Worcester morning daily spy. (Worcester, Mass.) 1888-1898, 1898-01-02
THEY MAKE : =
PLANTS GROW
BY ELECTRICITY.

The relation of electricity to life is a
puzzle that has interested many minds.
In the subtle nature of that force which
used to be known as the electric fluid"
there is unquestionably something
which suggests the yet subtler life pl1n-
cfple. Though quacks abuse the ana
logy to cheat the sick their frauds do
not make the truth any less true. and
the truth is that life is force and cleo
tricity is force, and they must be IN
some way related
1t is hard to study the finer effect OF
electricity upon animal life. Animals
may be killed by the fluid or in some
cases seemingly helped by it, but the
result of amy long series of experiments
is spoiled by the difficulty of measuring
any change asr&
1t is possible that the way to APP
proach this subject is not SO direct as
some would make it, but must start
with plant life, and so work up to man.
The life Of a plant is not altogether
different from that of an animal but
it is simple, and the results of expert
ments upon it can be much more easily
measured. R
1t is possible that the experiments in
electrical farming which are being
made at the Massachusetts Agricul-
tural College at Amherst may be the
beginning of discoveries that will not
stop with plants. The workers there,
under the direction of Henry H. Good
| ell, LII. D., are proceeding in perfect
| ly scientific manner, fully measuring
every step before they take the next
one. Thus far they have proven that
certain kinds of electric currents APP
piled in accurately measured amounts
produce definitely measurable effects
on plant life.
Electricity properly applied stimu-
| lates the growth of plant. The ex-
periments of the past year upon white
mustard, red clover, barley. and other
products of the field, prove that a
/ rightly regulated electric current in
| creases growth from 10 to 40 per cent.
| The subject has been studied for $50
years, but never at any other time and
place has the work been so accurately
scientific or nearly so conclusive.
! The method is to take two hundred
seeds of the same kind, and separate
them into eight groups of twenty-five
seeds each. These groups are placed
! in exactly similar terminating pans;
and every condition to which they are
exposed is rigidly equal, except that
some are treated with electricity while
others are not.
| The results prove the efficacy of cleo
tricity in promoting the speed Of
growth and the vigor of the plant. They
are so definite as to be of use to the
| farmer, and already on many extensive
farms the knowledge gained at the
Massachusetts, college is being put to
practical use. The current is passed
| through the soil in which the plants
grow, and the methods are such that
large areas may be treated without
excessive expense.
No scientist can doubt that the time
is near at hand when electric energy
/ can be developed incomparably more
cheaply than power of amy kind has
ever been had by artificial means. It
will be only a little more expensive
than sunlight and in that day the farm
lands of the earth. contracting as the
population increases, will yet by their
marvellous productivity supply abun-
dant food to the race.
] Copyright, 1897, by Bachelor Syndicate.