58 FRUIT-GROWING 



advantage in the preparation of planting holes 

 will be had from dynamite is in cases where the 

 soil is underlaid with a stratum of hard ma- 

 terial. Even here it is doubtful if the dynamite 

 will be of much permanent use for it is not 

 often that there is any material of food value 

 under such a stratum. 



In such a case, too, the dynamite should never 

 be used except when the ground is perfectly 

 dry for if it is the least bit moist it will pack 

 at the point of explosion and as a result a hard 

 walled pocket will be formed. This pocket may 

 be compared with a flower-pot with baked 

 walls. For a few years a tree planted in such 

 a pot would grow vigorously. It might even 

 bear earlier, but when the roots struck the hard 

 walls they would be slowed down and the tree 

 would go through a period of slow growth from 

 which it might not recover. 



On good orchard soil there seems to be ab- 

 solutely no advantage from the use of explo- 

 sives. "We have one block half of which was 

 planted in spade-dug holes and the other half 

 in dynamited holes. If an} T body can tell me 

 where the one leaves off and the other begins I 

 shall be glad to meet him, because I have forgot- 

 ten the location of the dividing-line myself and 

 can't find it again from the appearance of the 

 trees. 



