The Opelousas courier., 1904-09-03
ELECTRICITY ON 41....4
sUPERsEDEs THE HORSE WITH
THE MODERN AGRlCULTuRisT.

stroys insects by Lightning Fluid
Electric Currents for Plants.
The employment of electric power
to do the work Oh small and large
farms has been slow in attracting gen
eral attention in this country, but in
Germany and France many cream-
cries ana small dairies have been
long iu operation by this method.
American farmers have beenNNfhe lead
ing users of labor saving mEfhinery,
but mostly on the large faFpa where
the weight of the machinery was a
constant drawback to the adoption Of
electric motive power. The maqeines
are now being made lighter wit out
destroying their efficiency, and { ec-
tricity Is rapidly playing an important
part in their deF elopment. The cory
test Is really between steam, gaso1i
line and electricity The day of the,
horse as a heavy labEorer 81 American
farms has ended, and the machinery
will more and more be operated by
one Of the three motive powers men
toned. The trackless trolley farms
lave today doomed up Is experimental
investments which thoroughly work
out all that was claimed for them.
With cheaper power derived from the
rivers and waterfalls electricity will
extend to all parts of the country,
aid small and large farming impls-
ments will be operated thereby. Elec-
trio power is cheaper than horse
power, even when ordinary fuel Is
the power can be supplied from some
river 1t will be far cheaper than
steam in any form. Conditions ct
present promise the unfolding of one
of the greatest epochs in u agri-
cultural history. The past half GEN.
fury, says e. j. Grimshaw in a letter
to the Pittsburg Dispatch, has been
remarkable for it's agricultural ma
chinery, but in the next fifty years
the use Of electric power for cultivat-
ing our farms, stimulating and plant
ing and harvesting crops, will far
eclipse in Importance anything yet
achieved. In the new era of electric
farming the industry will attract men
who now look upon farm work as
drudgery, and the appearance Of this
new type Of men in our fields and Or
chards will tend even more to create
revolutionizing changes.
The application Of the electric cur
rent to the growing plants by means
Of wire netting In the soil or by the
arc rays has received peculiar atten-
ton from those interested in truck
gardening and greenhouse work. In
the latter the arc and incandescent
lamp have been employed more than
experimentally. The color Of the
globes of the electric lamps has been
found to change the effect on the
plants. BY repeated experiments diff
ferent colored globes are In use for
different purposes. The red rays are
too highly stimulating for many
plants and the violet rays yield with
the soft yellow ones the best results.
1t Is possible in this way to stimulate
the growth of certain plants without
materially exhausting their vitality
OF weakening the reproductive power
of the seeds. Many plant houses and
hot houses now employ the electric
arc lamp with great success In fore
ing plant growth during the cold win
ter days and nights. By keeping the
plants flooded with electric rays day
and night the plants are forced to
quick growth and they prove tender
and crisp in the case Of lettuce and
radishes.
The use Of electricity for the pro-
lection Of crops from insects, worms
and fungi is n Of the latest devel-
opments in this method Of agriculture.
When we consider that millions of
dollars worth of crops are annually
ruined by insects the employment of
any agency must be a matter of wide
spread interest.
Electricity as an insect destroyer
is rapid and effective. 1t kills the
eggs and larvae of the grubs and
worms that live in the ground almost
as surely as the insects that crawl
above. In fact, 1t is to reach the eggs
and larvae in the soil that the agent
is employed most generally, for heav-
Ter shocks of electricity can be admin
istered in the spring Or fall, when no
plants are growing, than in the sum,
mer season. A garden or field covered
with a network of wires can be given
a series Of electric shocks between
crops or seasons which no life cab
Withstand.
In the early spring, when the soil
Is plowed up for the first sowing, the
electric power is turned on, and the
soil is SO heavily charged with the
fluid that all insects and eggs that
have been wintering In the ground
will be instantly killed. It has been
repeatedly demonstrated that by de.
stroying the eggs and larvae In the
soil the attacks of insect pests are
practically reduced to nothing, and
little actual injury need be feared
When the warm weather returns THE
multitudes Of insects which appear
in the gardens and fields have been
Matched out in their earthly homes
few inches beneath the frost line. II
wiring gardens for this purpose 1t is
essential that the wires should BIZ
placed sufficiently beneath the surface
Of the soil to insure complete destruc
ton to the insects which burrow be