1 IO FARMING BY DYNAMITE. 



however, we must await definite results, and already there are a 

 great many experiments in hand, even with mealies, the results 

 of which will be duly recorded. Of course, if " dynamiting " 

 had to be done every year few crops could stand the expense, 

 but American experience shows that once every five or six years 

 is quite sufficient, and from what I have seen I can well believe 

 this to be the case. There are. however, two applications of 

 dynamite to farming and afforestation about which I can speak 

 with a very considerable amount of assurance. The first is the 

 removal of tree stumps, and the second is the planting of trees. 



The removal of stumps is always a troublesome and expen- 

 sive process, and when the tree has been a deep-rooted one it L- 

 intensified. In many cases, rather than go to the expense of 

 removing them farmers simply leave them in the ground. Dyna- 

 mite will get out a stump at a fraction of the ordinary- cost, and 

 if it be not too large — not more, say, than 18 inches diameter — 

 one charge will be sufficient. If the stump is a very large one, 

 more than one charge, placed at different points, may be neces- 

 sary, and when this is so, it is best to do the blasting by electricity, 

 as by that means both charges, and, indeed, any number up to 

 50, explode simultaneously, which naturally gives the best effects. 

 With experience it is possible to blast even the largest stumps 

 with a single charge, but here again one cannot dogmatise, and 

 if a large number of stumps have to be removed, it will always 

 be found cheapest in the long run to get advice from an expert. 



The second application of dynamite about which one can 

 speak with a measure of assurance is the planting of trees. 

 There is no doubt whatever that one of the most crying needs 

 of this country is afforestation- — more crying, perhaps, than that 

 of the raising of crops. I need not here speak of the climatic 

 influences of afforestation, as they are now generally recognized. 

 Dynamite will certainly further afforestation by cheapening 

 planting. In the same way it will cheapen the making of 

 orchards, for no matter how difficult the soil, dynamite will make 

 a hole big enough for a good-sized fruit tree at very little cost. 

 But even though it does cost as much to make the hole by dyna- 

 mite as by the ordinary process of digging and trenching, the 

 ultimate result is not so good by the latter as by the former, for, 

 as already explained, dynamite opens and cracks the ground 

 underneath to a very considerable depth. By this means plant 

 growth and yields are increased, so our American friends say, 

 and one can well understand that this is so. Limiting ourselves, 

 however, for the moment to the economics of making holes for 

 trees, we have already sufficient South African experience to 

 indicate that " dynamiting " is cheaper than the ordinary process. 



There are many other possible applications of dynamite to 

 farming which will all come in time. For instance, in the Trans- 

 vaal, I have seen some most excellent trenches or ditches made 

 on farms in vlei and other land. Then, again, draining land by 

 the ordinary perforated pipes is a very costly process — so costly, 



