Even when this is possible there is no use in putting such a burden 

 on the plant, because whatever vitality is expended in making its own 

 home beneath the surface is subtracted from the vitality of the plant 

 above the surface. In other words, the plant that has to fight for its 

 life beneath the soil has little energy left for fruition. 



If we make root growth easy and ^ quick by breaking up the 

 subsoil, then we make the fertilizing elements of the subsoil im- 

 mediately available and save the energy of the plant for fruition. 

 We also create in the subsoil a porous condition favorable to the storage 

 of water at a depth that will not keep the soil cold, and yet near 

 enough to the roots to feed them through capillary attraction. Subsoil- 

 ing also introduces air into the soil, and it is just as necessary for the 

 roots of a plant to have air as it is for a human being to have air. 



Now it is obvious that the passage of air and moisture through 

 the soil, the growth of roots and the resulting deposit of humus, 

 all tend to keep the soil open, hence if it is once thoroughly shattered 

 with Red Cross Dynamite to a depth of five or six feet and the prin- 

 ciples of crop rotation are followed thereafter, it is safe to say that 

 that subsoil will never again get back into its primeval compact con- 

 dition. Whether or not it remains as open as immediately after blast- 

 ing, depends on the continuity of cropping and the proper rotation of 

 the crops. 



The effect of subsoiling virtually is to change a farm from a six- 

 inch layer of topsoil to a six-foot layer. The only element of fertility 

 lacking in the lower five and a half feet is humus and that will be 

 increased by each year's deep rooting crops. The significance of this 

 conclusion must be appreciated by any careful agriculturist, because it 

 means a tremendous increase in available fertility and a practical means 

 of insurance against drouth. 



Extracts from United States Government Bulletins: 



The advantages of removing water downward through the soil 

 instead of over the surface may be briefly stated as follows : 



"The surface soil is retained entire instead of the finest and most 

 fertile parts being carried off with every considerable rainfall. 



Any plant food in manure or other fertilizer deposited upon the 

 soil is carried into it with the water as it percolates downward from 

 the surface, and so becomes thoroughly incorporated with the soil. 



Rain water as it passes through the soil serves a most useful pur- 

 pose by dissolving and preparing crude soil material for the nutrition 

 of plants. 



The soil having been well prepared, is at all times during the grow- 

 ing season in readiness for the growth of plants, such growth not 

 being hindered by stagnant water or saturation. 



The frost goes out earlier in spring so that the planting season 

 opens one or two weeks sooner than in the case of poorly drained 

 soils. 



Where stiff clays are found, the soil is made more porous, open 

 and friable, and roots penetrate more deeply than they do with sur- 

 face-drained soils. 



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