Wet, seeping, unproductive land on the dairy farm of V. T. Wood of Grahm, route one, has been reclaimed by the use of pyrotol and now, three years after the soil was blasted, excellent crops can be produced by the owner.
The reclaimed spot never produced a crop until the last three years, states Mr. Wood, but this year an average of two tons of lespedeza hay per acre was made.
On November 17 when this farm was visited by A. T. Holman, agricultural engineer at State College, and w. Kerr Scott, county agent of Alamance County, the area drained with pyrotol was in excellent shape while neighboring fields of the same Iredell soil type were too wet to plow because of the 1 ½ inches of rain falling on the previous day.
“This soil did not respond to surface or open-ditch drainage so in 1923, I decided to subsoil it with explosive, which I had purchased for blowng stumps,” says Mr. Wood. “With a large augur, I drilled holes through the soil and hard pan to rock about eight feet below the surface. These holes were placed eight feet apart each way. From the edge of this area to the branch, I had an open ditch, so I placed a line of holes in the center of the ditch at the same depth as the others. One stick of pyrotol primed with cap and sufficient safety fuse to reach the top of the ground was placed in each hole and fired. The explosion broke up the hard pan and heavy subsoil but left the surface undisturbed.”
As a result of this work, Mr. Wood refilled his open ditch and has never had any trouble with the area since. He has also used the explosive to drain a depression in another field.
“I find that dairying and diversified farming are proving successful for me, but I am working to get each acres on the farm to produce economically. I do this by removing stumps, draining my land maintaining the supply of humus in the soil,” says Mr. Wood.
From page 3 of The Alamance Gleaner, Graham, N.C., September 16, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn84020756/1926-09-16/ed-1/seq-3/
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