Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1911-08-03
MASSAGE YOUR CROPS.

Experiments Abroad Show That Plants
Love Electricity.
There is a field Of wheat near Eve
sham. which is like no other field OF
wheat in England. says the London
Graphic.
Up north. mt Balmakewan. how
ever, there Is field of oats which
looks very much like IT, On both these
fields there are rows Of rough tele-
graph poles. about seventy yards apart
and some hundred yards between the
rows.
On the top of each pole Is an In
suIator ten times the size Of those seen
on ordinary telegraph poles. The In
sulators carry the usual telegraph
wire, and extended between the rows
there are strands of thin wire. fasten-
ed to the telegraph wire. about ten
yards apart.
Very soon there will be difference.
perfectly visible to the passerby. be-
tween the part of the crop which Is
below the wires and the part which IL
not. The difference Is due TO dis
charges of electricity from the curious
net work 1t Is connected to wire
which runs to little shed and from
that shed to dynamo at the farm.
But 1t is what happens in the little
shed that matters The current from
the dynamo Is transformed to high
tension and rectitpd by Sir Oliver
Lodges well known valves. They look
rather like glass fire extinguishers. and
they glow in various tints.
There are about twenty -one miles OF
wire ON the induction coil. Although
1t IL easy to produce in the shed the
lightings and cracklings associated
with wireless telegraphy. nothing Or
dinarily happens but a slight sizzling
and much greater generation OF
ozone than Is pleasant
The field wires are kept running ut
the high tension OF 100000 volts
Walking below the network barehead-
ed one feels n sensation as II brush
ing against spider webs.
For five years now this "crop shock
ing" has been going on
The result seems to have been In
the case W wheat at EvaSham an In
crease In crop Of from % to 80 per
cent. Last year the increase was not
more than % per cent. but the eie trio
discharges Il been much weaker than
In previous years Al Bnlmak1 wan
there has been marked d florence in
oats.
Experiments have also been conduct
ed with stra wbprrieS and tomato Ut
Evesham. again with encoura' Ing re-
suits as to yield. One year the ee'-
trifed trawberries were found to be
much sweeter than usual
ANY one who has a d, nnmo or ac-
cess to Pm electric cable could begin
experiment.. In electritcatian on he
tween five and ten acres at an exprndi-
ture Of about $500. To deal with sixty
acres the expenditure wOnld he a out
$1,000 Apparently what e.ertrifirn-
ton does IL to give the plants kind
of electrical MASSAGE That was SIR
OnNPT ui"' utA So
are not needed on fine. sunny days.
but In dull weather they take the place
Of sunshine.
or course the whole problem Of the
nutrition Of plants is obscure. Ii IL
perfectly GEAR thlt this dis barge OF
high tension electricity has done 8 me
thing to the crops treated. hut what
exactly IL In some doubt.
So far there IL no evidence Of shock
ed plants suffering from premature
exhaustion due to OverwOrk. Indeed.
there is some reason for believing that
the effect Of electrlicatitn + to give
the plant tone and go.
An American worker has shown that
electrical discharges help the micro
organisms Of the soil. 40 Gle IRRIGATION
may be doing something In that direc.
ton too.