Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-01-25
FORCED GROWTH.
The Agricultural Department
to Make Experiments,
Raising Vegetables With the
Aid of Electricity.

|
Under Certain Conditions - Electric
Light Changes the Color OF Some
Flowers-Poor Tobacco Made Good by
Inoculating with High Grade bacteria.
| WASHINGTON, Jan. Electricity
Is apout to find new employment in
horticulture. Spring vegetables are al
ready being forced by its aid for market.
There is no doubt that roses and other
| flowers can be made to bloom more
plentifully and more proftably with
its assistance. In short, the dis
covery affords promise of possibilities
not yet estimated.
The department of agriculture has
been experimenting in this direction for
some time past. 1t has been found that
lettuce is particularly susceptible to the
influence of the electric light, by means
of which it can be grown for market in
two-thirds the usual length Of time.
Other vegetables respond likewise in
varying degrees. But everything de-
pends upon the proper regulating Of the
light, and how to do this can only be
learned by careful study of the results
produced under all sorts of conditions.
The effect of the electricity being to
hasten maturity, too much of 1t causes
lettuce to run to seed before the edible
leaves are fo~'ned.
1t must nc be imagined that electric
ity is employed for such purposes as a
substitute for sunlight. 1t is merely
used in supplementary fashion. The
greenhouse that has the sun in the day
time is Illuminated at night with arc
lights, toward which the plants incline
their leaves and flowers, accepting quite
innocently these artificial counterfeits
of the orb of day, 1t was supposed
hitherto that vegetables required in
tervals of darkness for their health and
development, just as animals need sleep;
but it has been shown that, supplied
with electric rays, they will go ON grow
ing thriftily between sunset and day
break. Staying up all night seems to do
them no harm 50 long as the dissipation
is properly regulated.
On the same principle that beer is Sc
lected by the prudent as less demoral-
izing beverage than whisky, the electric
gardener employs opal globes to dimin-
ish the intensity of the light. When it
is left bare and permitted to shed its un-
filtered rays upon the plants, the latter
grow pale, run up quickly in sickly
stalks and soon die. 1t remains to be
discovered exactly how much electricity
is beneficial ald during precisely what
period of the development of the vege-
tables it ought to be applied.
The influence of electricity upon the
color and productiveness of flowers has
been shown to be extraordinary. Tulips
exposed to its light have deeper and
richer tints, Towering more freely, an |
developing longer stems and bigger
leaves. Fuchsias bloom earlier under
like conditions. Petunias also bloom
taller and more slender. It is the same
way with many other flowers. In fac
there is every reason for believing that
the electric light will be very proftably
used in future as an adjunct to forcing
establishments for both flowers and
garden vegetables. Already one marke
gardener in New Jersey is employing it
with a success which he reports as
marvellous.
No More Regalla de Cabbage Cigars.
Another surprising investigation
which the department of agriculture is
conducting has to do with tobacco.
An important part of the curing of
tobacco is its fermentation, which oc-
ours during the process known as bulk
ing" The leavs are packed closely to-
gether in large piles, and after while
the mass heats, the tobacco being said to
''sweat, and the aromatic compounds
which contribute to its taste and odor
are formed. The phenomena of ferinen-
tation are caused by bacteria
Now, each sort of tobacco has its own
kind of bacteria, which gives it aroma
and flavor incidentally to feeding upon
it, Here comes in wonderful discov-
cry, for it has been accertained by ex-
pertinent that poor tobacco, when inoc-
ulated with the bacteria naturally be-
longing to fine tobacco, obtains the
taste and quality of the latter. Thus by
a simple operation it is easy to transform
inferior leaves into first-class material
for cigars, which the consumer may
readily be led to believe are from the
Vuelta Abajo.
Thus far the matter has not passed be-
yond the experimental stage. The
trials were performed by propagating
colonies of bacteria belonging to first
quality tobacco in beef tea, and then
sprinkling the latter upon the inferior
leaves. After these leaves had been
packed together and permitted to fer
ment, they were found to have all the
bouquet and other desirable qualities of
the fine brand. So complete were the
results that the expert Judges were un-
able to tell the difference. They can un-
doubtedly be secured on large scale at
a small cost, perhaps by merely spray
ing the poor tobacco with decoction Of
a superior quality, transferring by this
means the vegetable organisms whose
assistance is desired. The notion that
the difference between a Richmond
stogy and an imported Havana cigar is
chiefly one OF species in microbes Is GER
tainly calculated to be OF interest to