Evening journal., 1912-05-22
To Demonstrate Use of
Dynamite in Modern Farming

udNc uelNe6u 1Uo anu ooV icdHihS
farmers of Northern New Castle coun-
!. ty as his guests tomorrow afternoon
when Herman e. First, Of the dupont
Powder Company will give on the Lea
farm in Red Lion hundred a demon
4 stration of explosives for various pur-
poses
The demonstration will be instruc-
tive and interesting Former Governor
Lea is an agriculturist who believes in
scientific farming because 1t has
brought him the results.
Tomorrow afternoon from l to 3
\ o'clock stumps will be blasted, hard
A pan and subsoil will be broke up and
instead of the old hard way of plant
ing trees the explosives will be used
to show how holes for trees can be
dug. A demonstration in ditch digging
also will be made.
The entire cost. including labor and
dynamite, of bitches from three to
four feet deep, three feet wide at the
bottom and five to seven feet wide at
a top, is 6 to 8 cents per lineal foot, or,
n on an average of about twelve cents
per cubic yard excavated bitches re-
curing two or three rows Of holes and
those from four to six feet deep will
\ cost onehalf more to twice as much
per cubic yard as the narrower and
i shallower ones.
There is a tight clay near the sur
face through out the country and
4 planters of clover and alfalfa know
s this by experiment. Orchardists have
& come to accept It as final Strawher-
a ries and all crops requiring a great
amount of moisture respond to its use
I'm a way almost unbelievable. Short
lived crops like tomatoes and cucum-
bers will continue to bear through
the long season where the hills are
blasted with cartridges of dynamite.
& Figs produce a crop the first year after
being set where dynamited. The writer
can see this from his back door as he
writes This new-found process is the
foundation Of a new era in agriculture
and horticulture.
4 Flowing With Dynamite.
This experiment does not do away
E with the plow. Il simply goes down in
& the lower strata that a plow can never
5 reach. Ordinary plowing merely turns
n over the same old soil year after year
and constant decrease in crops is only
II prevented by rotation or expensive
fertilizing
Natural elements of fertility in soil
are phosphoric acid, potash, humus
& and nitrogen compounds. Flowing
stirs the soil 6 or inches from the
81 top, but these plant food elements in
the underlying soil are never touched
q by the plow II the subsoil were dis
n turbed occasionally by dynamite
blasts much less costly fertilising
year after year would be required, be-
III L. L., 10
81 land porous to absorb plenty OF water
q in rakny weather, and this water.
which is the principal plant food, in
being drawn to the top by the roots of
q the plant as needed for its growth,
would carry with it the soluble feltil-
izing elements.
Mr. Lea has a section Of field on
the Hill Top Farm which will be
plowed with dynamite as part Of the
demonstration
Blasting Stumps.
There are q dozen Of tree stumps on
the farm which also will be blasted
Here it may be interesting TO state
that the cost OF this work varies from
sixteen cents a stump up.
In comparing these costs with the
cost Of stump pulling, consideration
must be given to these items: Pulled
stumps must be cleaned of dirt and
broken up; blasting stumps loosen
the earth for yards around and be-
meath: no horses or expensive ap-
paratus is necessary for blasting.
Rest Time for Subsoiling.
Since one of the chief objects Of
subsoiling with dynamite is TO create
a water reservoir in the subsoil. II
follows that the best time to subsoil is
Immediately after harvest and before
extremely cold weather sets in The
Fall and Spring rains and the melting
SHOWS of Winter will then be absorbed
by the porous soil and stored for the
use of the plant during the hot, dry
Summer
The next best time is early in the
Spring as soon as'the frost gets out OF
the ground. II the soil is very light
and open it is best to blast it when II
II wet but in all compact or clay soils
or hardpan the blasting is more er-
fective If done when the ground Is
comparatively dry because it is then
less tenacious than when wet and the
force Of the blast naturally skaters
and breaks up a larger area
II Is not advisable to subsoil a
cropped field during the hot season, as
the roots Of the growing crops, hav-
ing only a shallow growth, would moi
reach the newly made water reservoir
during that season. and since what
little rain failswould sink to the lower
"A level the shallow rooted crop would
probably die.
Subsoiling may he done at any time
81 on land not cropped to prepare II 1oi
a crop the next season.
One OF the reason advanced by Mr.
Lea why he grows such record crops
on his farms is that he always uses
the most scientific means to prepare
the land and uses the best seed Goot
farmers. modern machinery, scientific
farming and good seed can be depend
ed upon for big crops.
Scientific agriculturists have dis
covered that water is the most import
& ant element in all kinds Of plan
growth Soil which is OF the natura
81 consistency to allow water TO circu
late freely through It and still retair
or conserve II so that II is available
at all times for growing plants. ma,
be considered as ideal for agriculture
purposes. Few soils possess this ma
tural consistency other soils, whicl
may he classified as good. average o.
fair. must have artificial preparation
in order 10 make them produce the re
suits that may be expected from th'
rarely-found perfect natural soil
Few persons understand the prin
ciple of plant growth II is not neces
4 Ia4 1.