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Show DYNAMITE TO DIG DITCHES Western Farmers Now Dlow Up Earth to Let Water Through Swamp Lands Difficult to Ditch, Western farmers are now employing dynamite, to (lit? drainage ditches. The method Is simple and effective la wet and dump ground. The first step necessary Is to determine de-termine on where to put ttie dltrh and bow wide and bow deep It shall be. Then holes are pnncbed with a crow, bar at two foot lntervnls along the course of the renter of the proosed ditch. In to each hole nn eight-Inch dynamite cartridge la dropped and tittuped In with the tntid. After punching 75 or 100 of the holes and loading them, a time fuse and bluitlng rap U applied to the center one. When It explodes all the rest follow ault. A long sK-et of mud flies Into the air, and there la left a fairly well made ditch. The excavated excavat-ed dirt la scattered over the adjacent lninl, much to Ita enrichment, and there la little need for the ahovel except ex-cept to even up the aldoa. The first time the water rocs through it truea up these bank. The depth of the ditch la regulated entirely by the depth to which the cartridges are sunk. When an etra wide ditch la required all that la necessary nec-essary la to put In a double row of cartridge. Thla eeV.er firing method hBa been found to bo possible only where the soil la damp and compact. In anndy or other dry and loose soils the cliarKe cannot tie depended upon to set off each of the othera, hut a separate cap and fuse must be placed on each to miiki aure. Swamp lauds. It hna been found, are difficult to ditch In thla way. because be-cause almost Invariably they are underlaid un-derlaid with bardpan, through which the water has never been able lo es-eae. es-eae. This hardpan la usually several feet In thickness, and the plan followed fol-lowed la to bore a hole with an extension exten-sion super down almost to the bottom bot-tom of the hardpan. Several cart rldgea are usually necessary to secure force enough to break open the hard-pan hard-pan and allow the water to seep through, thus draining It off and leaving leav-ing heavy top soils of great richness. |