and some pines. All of these trees were full of dead wood. One of 
the willows had a whole side decayed. An analysis of the soil showed 
that it was rich in most plant food elements, but lacked humus. 
Whenever a dry spell occurred the top soil became very hard and 
numerous cracks opened in it. 
Dynamite was used to break up this hard soil. In a circle around 
the trees out at the edge of the foliage line, bore holes four feet deep 
were put down, and in each hole was tamped a charge consisting of 
one-fourth of a pound of forty per cent dynamite. The owner was 
afraid that the blasting would damage the lawn, but after the shots 
the only effect apparent was the formation of Httle mounds of earth 
two or three inches high at the tops of the bore holes. Three months 
after the blasting, an improvement began to be noted in the willow 
trees. The leaves, which had been very yellow, changed to a bright 
and healthy green. The pines which the previous year had made a 
growth of only about four inches, at the end of the first three months 
after being blasted, showed a new growth of over twelve inches. 
The lawn grass had previously been all right so long as frequent 
rains occurred but would not withstand even short periods of dry- 
ness. Dry weather produced numerous fissures in the lawn like those 
appearing under and around the trees. The lawn was treated by 
putting down bore holes twelve feet apart and three feet deep, loading 
into each hole a one-fourth pound charge of dynamite well tamped in. 
It was noted during the first rain that fell after the blasting that the 
ground absorbed the rain water much better than previously. Later 
when a rather protracted spell occurred, no fissures opened up in the 
lawn and the grass did not become yellow as before. 
Withal, it was considered that the dynamite experiment both on 
the grass and the trees was a decided success. 
Across the front of an estate in the suburbs of Philadelphia was a Reviving an 
Hemlock Spruce hedge, fifteen to eighteen feet in height, and about Old BfeDGE 
three hundred feet long. Due to the fact that the place had been very 
badly neglected this hedge was in bad shape. What the hedge needed 
was fertilizing and priming, the first to promote growth and the second 
to bring density to the foliage. The question of how to get the plant 
food down to the roots as quickly as possible was the doubtful point. 
If the ground were spaded up, it would merely loosen up one foot of 
the earth and cause the essence of the fertiUzer to be used up in this 
foot of ground. 
It was finally decided to place one-half stick of low grade dynamite 
every ten feet along this hedge. The shots were placed about four 
feet from the main stem of the plant on each side. The shots were 
put down to a depth of eighteen inches. Tight tamping was used to 
keep the effect down where it would do as much good as possible. 
Then well-rotted manure was put on to a depth of six inches. The 
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