The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-06-06
ELECTRICITY TO AID PLANTS
MODERN FARMING ~ FINDING
NEW METHODS.

/ VIII Do roVOlutionil8o ~ INC ute "
electricity, not only by furnishing power
10 mn thu silo. light tho farm buildings
milk the cows and for the hundred and one
things about the farm. but also 10 maks
plants grow. Wires carrying electricity
have been strung over fields Of wheat
with the result that the crop grew moTS
rapidly and increased production by
Is per cent over similar fields without
the electricity.
-Electrioally grown strawberries have
shown an increase Of from 30 per cent. "a
i2s per cant; corn. IS per cent. 10 20 pel
cent: potatoes, % per cent. and beeta'
10 per cent Prof. 3. LemstrOm Of hel-
siRgfOrs University. who obtained the
above results in experiments In England
and Germany. asserts that the results
win b greater after more experiment
and improvements have been made.
ALREADY the beginning has boen made
by the farmer in tho uss Of electrical
power on the farm. Here and there nom
New England 10 California prosperous
farmers have damned a brook and
twisted TN power into electrical energy.
These same farmers who have been FIRST
TO use electricity a. power win be the
first 70 uas Il 20 grow crops. Naturally
those who practice intensive cultivation
will uns electricity long before the ex-
tensive farmer will take IL up. The
market gardener already uses electrical
light 10 hasten growth. Next he will b
using the current for the same purpose
and 10 better the quality Of the crop.
"A very good example Of what electri-
city In the way of power on the farm
can do n found on the farm Of Z. B.
Miner near Oriskany Falls, In Oneida
county. New York Mr. Miner is a
graduate % an electrical course IN
college. but ha became a farmer. Using
what he learned. he threw a dam across
the Oriskany Creek. which hows about
0s second feet. The dam gives a six foot
head. Down in a wheel pit Of timber
and concrete Is a thirty inch vertical
shaft with no revolutions a minute,
The turbine produces about Is horse.
power The dynamo IL a compound
wound go volt i2ls kilowatt Westing-
house machine. A 10 by 10 foot power
house sheds this machinery. The ma
chinery IL noissh'ss and for months at
stretch no one COS near the power house.
The transmission line u 100 feet long,
extending % the farm buildings. The cable
carries tho current 20 lamps and motors
designed for 10 volts. Lathes and drills
In the Workshop ars driven by a i've
horse-poweT motor. which alsO furnishes
power for cutting ensilage, saving wood,
running the threahing machine and doing
similar work. Twenty cows arc MIXED.
two az n time, hy q vacuum milking ma
chine run by the motor. one horse
Dower motor drives the cream separator.
When the milk Va all out the separator
automatically shuts On the current, turns
on the water and seli-cleantes. HE
motors run the churna. pump water 10
the HOUSE,. run the grindsioue, icocream
freszer, the egg heater, washing machine
aud the WringeT Tho egg beater may
be run a. thFee spoedg. The cooking Il
done on electrioal devices. In tho sum
mer the farm buildings are kept cool and
ventilated hy alacirtc fans. IN the win
ter they are heated with electric heat
era u from g.0oO 70 l.OoO or more watts.
ID 4 superllu0us 20 say that the build
inRs are AiSO lighted by the same energy.
To Operuts the various devices h sim
plicity itself. The pressing Of buttons
accomplishea Il.
when the energy v not used for heat
ing or for power u isNtssipafsi "a me
form OF heat by resistance, coils. This
savcs the trouble Of going 90 the power
house 10 shut Of the turbine The re-
slstanos coils are connected In such a way
that when a motor N thrown into the cir
cult the coil disaipaies the energy which
the motor does not use.
Most of the apparatus has been made
Nv Mr.. Miner himself The motors.
heaters. nniis. hntrOna. automatic milk
SEPARATOR, tha egg neaier. heaters. dc..
are of his make and some u them Of his
design. Il would cost y 900 20 Replace
what he has constructed, but the cost
u upkcep ~ trihing. In the saving
u labor, fuel, light. trouble and other
EXPENSES the investment pays extremely
high returns II h. a first rate example
IL what NAV bs done on many farms by
making u.s. II water power which " now
going % waste. II may b. SAID hars
that less elaborate apparatus, such as
a turbine and motor and a Few simple
devicss. may he installed AZ cost u 500
10 $500
More remarkable. however. Ia ths
urulnisss ~ the tlss ~ electricity 10 hasten
the growth and 90 heiEhten the quality
II plants Prof. Iemstrom ON trip 20
the Arctic region auspected that the
electrical action in that part "a the world
has zomething 10 do with the rapidity
with wich plants mature. Consequently
In 1917 and 1913 In England and Germany
he electrically treated strawberries with
the results already mentioned. lie
reckoned that II all hts experiments
the average increase was a. per cent.
His method was % string flne wires over
a field and have a similar plot without
the wires. In this way he arrived a. the
results
The professor says that Il will pay
On a tWeufy-four acre wheat hsld the
cost Of apparatus was $50 ami the annual
upkeep was sos. He found that with
the d per cent. increase four-te nths
of tho cost Il paid for in one year.
This professor observed from other
experiments that q greater percentage
az ss.eds terminated after having been
ls,en treated electrically.
-Sir Oliver Lodge IN 1908 carried ON
further experiments on a largn scale,
testing what has become known a. the
lIemstrom method. In Brittun. England.
hs strung thin wires % feet apart on high
tension insulators over q ten acre field.
The system Of conductors was connected
with n generator supplying positive
electricity at something lIks 10000 volta.
The power required 20 generate the
electricity vas small. for although tho
potential WA high the quantity was IN
significant and The energy was Conns-
qIhan.ly trivial. Tho electricity Wna gen
Grated by two horsepower engine dTiv-
ing a motor which furnished a current Of
about thrse Amperea at 220 volts.
He found an increase of from % 10 70
per cent IN Wheat and an Improvement
Ia quality. Strnwberrie8 increased IS
per cent.. hpened earlier and Oontalned
The slsctEicity Vas app.led e from 600