Dynamite Tree Planting Shows Fine Results 

 In Five Feet Oregon Loam 



GRANTS PASS, OREGON, May 12, 1911. 



Gentlemen: I am sending you photographs of four trees. 



Figs. 52 and 53 are Bellflower apple trees; Fig. 52 was set in a spade-dug hole, and Fig. 53 

 in a dynamited hole. 



Figs. 54 and 55 are Bing cherry trees; Fig. 54 was set in a spade-dug hole, and Fig. 55 

 in a dynamited hole. 



These four trees were part of a shipment of year old nursery stock received and set out 

 the latter part of March, 1909. The photographs were taken about the isth of April, 1911, 

 two years after setting out, just as they were coming into leaf. 



Bellflower apple tree (Fig. 53) was pinched back in June, 1909, about ten weeks after plant- 

 ing. It was shortened in by removing some two feet of growth from each main lateral the 

 following November. In 1910 it had the same treatment. It is a very vigorous tree with 

 healthy foliage and fine color. 



Bellflower apple tree (Fig. 52) had as good ground to grow in, but was spade-set and made 

 such small growth it needed neither pinching back nor pruning. Not a bit of growth, not a leaf 

 has been removed from the head of this tree since planting. The trunk is less than half inch 

 in diameter, while the dynamite-set mate to it has several branches thicker and finer than the 

 trunk of Fig. 52. 



The Bing cherry trees (Figs. 54 and 55) have the same identical history as Bellflower 

 apples (Figs. 52 and 53) with the exception that we did not shorten in at fall pruning (Fig. 55) 

 as much as we did apple No. 53. 



We have heavier tops and taller trees of these varieties in the orchard, but these trees are 

 two favorites, very typical of their kind and strike a favorable average for the lot of five 

 hundred. From 250 apple trees so set we got a perfect stand, not one died. 



We use dynamite for making holes in planting trees on our very best and deepest ground, 

 as well as the poor spots. It is much cheaper than hand labor, it is much quicker when speed 

 is a most important point and delay will cause the loss of many trees. It insures every ad- 

 vantage to the tree getting a good start. t 



After the orchard is staked, one man with a shovel removes a circle of surface soil from 

 about the stake, usually five cuts or so, which is laid to one side to use in filling the hole to 

 proper level before setting the tree with the roots carefully pruned back. 



A second man follows the first with a crowbar and works the hole down where the stake 

 comes out. If a stone or anything of the sort is encountered we dig it out. If a spot of hard 

 sediment or hardpan is encountered the hole is put through. These holes are about eighteen 

 inches deep. We use one stick of dynamite properly fitted with 18 inches of best fuse for the 

 average hole. It is dropped to the bottom of the hole and tamped down, then the fuse is 

 lighted. There is very little stuff thrown up, the force going downward and outward. The 

 holes are allowed to stand probably over night, or part of the next day, are probed with a 

 crowbar, and, if satisfactory, the sides are broken in, the top earth at one side filled in, and 

 the hole is ready for the tree. 



We have set all our trees in wet weather, which insures a storage of moisture under the 

 tree. If one were compelled to set in dry earth, a generous supply of water should be added 

 to settle the hole prior to throwing on top earth that makes the bed for the tree to set on. Twice 

 each spring a circle should be worked up to a fine mulch about the depth of a spading fork, 

 and kept loose, unbaked and free of weeds. 



Last November we had occasion to remove some filler trees, Grimes Golden apples, seven 

 months after setting out, one of which was spade-set. They were taken up with the greatest 

 care so we could get the roots out intact iust to prove to ourselves what difference in root 

 growth we would find in same variety, in perfectly matched trees on the same ground from the 

 two methods of setting. 



The spade-set tree had a fine bushy and vigorous tassel of roots about a foot long. The 

 dynamite-set tree had two roots going down some three feet. I held it out at arm's length, my 

 hand clasped around the graft scar, and the roots touched the earth. Also it had a great 

 quantity of medium and short growth roots. The difference was so convincing that we now 

 have thirty acres of new orchard and every tree is set with dynamite. 



You will probably be amused at my zeal, but I used half sticks of dynamite in making up 

 a rose bed, and also for a hardy border set with peonies and other perennials. Am happy to 

 say the peony plants are now ready to bloom profusely their first season, although, hitherto, 

 I have failed to bloom them before the second or third year. 



We wouldn't undertake to clear ground or set new trees, shade or orchard, 'without using 

 dynamite, notwithstanding our soil is a beautiful loam, with little stone in it, and runs from 

 five to six feet deep. MRS. JOHN RAWLEY. 



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