The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1912-01-13

49, half All the same the prog
ress Of veg station on this little plot will be
watched with keen interest. for 1t may point
the way to helping the farmers of the future
IN important respects and even may be the
means of making 'scme of them independent
of climate.
OF course it is not sought to convey the inn
ptsssion that the present undertaking by the
UnirGe States department of agriculture at its
most important experiment farm is the first
effort to make electricity useful on the farm.
Pubic as well private enterprise invaded
that field long ago and thus we find today
n1sny farmers in various parts OF the country
developing electricity for home consumption
by means of power plants right on the prem
fses. the energy for generating being supplied
by the gasoline engines which are becoming
SO common in the rural districts, or through
the Harvesting of water power which has been
done successfully on so many farms. More
over the electricity. thus generated is not used
merely for illumination. etc. inside the farm
buildings Progressive farmers and dairymen
have adarted the twentieth century power to
many tasks that had formerly to be done by
human hands-as, for example. milking and
churning and feed cutting.
But Uncle Sans new venture in electric
farming rursues quite a different path. This
latest function of the magic current is not to
eupplant manual labor. but to assist nature
10 particn'arize, in popular form. it may be
explained that the idea is to have electricity
supplement sunlight in It's influence upon
growing crops The artificial warmth and
glow will be called into play as proxy for the
burning beams from the orb above on days
when, there is no sunlight and in the morn
ipgs and evenings of the short winter days
when old Sol is working shorter hours than
In. midsummer. Perhaps electricity cannot
ever be. expected to prove so great stimulus
to growing plants as is powerful sunlight but
preliminary experiments have proven that 1t
will help some and the object Of Uncle Sans
present undertaking Is to determine just how
much assistance electricity will render under
the conditions Of soil and climate, etc. which
confront the average American farmer.
The reader might naturally suppose. II he
hasn't been informed otherwise. that II Uncle
Sam was going to employ electricity to coun-
terfeit sunbeams he would do 1t by calling
into use powerful electric lights. which seem
70 be about the next best thing to sunlight
In hrilliancy. Well. that was the way It was
done by several of the leading scientists OF
EUROPE who have rather gotten ahead OF us
In such tests. They hung big arc lamps In
greenhouses and they heightened the growing
<sAy for plants ard vegetables by flooding the
hot iouses with light for several hours after
rundown each dsy. The result was that one
prominent foreigner has produced splendid
strawberries In much shorter time than
would have been possible had nature been al
lowed to take her own course. and our own
Cornell university in New York state was
equally successful In tnrrving tine growth of
l<ttpce radIshes and other vegetables by this
game method. But Uncle Sam is not going to
follow b',rdiy in this beaten path He Is TAX
ing n.w tack
The principle of Uncle Sans new Electric
farm"--if We may call one miniature wheat
field q farm--,s to en- 10y the electric current
itself and not the electric lamrs to srur nature
In her work. This is interesting in itself and
the project will be Of added value In its re-
suits from the fact that the growing under
electricity is to go on out of doors instead Of
in the artificial atmosphere of hot house.
Moreover. in order to approximate average
conditions the experts of Uncle Sans bureau
Of plant industry have chosen as the scene
OF their experiment. not prize farm, but
tract on the largest experiment farm of the
United States department of agriculture locat-
ed near Arlin gron. Virginia This land WAS
formerly Part OF the historic estate of Rob-
ert r. Lee. the Confederate general. but 1t was
neglected for MANY years after the war and
It cannot be said to offer more than average
opportunities for filling. II they be that good.
The appearance of Uncle Sans electric
farm" is well calculated to rouse the curiosity
OF any chance farmer riding along the road.
even If be did not see the warning signs eau.
honirg him that he must not get within four
feet of the wires carrying a current of 100000
volts-electricity powerful enough to do all
sorts OF damage II given the opportunity
What the farmer Reholds is plowed area
dotted at intervals of couple of rods with
Slender wooden poles about seven feet In
height At one corner OF the field Is the So
called power house OF this farm, small
frame building from which leads wire con-
meeting with the wires OF nearby interurban
trolley system. II tie fRrmer looks close he