Chemicals Replace Soil On Novel American Farm

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19136, 3 October 1936, Page 13

Chemicals Replace Soil On Novel American Farm

A LABORATORY farm that needs no soil but gets its fertility and nutriment from a vial of chemicals was exhibited in Berkeley recently by Pr.ofessor \V. F. Gericke, University of California experimenter. This mode of production Ims something in common with the English experiment of producing crops indoors in 10 days without tho necessity of soil which was referred to on this page last Saturday. Professor Gericke’s experiments were conducted outdoors, but dust, storms, drought, tmscasonnl -rains, hail and insect posts were harmless to his futuristic, ranch. The farm not only needs no soil, but lias no use for rainfall and requires but very little space. It holds the answer, the Berkeley scholar believes, to all the problems that worry tho American fanner.

Dr. Gericke picked a. tomato as red and as juicy as a county fair prize exhibit from a vine that, lias its roots in sawdust.

He plucked a large white gardenia, perfectly formed and fragrant, from n plant that sprouted from n tank of water.

Profess.or Gericke visualises complete, large scale farming in which crops will be grown in shallow water tanks, protected by wire netting. The danger of soil exhaustion, now a major problem in American .agriculture, would bo eliminated by the simple expedient of replacing used chemicals in the water with fresh supplies.

Seeds would be sown in a bed of sawdust or excelsior placed over the tanks, their roots taking the nutriment. from the water below.