"FARADISATION."

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 28, 10 March 1914, Page 11

"FARADISATION."

ELECTRIC BATH FOR WHEAT. TO INCREASE ITS VITALITY. Some interesting experiments in the initiation of a process which may prove of immense value to the wheat-growing industry have been carried out during the past year on Mr J. T. Noble's Sunnyside property at Eugowra, says the Sydney "Daily Telegraph." The experimenter is Mr W. 8. F. Simmons, late of the Electric Telegraph Department, and his object is, by "Faradisation," as he aptly terms his process, to solve the germination problem in connection with wheat that has been subjected to bluestone treatment for the prevention of Smut, as well as to strengthen the vitality of the grain, and thus increase its productivity. The past season was a very severe one — the worst spring, old settlers say, ex-, perienced in the district for 40 years—: but the results, in spite of this handicap, have been so far successful as to lead Mi- Simmons to believe that his efforts will be crowned with complete success. .

As the name, "Faradisation," indicates, the process is electrical. In fact, it is an adaptation of th'e electric bath, and the cost is trifling, the outfit itself being inexpensive, and the year's upfkeep amounting to the cost of lib of sal-ammoniac—say a battery of ■four Leelanche cells. These cells, costing about 1/4 each, have a nominal power of 1$ volts, but the actual volt-, age is IJ, making five volts from the four cells. . This Mr Simmons increases to 16 volts, or four volts per cell, by drawing upon the earth's electric storage by means of an arrangement of induction coils. .'' Hitherto,'' says he, "the earth circuit has been a robber of current. This appliance of mine has turned the tables on the earth, and instead of robbing my batteries it adds to their power. That is the whole secret. '' For electrodes he uses the ends of pitchforks, and he makes his earth connection by means of a ploughshare buried in the soil. The initial expense is, therefore, limited to the cost of. the battery, switch, coils, and a few yards of insulated wire. "My aim," Mr Simmons says, "is to get a cheap process that will be within the means of every farmer." The plant will be more complete by providing an insulated table or platform for the bag of wheat to be "Faradised,'' but this is not absolutely necessary; and the whole treatment- is to plunge the two electrodes (pitchforks) one into each end of the bag, or "butt," of wheat, turn on the switch, and' subject the grain to the electric current for four minutes, this treatment being in lieu of the lime-water immersion after taking the wheat from the bluestone tub.

About half a bag was treated at a time, various strengths of current being used, from four volts up to 16 volts, for fear the stronger current might damage the vitality of the germ. Events proved this fear to have been groundless, for the wheat treated with the 16 volts current gave the best results. The crops were, as might be expected, patchy, but none produced less than three bags to the acre, which was the yield from the seed given the weakest current, while some patches gave from 12 to 15 bags o the acre, and a paddock of 50 acres, in which the yield was interfered with by trees, averaged seven bags. Another paddock of new ground, roughly cultivated, stripped five' bags to the acre, while on the other side of the wire fence a neighbouring farmer harvested less than two bags to the acre, and, owing to the practically rainless spring, many crops in the district failed to return even one bag to the acre; some, .as a matter of fact, being ploughed under in November in order, to, put the paddocks under fallow for the summer. One farmer—and a good farmer, too — stripped 29 bags of wheat from an area of about 240 acres of new land which he had put under a late-sown crop. In these circumstances the, results achieved from the "Faradised" seed on Mr Noble's farm are, at any rate, significant. And it may be added that there was no trace of smut in any of the paddocks. But the germination tests were the most conclusive. The varieties treated were Federation, Bunyip, and Hudson's Purple Straw. Nine plots were marked out, 500 grains of "Faradised" wheat being sown in a drill in each plot along-, side 500 grains of untreated wheat. The highest percentage of germination of the untreated grain was 74 per cent., while some of the plots were as low as 60 per cent. The "Faradised" seed, in contrast, averaged 96 per cent. The Purple Straw germinated 94 per cent., Federation 96 per cent., and Bunyip 98 per cent. The wheat; showed above ground 28 hours after planting, and made quick growth, showing a broad leaf of a rich-green colour, the plants being 15 to 18 inches high when those in the companion drills of untreated seed were about six inches high, and spindled and weak by comparison. The experiments will be continued on a larger scale during the coming season, and by next harvest Mr Simmons hope 9 to have achieved results that will startle the Commonwealth.