Page 8 



BETTER FRUIT 



August, ipip 



The Use of Powder in Blasting Orchard Tree Holes 



BLASTING out tree holes in wliicli 

 to set an orchard is becoming 

 more prevalent. Experiments in 

 planting fruit ti'ees in ground that had 

 been blasted or spade-dug have shown 

 remarkable results in t'avor of the for- 

 mer way of setting fruit trees, par- 

 ticularly in ground where the soil was 

 very hard. The use of blasting powder 

 in planting an orchard is not new. In 

 1910 the DuPont Powder Company be- 

 gan to promote the use of explosives 

 in plantir.g new orchards and in re- 

 juvenating old ones. The idea, how- 

 ever, was not original with this com- 

 pany. 



Nearly a quarter of a century ago, 

 near I.aMcsa, Cat., ground was blasted 

 for apple three planting, because or- 

 chardists found the work of planting 

 with a spade in the hard soil in that 

 section too difficult. The experiment 

 proved a success. The trees thrived 

 and bore exceptional crops of apples 

 for many years. Later other orch- 

 ardists and farmers in different sec- 

 tions of the country used the same 

 method in preparing a home for tree 

 roots and there are records of such 

 plantings, from eleven to twenty years 

 ago before the idea began to spread. 



After the idea began to be known 

 extensively throughout the country, 

 many farmers and orchardists tried 

 the new plan on a small scale, and 

 now because of the great success at- 

 tained in planting orchards in this 

 way, thousands of fruit trees are being 

 planted annually in blasted ground. 

 Many of America's leading orchardists 

 and nurserymen now plant exclusively 

 in this way. In fact, blasting is said 

 by experts in the matter to always 

 produce the best results except in soil 

 that is naturally loose and sandy to a 

 depth of several feet. In such soil, 

 blasting is not advantageous except 

 for the elimination of fungus and 

 nematoid troubles. 

 What Blasting in Orchards Accomplishes. 



L It mellows the ground to a depth 

 of five or six feet and throughout a 

 circular area ten to twenty feet in 



diameter, making it easy to dig the 

 hole and plant the tree correctly. 



2. It creates a porous, water-ab- 

 sorbing condition in the subsoil that 

 makes the tree drouth-proof, stopping 

 the big, first year loss, and invigorates 

 growth. 



3. It makes root growdh easy and 

 makes tons per acre of new plant food 

 available, hence speeds up the growth 

 of the tree and makes it fruit earlier. 



4. It creates drainage and prevents 

 stagnation of water on surface. 



5. In old orchards that were 

 planted by the old methods and have 

 ceased to bear well, it is of great value 

 in rejuvenating the old trees, causing 

 them to yield heavily. 



G. It destroys fungus, nematode, 

 and other orchard soil diseases, hence 

 makes it possible to plant new orch- 

 ards where old ones have been re- 

 moved without waiting several years 

 to rest the land and get rid of the dis- 

 eases. 



In studying comparative costs of 

 planting fruit trees, the investigator is 

 confronted with widely varying fig- 

 ures and methods. There seems to be 

 no machine for planting fruit trees 

 such as a corn drill, but the method of 

 some planters approximates the work 

 of a machine in speed, if not in effici- 

 ency. They lay off the site of the 

 proposed orchard in 20-ft. to 40-ft. 

 checks, depending on the kind of trees 

 to be planted. Cross furrows are 

 plowed through the field, marking it 

 off in squares. 



One man drives along a furrow with 

 a wagon-load of trees, another lays a 

 tree near each of the furrow inter- 

 sections, and a third stands the tree in 



Six-year-old tree planted in a blasted hole. 



can plant it only once, and its health 

 and growth, the age at which it begins 

 to bear, and the quantity and quality 

 of fruit borne, depend chiefly on the 

 care and thoroughness used in plant- 

 ing it." 



Up to a few years ago, the method 

 follow-ed by most good orchardists 

 was to dig a hole seldom more than 

 two feet in diameter and 18 inches 

 deep, then plant the tree in top soil or 

 a mixture of top soil and subsoil. Un- 

 der this system the loss the first year 

 ran from 25 percent to 50 percent, 

 depending on soil and weather condi- 

 tions. Then tree planting with explo- 

 sives was taken up by a few orchard- 

 ists who realized the shortcomings of 



A 



Fig. 1. 



BCD 

 Different types of hardpan encountered in the orchard. 



the intersections, kicks some soil over 

 the roots, tramps it down, and moves 

 on to the next intersection. This 

 method expresses a touching confi- 

 dence in nature, but results indicate 

 such confidence is misplaced. 



A tree that survives such treatment 

 must have as many lives as the pro- 

 verbial cat, and if it lives, how many 

 years must elapse before it bears any 

 fruit? What grade of fruit can be ex- 

 pected from a tree aged and bent with 

 the fight for existence before it saves 

 strength enough to bear at all? 



Going to the other extreme we find 

 a horticulturist advising: "Forget you 

 are about to plant a tree and imagine 

 you are going to bury a horse, and dig 

 a hole accordingly. Remember you 



the ordinary methods, and the neces- 

 sity of cutting down first year losses, 

 and speeding fruition. 



The first objections to the new 

 method were largely financial. The 

 cost of explosives, blasting cap, fuse 

 and labor ran from 8c to 15c per hole, 

 whereas trees could be planted with 

 a spade for 3c to 5c per hole. The 

 trouble with this comparison is that 

 the work performed is not the same, 

 hence costs should not be compared. 



The question involved is, how soon 

 does the planter want a return from 

 his investment and how large a re- 

 turn? The only way to compare costs 

 is to consider the profit sought and 

 which is the cheaper way to get it. 



Continued on page 28. 



Six-year-old tree planted in a spade-dug hole. 



Fig. 2. Punch for making the bore holes. This is driven in with a heavy hammer. 



