Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-07-28
ELECTRICAL FARMING.
a FRENCH MONKS SUCCESS
Full ExPERIM ENT.
Simple Apparatus Used for the New
Scheme-Some Interesting and Re-
markable Agricultural Results Obtained
Through the Discovery.


question, which has been much dis
cussed lately, is by no means a new
one. Experiments have been made
at different periods since 1900, all Of
which failed more or less. But this
proves simply that the systems en-
ployed were detective. and not that
electricity cannot be used with great
benefit in agriculture.
A rev mOdus operandi has been
devised and successful put into
operat on by French monk named
Brother raulin. The efficacy of the
new plan is vouched for by facts
which command attention. Brother
Paul n 5 method OF collecting and dis
tributirg electric ty is simple. A
pole fifteen or twenty yards high,
supporting an isolated galvanized
iron wire, is erected. Over the top
of the pole the wire ends in copper
brush with five branches, which
Sc YES as collec tor of whatever
electricity due to meteorological
phenomena Ohunler storms, rain,
wind, etc.) may exist in the lower
strata Of the atmosphere.
A network oi wires about two
yards apart, in communi alton with
the cOnducto,, is disposed in squares,
and covers q spa G greater or less, a.
coraing TO the height of the pole,
one Of seventeen yards in height
sut1icing for pace of three quar-
ters of an acre. The wires are buried
sufficiently deep (siX to twenty
inches) not to interfere with the or
binary culti,a alton of the LAM. They
may last for years, and neel only be
renewed when so far ca en- away by
rust IS to le no longer able to trans
IN t the electric current
Brother Paulin's first experiment
was made in a potato field at Mont
brison in the spring of 1891. In the
following July a visit was paid to the
field by Il deputation of agricultur-
lists who reported to their societies
as follows: The attention is at once
arrested by marked irregularity in
the vegetation OF the field. Within
limited space, situated exactly over
the wires of the 'geomagnet fere,'
the potato plants are quite as vigor-
Gus as elsewhere, and that without a
break or q weak spot The patch
contains magnificent stalks, sep
Grated from the rest as distinctly as
if "a line had been drawn with COM
pass"
The report of the agricultural
society Of Montbrison, which sub
,tnntltr uttr..pl,1 q
medal to Brother Paulin, runs thus:
The influence of a 'geomagnetifere,
twenty eight feet in he ght, was
perc ptible over space fourty-four
yards in diameter In this part of
the field stalks and vege alton of the
plants, which are of extraordinary
size, have still esd September) pre-
served their grccnness, thereby con-
trasting strongly with the remainder
of the crop. Several stalks measured
were fond to be feet 10 inches
in diameter. After examining the
vegetation of the plants, the men,
bers of the committee chose four
spaces Of 10 square yards each
two in the electrically influenced
part of the fell, and two elsewhere.
These spaces were selected in places
which appeared likely to give an
average result The SO square
yards of ground above the wires
yieldel II St 2 lbs of tubes, while
the other 80 square yards oAly
yielded St 8 lbs"
The production per acre would,
hn 1 80
The result, which was obtained with
out any special fertilizer, and with a
weak yielding variety of plant (the
ordinary violet potato). equals the
crops raised by means Of expen i've
chemical manure. On October the
difference was still greater than be-
fore, 60 feet of influenced ground
yielding nearly / cwt. as compared
with 4 cwt. from another part of the
field. The second experiment was
made in a vineyard and was attended
with equal success.
The grapes came to maturity
quicker and were more regular round
the "geomagnetifere" than else
where. Analysis of the juice OF very
ipO ~ uAO koNO ~
in favor of the new method Of WITH
culture both In the percentage of
sugar and in the degree of alcohol.
Experiments made in 1892 further
demonstrated the value of Brother
Paulin's discovery. In April geo
magnetiiere" twenty-six yards high
was erected at Walls, near lie Puy, in
a spinach field sown in 1891. In the
beginning of May marked differ
ence could be observed in the vigor
and color OF the plants growing above
the wires from that of those in the
rest of the field.
On the 18th of May five or six
square yards of each kind of spinach
were torn up by the root sand weighed.
The difference in favor of the cleo
trified area was little over one and
one-half pounds per square yard. On
the 2lst Of May this difference had
risen to nearly two and one-half
pounds, and on the 9th Of May
committee of professors and agri-
cultufists agreed that the action of
the atmospheric electricity had in