FERTILISING THE AIR.
GASSING THE PLANTS. PROMOTES RAPID GROWTH. Fertilising the air instead of the soil is the newest method of speeding up the growth of plants, . Of epurse, the air, unlike the soil, cannot be fertilised with manure; carbonic acid gas is used with mar-, vellous results. This gas is absorbed by the green matter of the leaves, and promotes the growth of 1 the pjlants. And the percentage of gas required is far below the limit where it would be injurious to health. The air is very poor in carbonic acid. But ages ago, when the earth was covered with the forests that are now our coal mines, the atmosphere was rich in this gas. This fact suggested the idea of making the soil fertile by subjecting it to “gas attacks.” Th? gases escaping from factories, but more abundantly frpm blast furnaces, and which hitherto have been wasted, contain 20 per cent, carbonic acid. It was from this source that the ;gas for the experiment in intensive gardening was obtained. At first, three greenhouses Were erected, one of which served as a testing room, while, the two others were used for checking purposes. In the testing room the gas, purified of sulphur, was distributed by -means of punctured piping! After a ffew days there was a much more, luxuriant vegetation in the testing room than in *he checking rooms. The tomatoes in the testing room were twice the size of the others. The ‘‘gass.ed” cu 1 - cumbers were very big and green.
Silimar experiments were made outside in the open air, a square plot oi ground being encircled, by punctured pipes from which a continuous supply of gases was escaping. Near by was another plot of the same' size, which was not supplied ,wi£h carbonic acid gas. The gassed plot showed a greater yield .than the other. One big ironworks that uses 4000 tons of coke a day produces in “waste’ 1 smoke five million cubic meters of Carbonic acid gas a day. r Tliis would be more than enough to fertilise the whole countryside. /
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Bibliographic details
Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4339, 7 November 1921, Page 3
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347FERTILISING THE AIR. Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4339, 7 November 1921, Page 3
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