HEAT IN THE SOIL

Evening Star, Issue 20666, 13 December 1930, Page 28

HEAT IN THE SOIL

USE OF ELECTRICITY To demonstrate to market gardeners and farmers that, besides its laboursaving benefits in the farmhouse, the farm, and fields, electricity can help in the hothouse and the forcing frame, a South Wales electrical company staged an interesting demonstration, says the ‘Electrical Review’ (England). By burying a special cable (made up of a single resistance wire, approximately .045 in diameter, insulated and sheathed to protect it from corrosion) about 12in below the surface of the ordinary soil, without manure, in a cucumber frame, and passing current through it to keep the soil temperature at an average of 70deg F. during approximately twelve hours of the twenty-four, and mostly at night, some interesting results "were obtained. Cucumber seeds were planted in this bed, and, as a trial or contrast, similar seeds were planted in an ordinary manure hot-bed in a similar cucumber frame. Forty-five days after the seed was planted in the electrically-heated b ( ed plants were bearing fruit 12in in length, whereas the plants in the ordinary hot-bed were only about 12in in length, and had not at that time even flowered. The rate of growth of the strong shoots and leaves of the clcctrically-hfeatod plants proved the success of the experiment, and the results recorded, exceeded all anticipations. This method should have advantages in first .cost over the installation of hot-water pipes, and also in running cost, especially where a tariff could bo fixed at low offpeak rates It should bo especially applicable to the growing of expensive fruits out of season, such as rock melons, cucumbers, and tomatoes, probably with the aid of radiant beat with or without ultra-violet rays.