Fruit-Growing By Electric Light.

Otago Witness, Issue 2200, 30 April 1896, Page 8

Fruit-Growing By Electric Light.

So rapidly are our scientists developing the uses to which electricity, can be put that no great surprise will be experienced when it is known that this mysterious fluid is likely to prove the best friend the farmer and horticulturist ever had.

When the eminent scieati.-t who has been condncting experiments for the last, two years on a farm first told me of the hopes be entertained, I must own I felt very dubious. I knew that the growth oi all vegetable life depends on light, and I knew that anything which could assist our tardy and penurious suuJight in developing and ripening our crops and fruit could be nothing less than a national boon ; but when ho said " he proposed to accomplish bia purpose BY H&VING TWO BUN 9 — Nature's and his own"— l thought at first he was joking.

All nature, I thought, requires repose : and I bad hitherto believed that plants and vegetables required a daily rest for a healthy development. But when the scientist pointed out that in summer the rapid growth of vegetable life in northern latitudes was due to the almost entire absence of night, I saw at once there was a good deal in the idea.

Under his advice I then purchased a high pressure six-horse power engine of Tangle's make, which we found amply sufficient to supply two arc lamps of 5000-candle power each. These we fixed in a large greethouso, and, to prevent any oE the rays being lost,. focussed the light straight on to the plants by me«B8 cf a powerful reflaotor.

But the result at first was not at all satis-, factory. The plants grew rapidly, but they soon presented bo withered an appearance that we guotsed at once the light was too fetrong. We removed the reflector and placed round the light

A SCREEN OF PALE YELLOW GLASS to imitate the light of the sun. In two days the plants began to grow green again, showing every sign of restoration to health.

Then we proceeded further, and planted in front of the light peas, French be»ns, wheat, barley, strawberries, tomatoes^ rosea, rzAle^g, and other plants of a hardy nature flourishing well out of doors. In another grcenhouss we planted a similar assortment, this lot being without the assistance cf the electric light. The experiments were commenced on October 16 of the year before last, and continued till the end of April. During the short days the electric lights were turned on at 5 p.m., continuing alight till dawn the following day. The relative progress of each lot was noted, and it soon bec»me clear that the plants which showed the largest amount of vigorous growth were those subject to tbe action of continuous light. Thus peas which had been sown in October produced a harvest of ripe fruit the second week of the following February. Raspberry-canea put into the gteeuhouse, the heat of which never exceeded6o3eg, >idlded

RIPE FRUIT ON DECEMBER 12 ', and strawberry roots planted about thtt time prodaoed fruit of excellent flavour and colour duviDg the second week in February. I ask the growers who supply Covent Garden to notice these facts.

Vines which broke on December 26 produced r?pe grapes of far finer flavour than u<mal on March 10. In short, the experiment was a complete sucoesfl, except in the case of wheat, barley, and oats, which shot up

WITH EXTRAORDINARY RAPIDITY under the influenco of continuous light, but did not arrive at maturity, the stalks falling to the ground after attaii.ing*- the height of 12in, the growth being too rapid for the strength. I might state that with wheat planted out we scenred better results than with that grown indoors. We sowed some rows on January 6 last year. It germinated with great difficulty on account of the intense cold, but it developed rapidly when milder weather set in, and showed ripa gr*in by the end of June. The eleetrio light was removed by the end of May so that the wheat should not grow too rapidly. Some bo'anista who visited us having expressed a doubt whether plants brought to maturity under the influence of eleotricity were capable of reproduction, we tested this point by planting some of the peas gathered in February from the plants which had been sown the previous Octobtr. They vegetated in a few days, showing every sign of a sturdy growth. All the plants grown under electricity compared most favourably in respect of size and vigour with those of the other greenhouse.

ON BANANAS electric light has the most extraordinary effect. In March I brought a tree under the night action of the light, setting tbe light about 6ft away. The result was a bunch of fruit weighing 751b, each banana being of quite unusual size, and pronounced b> a Covtnt Garden dealer who visited me to be ot a splendid flavour.

With melons we were not bo successful. Those we pioduced under continuous light were remarkable for size, but deficient in aromatic properties. I am confident, however, that when the proper distance of the light has been secured, a melon of unsurpassed quality will be the result.

The greatest surprise, howtv«r, was yet to come. Believing that the best of all lights was Nature's, we had, as I have said, need a* glass of pale yellow — as nearly as possible of the jive of the suo, Some fresh exneriments resulted in

an extraordinary discovery. Four beds were filled with plants, and on each bed we threw a different tint of light— - WHITE, YELLOW, RED, AKD BUTE. Judge of our surprise when wo found the best results were obtained from the pure while light, which produced a larger amount of vigorous growth than the. others. Then came the pale yellow. In this case the plant?, though equal in size, were greatly inferior in colour and thickness of stem to those grown under white light. R«d glass gave rise to lanky growth and yellowish leaf, whilst growth under the blue light was lankier and more sickly still. I am, of course, aware that these results, promising fruit all the year round, and possibly double crops from the land, will bo useless for all practical purposes unless the question of cost can be satisfactorily arranged. I offer no opinion as to this, except to say where waterpower is plentiful the cost will be trifling. In my own ease I have had to depend solely on fad. To supply my lamps my engine consumes 531b of coal per hour, which, taken at the rate of -20s per ton, meani 3d per hour for each light of 5000 candles. But-, as again?t this expense, the engine has not only to perform such work as chaffcatting, timber-sawiDg, water-raising, and Bwsde-shaving, but to supply the light of my house as well. I therefore estimated the cost of prov'ding my produce with continuous light at a half pi nuy nn hour. If the facts of this articls become widely known, there are possibilities in store for the agriculturist and horticulturist of which, at present, they have no conception. — Home Paper.