TAPPING THE AIR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 295, 7 September 1908, Page 3

TAPPING THE AIR.

A THEORY ON ELECTRICAL AGRICULTURE. EVERY FARMER HIS OWN MANURE MERCHANT. What is it that nlakes things grow faster and bigger and hotter under the influence of tho electricity that oozes out. -of . overcharged wires suspended over them ?' Is it "electrical stimulus,"! as Sir Oliver Lodgo and others have called it? "Even -60, it is still somewhat vague, and needs dooper definition. But (writes a correspondent), is it not rather something simpler than .direct electrical stimulus? Is it not, in fact, he asks, just simply ammonia? Consider tho evidence. There is an emanation, from overhead highly-charged wires,', of electricity continually fizzing. Electricity in, the atmosphere, it is known, on sparking, manufactures ammonia 'by forcing the atmospheric nitrogen into combination with hydrogen. There is therefore a' continuous shower of ammonia from the wires, passing over the.growing crops. Some of this doubtless is carried away in the breezes; some falls to earth by its own weight; some, in rain or dew, or by direct contact, .becomes attached to and fixrfd by .the soil, particularly if the surface be kept loose.. And then all the results of continuous weak ap-' plications of ammoniacal manures—splendidly diffused, uncombined with injurious chemicals—follow. There, are earlier, bigger, abetter crops. • See >what happens; to raspberries'.' " The new canes," reports Sir Oliver Lodge, ''showed a marked improvement, but. there was scarcely any improvement on the old canes." . .That is what happens when wo mannro liberally with a' good nitrogenous fertiliser. . •

Then, again, look at the significant behaviour of the broad beans. "Fifteen per cent, decrease," reports Sir Oliver, "but ready, for picking five days earlier." Just what would happen with too much nitrogen. • It is a recognised/fact that beans and other leguminous'plants benefit slightly from applications, of nitrogenous foods for a short period after germination—that , is, bofore the nitro-gen-gathering nodules have formed on tho roots—but derive no benefit, and may even take harm from added nitrogen afterwards. Thus tho electrical, gear, by furnishing nitrogen (in Ijho, form of ammonia) helped the beans along in their early stages, and thus caused earlier maturity of tho crop, but injured them afterwards, and thus lessened tho yield. ' On this general hypothesis one must conclude that an aerial system of wires would be more effectivo. than an - underground system because the electrical fluid overhead comes into contact with a greater volume of air beforo dispersing. :■ Tho remarkable growth • which follows the showers of a thunderstorm, with their burden of newly formed ammonia; is parallel with tho results obtained from'the artificial application of electricity to agriculture. Tho volume of ammonia created by these highly charged wires would doubtless be great. • It is estimated that in a natural way from: the atmosphero itself an acre of land' derives about 30. pounds of nitrogen as ammonia evory year. But with live . wires ,■ fizzing away night and daall. through the growing season the amount of ammonia produced ought to be re.ry appreciable.

If this ammonia theory be accurate it 3oes not in any sense lessen the value of slectrical agriculture. It enhances it.- For it shows that electricity not only stimulates the plants to tate moro food from the soil, but actually provides l -them, with- the most sxpensivo of their foods, thus enriching rather than-jmpovorishingithe"soil. Electric ;ulture secures from the J atmosphere some 3f that abundant waste-of free nitrogen for vhich expensive machinery has been erected ii Norway and 'elsewhere. And it gives -to ihe plant roots not, in the form of the lauseous cyannide, but as puro, diffuse, appetising ammonia. It enables ovcry farmer to be his own manure merchant. It would bo valuable if Sir Oliver Lodge ar some other experimenters would test this theory. It could be. done, perhaps, by electrifying for a period a quantity of soil, and then removing it and cropping it alongside a control plot got from the same field before electrification. Analysis of the 'soil before and after long exposure to the electrical influence might also give interesting results. The matter seems one which the Government might perhaps fittingly take up.