Show rwjr OW that have discovered that high frequency electrical currents are powerful stimulants both of plant and animal life the farm hand of the future may have to be a duly qualified electrical engineer before he can get a job it will not be enough for him to know how to manipulate the motors and elon gear by which the farm machinery will be run he will have to be up on the chemistry of electric ity he will have not only to know the use of violet rays in purity ing the drinking water but will also have to know whether ground wires are better for beets ruby lights for radishes mercury va por for tobacco and electric for something else he will have to be of a plant neurologist too when the corn in the south forty Is getting nerves or when the oats in the new ground Is becoming too som ws lilii K abi MW r lag ife a make correct diagnoses to and prescribe the proper treatment electrification for plant growth has arrived and when the canny american farmer learns that he can double or even treble the output of hla fields by the use of electricity somebody will have to find a way for him to use electricity and make a good profit out of his crops A few weeks ago there was a convention of arao tacal electricians in philadelphia among the ad dresses one virtually escaped the attention of the corps of reporters yet of all the addresses none was more pregnant of great possibilities it was really part of the report of the conven alons committee of progress and was read by the committee chairman T C martin of new york an authority on things electrical lie gave facts and figures to show that plants electrically treated grew much more rapidly than those growing under normal conditions why this was so he did not assume to say he simply gave the results of experiments the work was started on moraine farm in the fertile miami river valley four miles south of dayton ohio dr herbert G dorsey an expert had charge of the experiments which were fostered by the efforts of F M tait a former president of the electric light association in preliminary tests according to martins report small plots were marked off tor exposure to different kinds of electrification to insure that the soil of one plot was not better than that of another top earth was collected mixed and sifted and then was laid to the uniform depth of seven inches over the entire area in the soil of plot no 1 was buried a wire screen over the plot was a network of wire stretched about fifteen inches from the ground connecting the network above the ground and the screen below were several wire antennae the ecremen was connected to one terminal of a tesla coll and the network to the other A trans former stepped a volt alternating current up to 5 volts charging a condenser of tinfoil and glass plates which discharged through a primary of the coll about one hundred and thirty watts were operated for an hour each morning and evening plot no 3 was illuminated by a watt tung sten lamp with a ruby bulb the light was turned on for three hours dally beginning at sundown plot no 3 was illuminated the same way except that a mercury vapor lamp was used no 4 had no artificial of any kind being intended as a comparison between electrically excited plant growth and that of natural condl alons tract seven copper wires were stretched north and south each being feet long and an inter val of 16 feet separating them the wires were elevated clentry for the soil to be plowed with horses the ends of the wires were attached to insulators on top of gas pipes set in con crete at the eastern edge of the house the experimenters built a small transformer house and in stalled machinery which would yield volts A choke coll and a tesla coll were used the whole thing was connected up so that by means of antennae current from the wire network was sent to the network ot sprinkling pipes which ot course furnished proper connection with the ground by the latter part of last july the system was in readiness and the currents were tested at that time a pressure of BO volts was obtained and the frequency of the oscillatory currents was estimated to be about thirty thousand cycles a second birds alighting on the wires were stunned and thrown the ground but none was killed the ground was planted to radishes lettuce beets cabbages cucumbers turnips muskmelons musk melons water melons tomatoes parsnips par snips beans peas corn sand tobacco all were planted in rows running east and west so that one halt of each row was electrified and the other half was not As a result it was found that practically all the plants in the electrified area grew much more rap idly than those out of it in almost every case the electrified vegetables were ripe two weeks earlier than those outside the I 1 zone the electrified end nf ahn tobacco crop was ajar in plot no 6 was burled a wire network con necked to the terminal ot a volt direct current the positive terminal was attached to a small sprinkling can with a carbon electrode in its cen ter the can being filled the water was subjected to electrolysis tor several minutes the plot was then sprinkled from the can the theory being that the current might flow from the can through the streams of water to the soil plots nos 6 and 7 were subdivided into tour individual boxes two feet square separated by porcelain insulators and arranged with carbon electrodes at each end to these electrodes were applied both direct and alternating currents after radish and lettuce seed had been planted and germination had begun the various methods of electrification were tried with extreme care the result of the experiments showed that the plants in plot no 1 grew in every instance far more rapidly than those in the other beds and more than double the normal growth as shown in the bed from this the experimenters became convinced that electrification of the ground by high frequency currents stimulated plant life to an extent that warranted a more complete investigation so they selected two acres of flat rich ground first a network of sprinkling pipes was built 16 feet above ground the pipes ran east and west a distance of feet and were spaced at 60 foot intervals in the northeast corner of the cut and it was found that each plant weighed 1 grams it was ts 0 weeks before the un treated tobacco could be cut and then it weighed only 1632 grams to the plant taking into cons alon that the most rapid growth of the tobacco plant Is in its last two weeks before ripening the experimenters estl mated that the actual increase in weight of the plants in the elec trifled zone was 20 per cent greater than that in the zone it this could be followed out on a grand scale it Is apparent that the effect of elec on the an nual tobacco o would be the nation in a single season dous martin association in his formal report to the answered had yet to be said that many questions of electricity tor the general before the use life could be considered economically of plant that he declared however no possible worked out being many of these questions are in greenhouses over the country proved just as these american experimenters the importance of electrification to plant life a proved its am group of english experimenters to animal life they took two large broaders brooders bro oders filled with newly hatched chickens of the same breeds one of them was subjected to and the the influence of high frequency currents other was not those in the former were found to grow much more rapidly than those in the other following Is a tabulation of the results of elec stimulation of vegetables it will be observed that in every particular the plants in the first plot where the high frequency current and tesla coil were used excelled those in plot no 4 where natural conditions prevailed 3 V 0 1 I fl as S g Ss r sr ir r ar ten plants se S t S CM I 1 2 S 9 lecter at random 5 S a B d s a total weight grams as 70 SO 60 edible portion grams edible portion per cent elas tops and leaves grams aleo tops and leaves per cent 43 aj til 92 GO 18 65 U hoots grams 4 70 CCO hoots per cent lettuce ten plants selected at random 66 BO 31 SO filble portion grams BO 20 roots grams B 30 30 4 30 roots per cent 1008 1115 edible portion per cent |