New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-29
Electricity Sneeds
Crops in England

CEEDS are being electrified in
~ England with increase in produc-
ton. Special correspondence to
"The Manchester Guardian" from
Ashbourne outlines a new agricul-
tural idea:
Trials of electrified seed have been
carried out for the last four seasons by
practical farmers under ordinary con-
dltlons, but mainly these trials have
taken place in the South of England,
particularly in Dorset, where the VOL
tryn electro-chemical process was in
vented by H. E. Fry, of Godmanstone
near Dorchester The results attained
have increased the popularity of the
process, and though farmers as a class
are, perhaps not without good reason.
intensely conservative, their impress
sion of the treatment in the Southern
counties is indicated by the fact that
firms of seedsmen have taken out
licenses in many other parts of the
country and, having erected at their
own cost plants for electrifying seeds.
are recommending electrically charged
seeds to their customers. A case in
point is that of Messrs. G. Wheeldon.
Limited, corn merchants, of Derby, and
Messrs. F. Wright, Limited, corn mer-
chants, of Ashbourne, who have COM
bined N the erection of a plant in
Derby.
The process consists in passing into
the seed for certain length of time,
which differs with each sort of seed. q
mparatively weak current of cleo
tricity. The seed is rendered perme-
able to the current by being first
soaked In a solution Of some metallic
salt. After the electrihcation the So
luton Of salt is run off and the seed
removed from the tank and dried In
experienced workers are warned by the
patentees that the drying is delicate
part of the operation and tina. the
termination of seeds which are over
dried or dried at too high tempera-
ture may be impaired"
The basis Of this new process is
the assumption that every seed pos
sesses an electric capacity. To quote
further:
Assuming that theory to be sound.
then the effect of the Wolfryn process
is but to add to the permanent cleo
trlcal charge which resides in every
vegetable product; but perhaps the
chief disadvantage arises from the fact
that electricity so added is not perma-
nent. 1t leaks away after a certain
time from the seed, though expert
ments would seem to show that even
afterward its growth will in some de-
gree have been affected by the process.
Should the treatment become popular
in the north it will be almost inevitable
that farmers will discover that on &C
count Of this leakage it will be con-
venient that they should buy their
seeds in the ordinary state from their
seedsmen and themselves take the
seeds to an electrifying station, as
they might take -four to a miller.
The cost is about las. (s350) for a
sack: Of wheat, 12s. Cd. (s3.12) a sack
Of barley, and lis. (s2.75) a sack of
oats. These prices are, of course. high
on account Of the fact that plants are
few, and it is supposed that with in
creasing popularity the cost Of the
process would tend TO diminish. The
increase in yield is said to range from
SIX bushels to as many as sixteen
bushels an acre. Exceptionally it
may be as little as four bush
els an acre. Many of the best
results have, as a fact. been obtained
on the poorest land, but large increases
are also claimed from soil that was
known to have been rich horticultural
seeds are, as yet, in different case. Elk
periments are considered promising.
but every kind of seed needs its own
special treatment, and, apparently,
horticultural seeds have not up to the
present responded so satisfactorily as
other kinds Of Seeds"