“SHOCKS” DOUBLE THE CROPS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 82, Issue 305, 24 December 1938, Page 3

“SHOCKS” DOUBLE THE CROPS

Indian Magistrate’s System Crops Doubled; Milk Output Greatly Increased

WITH a second-hand car magneto, a piece of rubber cut from a tyre and a length of wire-netting, Indian Magistrate Dr. Nehru has evolved a system called Electroculture, by means of which crops have been doubled, milk outputs greatly increased and life rekindled in dead tree-branches. Used on a larger scale, it is believed Dr. . Nehru’s system would “electrify” agriculture. j£LECTROCULTURE, as conceived bv its author Dr. Nehru, 1.C.5., is the science of capturing and harnessing cosmoradio-magnetic energy, writes Swami Sevavanda in The Modern Review. Its practical methods are so simple that even the dullest villager can put them into operation at almost no costs. And yet its results are farreaching. Dr. Nehru, who conceived and worked out this idea, cannot be more aptly introduced to the reading public than in the words of Sir Stanley Reed, the late editor of The Times of India, who writes; “A distinguished Indian administrator told me that Dr. Nehru made him feel humble-minded. The range of his interests was so wide, the catholicity of his knowledge so embracing that he despaired of keeping abreast of him.” Once a Professor of Physics at Allahabad University, then a winner of a Doctorate at Berlin, then a successful candidate for the Indian Civil Service, now Collector and District Magistrate at Mainpuri, Dr. Nehru does not let his administrative work overshadow his real lifework, i.e., the amelioration of the Indian masses, and for that matter of the whole human family, through Electroculture. Electricity has been for a long time applied in the industrial, agricultural and healing operations. The therapeutic value of electricity has been recognised and there has sprung up clinical centres in all civilised countries using electricity as a healing agency. But they depend upon technical skill of a high order and the use of costly machines and instruments which make them inaccessible to the poor. Dr. Nehru’s instruments consist of a discarded motor-car magneto, a piece or two of india-rubber cut off from old motor-car tubes, a secondhand chicken wire-netting and a few iron wires strung with glass beads hardly worth a price! He started with plant life, and was gradually led on to extend the system

to animals and to human beings. His theory is that a jacket consisting of chicken wire-netting of 4 inches to 6 inches in width and long enough to be coiled round the trunk of a tree at its base touching its roots will by itself form an electric field for the inflow of radio-magnetic energy. This will attract and capture the energy, which the tree will absorb and utilise for the purpose of stimulating and sustaining its growth, will be passed on to every tissue and will be ultimately converted into reproductive energy endowing the tree with richer flowers and fruits. To supplement this jacket and to secure better results, Dr. Nehru recommends irrigation by electrifying or, as he calls it, Agaskarised water, after its discoverer Mr. Agaskar, of Bombay. This can be easily prepared by inserting one end of an insulated wire in an earthern jar and the other end to be attached to the magneto and working jt with a wooden handle. A few turns of the handle are enough to emit a spark and one spark is enough to electrify the water in the big jar and make an entire change in its properties. In this way not only a jar but wells, tanks and even flowing canals can be easily electrified and used for irrigation purposes. To give further stimulation to weakened or decayed vegetable tissues occasional sparking with the aid of the magneto is another efficacious remedy. In case of decaying branches a thin wire-gauze collar attached will arrest the decay and the branch will be called back to life. In case of grains, and for that matter in case of all seeds and seedlings, they are to be soaked in Agaskarised water for an hour and then sown with india-rubber gloves on the hand without touching them with bare hands. Results which the present writer has discerned in the farms and gardens in and around Mainpuri; (1) The growth of the plant becomes more vigorous. (2) The leaves become richer in colour. (3) The pests are either immediately killed or frightened away. (4) The fruits are strong enough to withstand storm and hail-stones. (5) The fruits are bigger, richer in pulp and more delicious. (6) The increase in the yield is estimated to 20 per cent, to 25 per cent. (7) Quicker sprouting.

(8) Early, late and unseasonal fructification. (9) Reviving of the decaying and almost dried out trees. (10) Barren waste-lands have been reclaimed and are now blooming with vegetation. (11) In case of fruits not one but two to three crops have been obtained. (12) Flora, not growing in a particular zone or altitude, have been to grow. Col. Noel, the Director of the Agriculture and Allied Industries, has conducted experiments at the Government Farm, Peshawar, on fruit trees and grains on the lines indicated by Dr. Nehru. The following is quoted from his official reports: “An orchard of peach trees consisting of 28 lines of 4 trees each was chosen for experiment, each plot consisted of a line of 4 trees, the four treatments were: (1) Jacketing trunks, (2) Jacketing the trunk and branches, and (3) Jacketing the branches, (4) Without jacketing. “A similar experiment was carried out on another orchard of 28 lines of 5 trees in each. Each plot consists of a line of 5 trees. Average Yield Per Tree (1) Jacketed trunks .. 1871bs. (2) Jacketed trunks and branches .. .. 1721b5. (3) Jacketed branches alone 1421b5. (4) Without jacketing .. 1451b5. “Grain yield per acre has increased 20.4 per cent, due to treatment. The increase drops to 1.9 per cent, when rubber gloves are not used.” Again he remarks: “. . . A method of increasing the yield which is extraordinarily cheap and simple and yet effective is that of Electroculture advocated by Dr. Nehru. Well, believe me or not, this treatment has given the astonishing result of a 30 per cent, increase in yield. . . . The cost is negligible.” If milch cattle are given Agaskarised water to drink and if their food be previously soaked in the same kind of water, the yield of milk will increase by 25 per cent. They will look better, work harder, will be less susceptible to disease and live longer. To poultry farmers Electroculture is a blessing. Eggs sparked hatch 100 per cent, and grow to 50 per cent, better birds. Hens if given electrified water to drink lay more eggs and also for longer periods. Electrified water is found to possess germicidal properties. It seems to possess special efficacy for pains, nervous troubles, insomnia, paralysis, and many other maladies.