METHODS OF KEEPING MOISTURE 



To put soil into shape to store water, subsoiling should be 

 done thoroughly before trees are planted, and every couple of 

 years afterward until they are ten years old. If it is done with 

 a plow, the first subsoiling the year before trees are planted 

 should cover the whole area; at the next, the 'year after the 

 trees are planted, a four-foot strip should be left where trees 

 are, and later the plowing should be narrower each time until 

 the last time only one or two subsoil furrows should be plowed 

 midway between tree rows. Subsoil plowing helps greatly 

 to hold moisture, but there are other reasons for doing it. 

 Subsoiling with dynamite is a thoroughly practical method, 

 and should be employed on three-fourths of the farms of the 

 East. 



An underdrain midway between tree rows wonderfully 

 helps the soil to store moisture by keeping the earth porous 

 and fine. During the winter and spring the surplus water 

 sinks into the earth to the level of the drain, where it falls, 

 then finds its way horizontally to the drain. In doing this 

 it opens and makes fine the soil it passes through, and the 

 spaces remain filled with water until the roots draw it out. 



Another moisture holder is humus. Decaying grass stalks 

 always are damp, and they, too, loosen the soil. Earth which 

 is full of them seldom becomes so dry as pure clay or sand. 

 Pure loam is nothing more or less than humus. Mulches of 

 all kinds plowed under will fill the soil with moisture-retaining 

 material, and at the same time will make it more and more 

 loamy. A heavy, stiff clay can be almost transformed in this 

 way, because the moisture helps to disintegrate the cruder 

 earth into loose loam. Humus helps to drain away the sur- 

 plus water, and helps to hold that necessary nine inches. 



By far the best way to loosen subsoil is with dynamite. 

 This is not generally known, but orchardists will find they can 

 reduce tillage expenses greatly and save much time with it. 

 The exploding of from a sixth to a half pound of the right 

 kind, two or three feet under the surface, loosens and makes 

 fine all the soil. Young trees will make great strides if they 

 are planted in dynamited holes. 



The dynamiting can be done in orchards or about trees of 

 any age. If done rightly, it will accomplish the work without 

 breaking or tearing away any roots, leaving the soil in con- 

 dition to give the roots twice the feeding-ground they had 

 before and providing perfect drainage and water-storing capac- 

 ity. The use of dynamite is the secret of success in growing 

 fruit by mulching systems without so much plow and harrow 

 tillage. This is the only way known by which soil can be loosened 

 deeply after trees fill the space with roots, and often it is the 

 cheapest and quickest way to loosen it at any time. Heavy 

 clay lands are handled especially well by this method; in sand 

 the advantages are least. With only plowing and drainage 

 to rely on, one thorough subsoiling has to last during the life 

 of the orchards. Good results can be depended upon for many 

 years, but when signs point to the soil becoming too compact, 

 dynamite will loosen it up as easily as at first, even though 



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