258 AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Fourth. Trees planted by dynamite grow much more rapidly and yield 



much more heavily than those planted in the old way. 



One of the chief elements of loss in orchard work is the loss of trees the 

 first year. S. H. Bellinger, President Clear Creek Lumber Company, Shreve- 

 port, La., stated that he used dynamite in blasting the holes in which 1,080 

 pecan trees were planted one year ago, also for planting 8,000 peach trees. 

 He says the percentage of loss on the pecan trees (which are among the most 

 difficult to set so they will live), was almost nothing compared with the loss 

 on other trees planted in the ordinary way. 



Another point of great importance to orchardists is that trees planted 

 with dynamite come into bearing much sooner than when planted by the old 

 way. W. W. Stevens, Orchardist of May field, Ga., reports that he has been 

 using dynamite for tree planting for eighteen or twenty years and that in 

 the planting of peach trees by this method he gained two years in six as 

 compared with the old method. In other words, he got as much fruit from a 

 tree planted with dynamite at four years of age as he got at six years by 

 the old method. 



Mrs. John Rawley, of Grante Pass, Oregon, reports that she plants all 

 her trees with dynamite, as a result of careful tests, to show the benefits of 

 this method. She advised that all trees be set in wet weather, as this insures 

 a storage of moisture under the tree. This is the chief reason why planting 

 trees with dynamite is beneficial. 



Trees planted in spaded holes must fight their way into the compact sub- 

 soil which has never been disturbed, whereas when planted in a dynamited 

 hole the ground being thoroughly broken up under the surface soil makes an 

 easy path for the roots so that they spread out and have a large area from 

 which to draw water and plant food. 



A little thought will show the reason why dynamiting is so beneficial in 

 tree planting. The principal plant food is water and fertile elements of 

 the soil must be absorbed in water before they can be absorbed by the terminal 

 roots. Hence the larger the area throughout which these terminal roots are 

 spread, the greater the amount of moisture the tree can draw on and the 

 greater the amount of water and plant food it can obtain. 



This also explains the reason why dynamiting the soil between rows of 

 old or failing fruit trees renews their vigor, because most of the water is 

 taken up by the terminal roots which run out many feet from the trunk and 

 the blasting creates water reservoirs in the soil between the rows. 



The Amount of damage done ly forest fires in Michigan in 1911 is esti- 

 mated by W. R. Gates, State Game, Fish and Forestry Warden, in a report just 

 made public, at $3,561^83.68. Far the greatest part of the loss occurred in 

 lower Michigan counties, as conditions in the upper peninsula last summer 

 were not favorable to forest fires, and this region escaped with a light toll of 

 damage. 



