And now let us think of another kind of farming, in which fruit trees are concerned. With a large tree the need of plenty of underground space for its roots would seem to be more important even than in the case of annual plants like wheat. Yet we know very well that the usual procedure is to dig a small hole just about big enough to accommodate the roots of the sapling when it is planted, while the ground all round is left undisturbed. The assumption is that the tree will, in time, be able to push its roots through anything which is not actually solid rock. So much is this the case that one authority has thought fit to warn tree-growers in this picturesque fashion. "When planting a tree," he says, "forget what it is you are doing, and think that you are about to bury the biggest horse you know." How many people when planting any tree dig a hole big enough to bury a horse? It is fairly safe to reply, only those who do it by dynamite. [Illustration: _By permission of Dupont Powder Co., Wilmington, Delaware_ FIRST EFFECT OF THE DYNAMITE Clearing a field of tree stumps by blowing them up with dynamite.--_See_ p. 16] The method of working is to bore a hole nearly as deep as the hole you want to blast. At the bottom place a powerful charge, far stronger than you would use for "subsoiling," as just described. That will not only blow a hole big enough for you to put your tree in, but it will loosen the ground all around the hole for yards. The main debris from the hole will fall back into it, but that will not matter much, since, being all loose, it is an easy matter to remove as much as is necessary to plant the young tree. The advantages are the same as those enumerated in the previous case--namely, the loosened ground gives more scope for the roots--apple-tree roots want twenty feet or so--the ground holds moisture better, and the explosion kills the fungus germs. In addition to these there is the advantage that to blast a hole like this is cheaper than digging it. And that the advantages are not merely theoretical is shown by the fact that trees so planted actually do grow stronger, bigger and quicker than precisely similar ones under the same conditions, but set in the ordinary way with a spade. And not only do new trees thus benefit; old trees can be helped by dynamite. Many an existing orchard has been improved by exploding dynamite at intervals between the rows of trees. Care has to be taken to see that the disturbance is not so violent or so close as to damage the trees, but that can be easily arranged, and then the result is that the soil all around the trees is loosened, the roots are given more freedom and the water-storing properties of the ground are greatly improved.