead of this whole
sale dynamiting let the ground be
laid off and the place where each tree
is to be set can be dynamited. The
advantage in dynamiting where each
tree is 10 be set is that the roots will
penetrate to a much greater depth
and the irrigation water will go as
deep as the roots. A tree in such po-
sition will resist drought much better
than those planted over hardpan for
these have all their roots near the sur
face and will readily dry out.
A friend OF mine told me about a
peculiar case of the benefits Of dyna-
hitting that happened to a man in
Missouri In cleaning off his orchard
tract there was occasionally big
stump that was blown out with dyna-
mite. The object in using dynamite
was simply 10 get rid OF these stumps,
with no thought of benefiting the con-
dition OF the land. The ground was
planted to apples and all parts re-
ceived the same kind of cultivation.
But to the mans surprise he found
that now and then a tree was more
vigorous than its neighbors and In a
few years was almost twice as large
That was not all. for>when the or
chard came into bearing. these Wig
orous trees bore large and better ap
pies At first this whole matter was
a mystery 20 the orchardist. but final
J ~ he remembered the dynamiting anc
,fr,a . he
: one OF these vigorous trees stood
! where stump had been blown out
II was found upon examination tina
water went very much deeper where
the soil had been broken up by The
dynamite and as a result the moisture
about the lower roots lasted through
| the dry season and thus the tree'
| there remained vigorous and contin
! ued to grow while the other trees II
| the orchard looked sickly and thu
fruit on them was small and poorl!
l colored
! From this and from lessons Learned
] by observation I am convinced that II
] many cases II would pay large returns
n we dynamited the ground wher
II each tree is to be planted. ! hav'
n some places in my own orchard wher
III this method of dynamiting would b.
practiced II were again setting tn
ground TO apples. low grade o
dynamite should be used. hol
could be drilled with crow-bar I
the depth of three or four feet an
II the charge exploded at the bottom.
4 have had no experience in this matte
1 and cannot give the cost of sue
| work. but am told by those VIII
| claim to know that the expense
4 lirhl