GROWING POOD SUPPLIES BY ELECTRICITY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3169, 21 August 1917, Page 8

GROWING POOD SUPPLIES BY ELECTRICITY

A WONDERFUL GARDEN. Wonderful results in electrical cultivation have been achieved by Mr. W. T. Kerr, City Engineer of'"Hereford (England), on an experimental -ipatch covering half'an acre of ground. In an interview, Mr. Kerr said: "There need bo no more bad years. Dull daya will be electricity's opportunity. To use it in blazing sunshine would be wasteful. A corabination of sunshine and electric suasion would over-accolerate growth and cause plants to shrivel from too much encouragement. The new stimulus may be applied before the sun rises and after'it sets, or all night, if necessary." Mr. Kerr. has an electric" plant fitted over half an acre of ground, exactlv liko that to bo applied over tho farm. "This practical demonstration has made dozens of farmers and nurserymen eager to seo electricity, applied to. their fields. They eay: "We'll find the money if you'll find the power." One farmer asked if he conid be killed by the wire. Mr. Kerr gripped a ivire* to prove that it was as harmless as a clothes-line.

"How oould ■Wβ switch it oa aud off ?' J asked another farmer.

"As .easily and safely as you turn on the. light in your house," was the reply. "What have you been doing over there?" was a query piit by a farmer who pointed to a patch of potatoos with stems eight feet high. The patch had been electrocultivated, ho was told. Many of the potatoes were as large as, swedes. One potato was a foot long .and eight inches across. Here was proof enough that electricity assisted Naturo in potato-growing. * Mr. Korr eho-n-ctl me tho electricity in action. I was told to listen in" the garden while he switched tho electricity on. The -wires wore not quite taut, and swayed in tho wind. Patently I heard a sound like the approach of an army of grasshoppers. As the wind rose tho sound resembled tho fizzling of bacon or the crackling of thorns. Strangest of all, plants and bushes could bo seen moving upwards and reaching towards the vivifying wires. Plant life was no mero figure of speech. "It is just tho same with wheat, barley, oats, clover, fruit trees, ..and flowers," said Mr. Kerr. "They rise to greot tho electrical elixir. Long gTeen cateipillars that work havoc on fruit trees drop electrocuted. Tn a conservatory 11 r. Kerr showed the effect of electroeulture on boxes of seeds of cauliflowers, cabbages, and leeks. The seeds were planted h'vo days ago, and already there was a rich green blado an inch a.bove tho mould. In ordinary circumstances they would not: havo been showing at. all yet. "Ail these things prove that what can b3 done on a half-aero plot can bo done on every farm from "Cornwall' to Inverness, ' said Mr. Kerr. "The explanation is simple—that electricity splits up tho ions from tho atmosphere, and enables plant growth to extract the nitrogen. The more manitro you put. on the soil the better your electric results will be. If you treat tho ground well thp crop will increase a hiivdred-fold, experiments will be made at lioehampton and in different parts-of the country to compare results, and I shall eat-that, electric coil if we do not see a, new earth , in a verv few ■yeaTs." .... •