The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-01-02
They Make
Plants Grow
BY Electricity.

The relation Of electricity to life liz
puzzle that has Interested many minds.
In the subtle nature Of that force which
used to he known as the electric fluid"
there IS uuquestionably something
which sLHa1c=ts the yet subtIer life
principle Though quacks abuse the
analogy to cheat the sick, their frauds
do not make the truth any less true.
And the truth is that life is force and
electricity is force. and they must be
in some way related.
II is hard n study the Gner effect Or
electricity upon animal life. Animals
may be killed by the fluid or in some
cases seemingly helped Dy H. but the
result of any long series Of experiments
is spoiled by the difficulty IF measuring
any change
1t is possible that the way 10 ap-
proach this subject is not 50 direct az
some would make IL. but must start
with plant life. and so work up to man.
The life Of plant is not altogether
different from that Of an animal. but
il is simple and the results Of expert
ments upon Ii can be much more easily
measured.
1t is possible that the experiments in
electrical farming which are being
made at the Massachusetts agricui-
tural college at Amherst may be the
beginning Of discoveries that Will not
stop with plants. The workers there.
under the direction of Henry II. Good
ell Ill. D.. are proceeding in perfect
y 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 a plant. The ex-
periments Of the past year upon white
mustard. red clover, barley and other
products Of the field, prove that
rightly regulated electric current In
rreases growth from IL to 40 per cent
| The subject has been studied for I51
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 200 seeds of
the same kind, and separate them into
eight groups of - 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 ex-
| tenslve farms the knowledge gained at
! the Massachusetts college IL being put
! TO practical use. The current is passed
| through the soil in which the plants
I 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
cheapy than power Of any kind has
ever been had by artificial means. II
| will be only a little more expensive
than sunlight: and in that day tbs
farm lands of the earth, contracting a:
the population increases. viii yet BY
their marvellous productivity supply
] abundant food TO the race.