Deepening Farms with Dynamite

The use of low-grade dynamite containing about twenty percent of nitroglycerine for removing stumps and boulders impeding cultivation on the farm has been proven an unqualified success at many local demonstrations, as well as in the hands of numerous farmers employing it in ordinary use. The Farmer’s Advocate of May 16th 1912, described the results of a public demonstration at Weldwood, and we have ourselves since used the sumping powder, as it is called in Canada, with very satisfactory effects. Boulders weighing nearly a ton have been repeatedly shattered to pieces with a couple of half-pound cartridges, costing about fifteen cents for the whole charge, cap, fuse and all. To break boulders lying out of the ground the powder is is merely laid on top of the stone with capped fuse inserted in one stick, a few shovelfuls of earth are thrown over the charge, the fuse is ignited and speed made for a safe point thirty or forty rods away. It is very simple, very easy, and comparatively cheap. With proper care it appears to be quite safe. Likewise with stumps, any-sized sound stump may be blown out and split to pieces by merely using enough powder, judiciously placed. Stumps, of course, can be burned if sufficiently decayed and dry. Boulders do not burn.

But it is another and newer use for dynamite that we write viz., cultivating the subsoil. Perhaps its value for this purpose has been most frequently demonstrated in preparing sites for tree-planting. A stick of low-grade dynamite exploded in a hole made with a crow-bar will break up a hardpan in amazing fashion, preparing it for easy permeation by tree roots. For this purpose a low-grade dynamite of say 20 per cent is especially advised. A high explosive compacts the soil about it and may make a good-sized cavity to fill in. Low-grade powder leaves the soil delightfully broken up. Anyone who has observed the effects of a charge will be quite prepared to expect decided benefits from its use on hard-bottomed soils.

Not only as preparation for tree-planting but for general cropping is dynamite recommended. Several sensation articles have recently appeared in the British and American magazines and a number of strikingly illustrated pamphlets have been issued by the powder companies. The charges are fired in rows and the effect is as of a great cloud of earth rising in a block or wall out of the ground. The expense is not prohibitive and one blasting is supposed to last for a number of years.

Without being able to verify by experience the claims of enormously increased crop production, we feel warranted in drawing public attention to the idea. The theory seems sound, for a soil with a close impervious subsoil is easily waterlogged, is difficulty drained and offers very adverse conditions to plant roots. The possible effect of blasting upon humus content and the danger of dislocating tile drains are practical questions concerning which more light may be forthcoming. If practical and economical, the plan of deepening one’s farm with dynamite will certainly appeal.