and then follows the course of the plow, soaking no further. But in sub- 

 soiling with dynamite exactly the opposite condition prevails. The ground is 

 'heaved,' shaken and broken many feet deep, and is left so open and porous 

 that all the rainfall is absorbed a'nd retained. This is given back as growing 

 crops demand. Subsoiling with Du Pont Red Cross Dynamite has now become 

 a common practice with farmers and orchardists. This process has the double 

 advantage of irrigating and draining both at one time. Each place where a 

 cartridge is discharged becomes an underground reservoir, and if thus broken 

 in squares of ten to fourteen feet, with one-third to one-half stick of Red Cross 

 20 per cent., the ground will be sufficiently broken for drainage from hole to hole 

 as a result. Perhaps the most valuable feature of subsoiling with dynamite is 

 the lasting effects. Modern machinery can plow our ground very fast, but 

 the work is not permanent, while in dynamited land the good effects are 

 underneath and not affected by sun or wind and the porous condition remains 

 for years. Of course the length of time varies with different soils and different 

 crops and different modes of cultivation limestone soil remaining open longest. . 

 Once the land is well subsoiled with dynamite and leguminous crops, peas, 

 alfalfa, clover or rye are sown, thus feeding nitrogen deep into the soil from 

 the air through the roots, a porous subsoil may be expected for from three to 

 four years from one dynamiting. Of course it is not necessary to keep these 

 particular crops growing continuously, but a good idea is to rotate, using one of 

 them every second or third year. Last spring I dynamited some tree holes on 

 my place, spaced about twenty-five feet. About mid-summer when everything 

 was dry as a crisp from severe drought I decided to plant vegetables in the 

 same rows with the young trees, between these dynamited holes. It was a test 

 case and no cultivation was given, except one hoeing. .The results were wonder- 

 ful. I not only had vegetables, but they continued to bear till frost. It is 

 evident that in the clay belt of middle Georgia, progressive farmers will all 

 of them soon resort to subsoiling with dynamite. It is faster, more simple, less 

 expensive and far less dangerous than often supposed to be. The public is 

 invited to come at any time and see my apple trees, one year old, that have put 

 on new growth of from five to seven feet in one year. They were planted last 

 spring (consider the dry vear), in holes blasted with half stick of Du Pont 

 Dynamite." 



J. H. Baird, Supt. of the famous Hale Georgia Orchard Com- 

 pany, Fort Valley, Ga., operating the largest peach orchard in the 

 world, writes under date of November 16, 1911. 



"We have been subsoiling with dynamite for tree planting for three years; 

 the results have been very satisfactory indeed. Just how long the benefit of 

 breaking this hardpan will last is a problem. Our first dynamiting three years 

 ago shows up splendidly on our trees and up to this time they are much in 

 advance of those not dynamited. I should think at least one year. I believe the 

 results in subsoiling in this manner will last eight to ten years, and it is my in- 

 tention now to use dynamite in our old orchards at their very first appearance 

 of 'going back.' I am sorry that I cannot give you more information on this 

 line, but my experience with dynamite, as stated above, is only three years old. 

 All agriculturists know that in order to get gi eater yields the land has to be 

 broken deeply and the new way of doing things is to cultivate less land and 

 grow more per acre. Will certainly bring your product more in use each year." 



See also pages 87 and 97. 



Increased Wheat Yield 25% 



Extract from letter of Mr. D. A. Beamer, manager, Missouri Immigration 

 Association, Lamar, Mo., dated August 2, 1911 : 



"The writer, on his own account, dynamited about three acres two years 

 ago. The present season it carried a crop of wheat which was sown last fall. 

 This three acres was part of a ten-acre field, and was decidedly the wettest and 

 least productive part prior to the dynamiting. 



"The wheat on this dynamited ground was treated exactly like the balance 

 of the ten acres of which it is a part, and the wheat on the dynamited portion 

 was at least 25 per cent, better than the balance on the ten-acre plot. 



"As a result of my experience, I will subsoil ten acres of land this fall 

 because the very first crop taken from the above three acres has shown a good 

 profit on the cost of subsoiling." 



103 



