GIANT CROPS

Taranaki Daily News, 9 July 1927, Page 6

GIANT CROPS

EFFECT OF RADIO ON PLANTS. ADMIRAL’S EXPERIENCE. Hartford (Conn.), June 22. Radio will have a far more important use in the future than the dissemination of entertainment, declared Admiral Bullard, chairman of tire U.S. Federal Radio Commission, in an address at Trinity College. The Admiral foretold the cultivation of enormous crops by high-frequency electric waves, projected from powerful transmitters. He pointed out that recent experiments showed that plant life subjected to electric waves develops rapidly. It had been proved in many instances that flowers and vegetables ripen quickly and grow to unusual size. “Some years ago,” said Admiral Bullard, “while I was in charge of the Navy’s high-powered station at Arlington, it became desirable to beautify the ground space under the lofty aerial towers, and it was decided, as a preliminary step, to plant a crop of barley, so that it could be ploughed under to help fertilise the clayey soil. “To everybody’s amazement, the barley grew to an immense size, a fullgrown man being lost to view when standing in it.”