Evening star., 1924-11-05
m TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

attention to the fact that in 1924.
Justice Won Lebig established his
famous laboratory at Giessen, where
he began a series of epoch making
discoveries that changed the course
of chemical and agricultural science.
In 1924. stephen Hales demonstrated
how plants derived food from air. In
1924, Won Helmont discovered car
bon dioxide. and pointed the way to
a new line in chemistry called guam
utative experiments"
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Perhaps all this is too "hishbrov"
to appeal to the interest of the or
dinary farmer or the man on the
street 1t is a long stride from Won
Helmont to DR.. S. 3. Powers Of the
Department Of Agriculture. DR..
Powers has recently capped the
climax Of agricultural chemistry by
discovery Of the fluid in the cotton
plant which attracts the boil weevil.
He has evolved a synthetic fluid like
1t, with which farmers will be en-
abled to set bait about their cotton
fields. and before the cotton has ma
tured enough to feed the weevils.
they have fed on the synthetic bait,
mixed with poison, and will be an
initiated.
When Chief Chemist Browne was
protection from boil weevil would
amount to, he replied that it is i'm
possible to make a close estimate
since. when all the crop is matured,
the prices are lowered, but the near
est figures available indicated q saw
ing of about $500, 100000 a year. That
is not all; the Power discovery opens
up an entirely new line of investiga-
tion. for what can be done with the
hAfi H,,t1 t~ A@n a.
may be done also with that element
in potatoes which attracts the potato
bug, and other elements which feed
all sorts Of parasites and pests in
various plants.
X + x
Agricultural chemistry-like Paul
Jones-has "just begun to fight" Not
only the fighting of pests is its proper
function, but also the direct improve
ment of quality, as well as quantity.
of crops offers a field Of incalculable
Importance.
Most readers know that creameries
tent percentages of butterfat Few,
perhaps, realize that flour millers
now buy the wheat from the farmer
not merely by the bushel and accord
ing to It's weight and color, but ac-
cording to it's chemical content of
gluten. Chemistry! 1t is now known
that when a field of wheat is scored
with roads for the passage of great
spraying machines. the absence of
grain from the pathway of the ma
chine does not lessen the total yield
per acre. Just as the grain is be-
ginning to head, a certain spray shot
from the machines as they travel
these roads increases the gluten in
| the grain and enhances the value OF
the crop, by its quality, just as but
terfat makes value in cream. Agri-
cultural chemistry is lust beginning
to fight"
A century ago Won Lebig figured
out that in a few more centuries the
world would be overpopulated, and
would not produce enough food.
Sir E. John Russell. F. r S. OF the
| Rothamstad (Englana) experiment
station, speaking at conference In
Toronto last August, said:
There is a great field for future
workers here; at present plants
utilize only a fraction of the radiant
energy they receive. At Rothamstead
attempts have been made by F. G..
Gregory to measure this fraction; the
difficulties are considerable, but the
! evidence shows that our most efficient
! plants lag far behind our worst
motor cars, when regarded as energy
transformers for human purposes
One hundred years ago the enciencY