The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1917-12-25
POOLING THE CROPS
TO MAKE THEM GROW
Electro-Culture Is the Newest Method oe
Increasing Production.

Scientists have found out the wav tn
make the sun shine, as it were, upon aori-
culture. They charge the soil with electric
lty and the crops, fooled into believing that
the sun is shining, commence to grow at \
rapid pace. There is no deception about the
results OF this experiment, which are hailed
as an achievement of vast Importance in
these days of war when the production and
conservation of food are so tremendously
vital.
In experiments that have been conducted
under the auspices of the English govern
ment young strawberry plants are said TO
nave increased in yield by 80 per cent. and
even old plants are reported to have given
~ per cent more fruit. Potatoes can easily
be persuaded, scientists claim, into the be
lief that a charge of electricity is genuine
sunshine, as a result of which thew forth
with grow prodigously.
In making these experiments the English
scientists say that they found that the only
drawback to the fertile lands of England
from an agricultural point of view. was the
Lack of sunshine The electric culture. how
ever, is designed to create an atmosphere of
sunshine when the sun is not shining Hence
the farmer can switch on a current of cleo
trlclty when the weather is cloudy and turn
1t off when Old Sol himself is on the lob.
The English government has a fftv-acre
farm under experiment at Hereford and
Swansea and is contemplating starting an
experiment station of its own, it being es
timated that the cost of installation will not
exceed $1,000.
The electricity is conveyed to the soil bv
means of wires. 1t seems that the electric
discharge does just what the sun does
splits up what are called the ions from the
atmosphere, as a result of which all plant
lie is enabled to extract from the air the
nitrogen that is imperative to growth.
The remarkable experiments of using cleo
trlclty to hasten the growth Of crops is be-
ing conducted by group of agricultural
experts whose work is being supervised bv
Prof. W. H. Blackman of the Imperial Col
lege OF Science and Technology
In the Hereford experiments the high ten
sion alternating current is used Spring |
wheat, barley, oats and clover were experi |
mented upon and fertilizers of various types
also used.
The method adopted, as described by
contributor to the Electrical Experimental. /
is to stretch over the field to be treated a
number of thin wires on poles, something
like low telegraph wires, but high enough (
Tor loaded wagons to pass underneath. The /
wires are supported by high tension insuIa- |
tors on posts in parallel spans 80 feet apart. !
The charge fixes off from the wires"
says one account, with a sound which is /
sometimes audible, and with glow which is .
visible in the dark. ANY one walking aboUt
below the wires can sometimes feel the eff
feet on the hair of the head, as a cobweb
on The face. The electricity does not act as
a fertilizer, but as a substitute for sunlight.
The current is only used in the early morn .
ing and in cloudy weather" The initial
cost OF the apparatus for "a acres is said
to be about $1,000, and the annual cost. in
Guiding depreciation and labor, is about .
$500, which is not very high
The present method of overhead disrbarcpa
from wires stretched over the crops was in
PRODUCED into England twenty years ago by
Prof. Lemstrom, of Helsingfors, whose book, /
. Electricity in Agriculture and HorticuIt
ure," any one interested in the subject
should consult. The method was modified !
by Mr.. j. E. Newman, in conjunction with
SIR Ollyer Lodge These and others formed :
themselves into the Agricultural Electric |
Discharge company, which disposed of a /
large number of installations both in Eng
land and abroad.
Very contradictory results were obtained
by the various users of the Lodge Newman !
apparatus, and the subject lost much pres
tlge. The results of the company's own ex-
perments with wheat over a series Of wears
were reported as an increase varying from
y per cent. to 80 per cent. The next phase
IN the development of electroculture open
ed in 1911. The British board of agriculture
gave grant to Prof PriestIy, of Leeds, for
a Sclentlhc investigation of these new meth
DDS and their value Prof Priestly collaborat
ed with Mr. l. Jorgensen, an electric expert
and plant psychologist, and with Miss F G. /
Dudgeon, of Dumfries. In the result it an
peared that many technical difficulties exist
ed: At first no favorable results were OBJ
tanned, but in the last two years, with i'm
proved methods, increases Of so per cent.
over the ordinary crop have been recorded
with oats on Miss Dudgeon's land.
Tnts N,N114
been connected up in the extensive vegeta
bic gardens owned by Sir Thomas F Rob
erts, near Carnavon in Wales.