Farming with Dynamite 517 



crops, looking sickly, with not even a blossom 

 on them. This is mainly due to the existence 

 of this slab, which had not been broken through 

 before planting out. Dynamite blasting will 

 do more for these than tons of manure. A 

 hole drilled in between every four plants 

 through this slab and blasted with dynamite 

 will crack up this slab, and enable the roots 

 to find their way to the water which is just 

 underneath it. 



"Again, one finds that after rain the water 

 remains in some places for weeks on the 

 surface, affecting all the trees or plants in that 

 area. This, too, would not occur if the slab 

 were broken up, as the water would find its 

 way through the cracks. In some places where 

 this slab was broken through before planting 

 out, the plants require very little watering, and 

 the bearing trees are healthy and full of crop 

 even during the severest drought. The 

 method used in these places is to cut down 

 to the slab and break it with pick-axes, at a 

 prohibitive cost. If holes could be drilled and 

 dynamite used, the breaking up of the slab 

 will be much more extended and the cost less 

 than half. Perhaps the cost of holing with 

 dynamite and planting will be slightly higher, 

 but there will be a great saving in watering, 

 and the chances given to plants to strike root 

 and bring them earlier into bearing will amply 

 repay this. Even in bearing fields where this 

 slab occurs, it would be well to have it broken 



