PLOUGH OUSTED BY DYNAMITE.

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 15 May 1912, Page 7

PLOUGH OUSTED BY DYNAMITE.

Probably no stranger use for dynamite has ever been devised than its substitution in place of the plough for the tilling of clay land. It has been put to such a use on a considerable experimental scale in Kansas, U.S.A. The first experiment at Spartanburg consised of the exploding of a stock of dynamite in each of a series of water-melon hills, and the resultant crop showed the benefit of the treatment. The next experiment was the breaking up of an acre field by dynamite. The cartridges were planted 3ft. apart in rows, and at a depth of 4ft. The holes were made by driving crowbars to the desired depth. The dynamite was exploded by a line of men, provided with red hot irons. The line went rapidly down the field, the explosions following the merl in a steady roar that was deafening. The explosions threw clouds of soil 30ft. into the air and covered the men from head to foot with dust and dirt. 'Clay land, when once disturbed to a depth of sft., is said never to revert to its former solid and impervious condition. One of the great troubles of the southern farmers of America has been to keep the clay from puddling and holding the water on the surface of the soil a trouble thus removed.