DYNAMITE IN THE ORCHARD.

Waipa Post, Volume III, Issue 126, 9 July 1912, Page 4

DYNAMITE IN THE ORCHARD.

EFFECTIVE SUB-SOILING.

In recent years quite a number of Australians have resorted to the use of dynamite in breaking up their land, orchardists, especially finding that by the use of the explosive they can do far more effective subsoiling than can be any amount of labour with even the most modern of agricultural machinery. In America this great labour-saver has been almost universally adopted, even growers of cereals in some districts having discovered that by its use they can produce heavier crops at less expense. The agricultural scientists, too, have tested the results of the " new farming " methods, and have unanimously approved of them ; indeed, they have gone further—they have arranged for the production of a special dynamite for use on the farm, an explosive that is said to be perfectly safe to handle by even the novice.

Dynamite has many uses on the farm, but the most beneficial discovered so far is in connection with the planting of fruit trees. One of the problems of the orchardist has always been that of loosening the subsoil to a sufficient depth to allow the roots ol a deep-feeding tree to penetrate, and also to render the soil pervious to water. One blast of dynamite does all this, and more; it also pulverises the soil to such •an extent as to assist in dissolving the essential nutriment which it contains, thus providing the tree with more food than it otherwise could hope to get. By allowing the roots to dip- deeply, too, it prevents what is very common in some oixhards, the growing of lateral surface roots that invade each other's area, to the detriment of the whole orchard. In America not only has dynamite farming enabled large tracts of land formerly considered to be unfit for agriculture, owing to the hardness of the land, to be brought under cultivation ; it has also facilitated the task of the homestead builder in clearing operations. No longer do the stumps of giant trees mean hours of arduous work to remove; no longer is it necessary to fag teams of horses in removing the stumps by sheer force. All that is required is an auger hole in the root of the tree, a stick, of dynamite, a plug, a fuse and a light; the rest is simple enough.