64 VERTICAL FARMING 



down to their second foot of growth, their third, and even their 

 eighth and tenth foot when they flourish at those depths. The 

 only reply is, " Yes it would pay, but how can it be done ? ". It 

 can be done economically, quickly, and thoroughly by the use of 

 explosives. Deep plowing is recommended by all authorities 

 " wherever the resisting soil will permit." Machinery made 

 especially for deep work may be stopped, but nothing can 

 resist the explosives. The farmer plows, harrows, and spends 

 time, labor and money in cultivating the surface foot and re- 

 joices in the wonderful alchemy that follows his endeavors the 

 mysterious activities he has set in motion. He works cheerfully 

 and with confidence, largely because he can see what he is doing. 

 In the new agriculture he must work by faith and reason in 

 depths where he cannot see with his eyes what is taking place. 

 The result will place before his eyes in the form of bumper crops 

 proofs of the benefits of his work. The new agriculture simply 

 points out the benefits acquired by the thorough cultivation of 

 the foot, or two feet, and by explaining how and why this is 

 accomplished, points out the value of extending the cultivation 

 further down by the simple means of explosives. The harrow 

 warms and aerates the soil and promotes activity by loosening 

 and separating the soil particles at the surface. Explosives do 

 the same, breaking, loosening, pulverizing at depths machinery 

 cannot reach. Drainage is recommended by all because it 

 removes excess of water, admits air, and gives proper moisture 

 conditions. Explosives have drained many a field and secured 

 all these benefits at far less cost in time, labor and money than 

 the usual methods of ditching and tilling. 



The importance of nitrification is proven, but why confine it 

 to the thin furrow slice when the action of bacteria has been 

 proven at depths of 6 feet in the humid soils of the East, and 

 still deeper in the porous soils of the arid and semi-arid regions 

 of the West? Why not loosen the soil and secure proper condi- 

 tions by the use of some charges of explosives? It is admitted 

 that there is much of plant food below the shallow plowed and 

 cultivated ground, arid that the roots will go down if they can. 

 Why not open the way and make it easy for them by cracking 



