The results obtained with this apparatus at Evesham, in
Gloucestershire, by Mr. Newman, have been most striking. With
wheat, increases of from 20 per cent. to nearly 40 per cent. have
been obtained, and the electrified wheat is of better quality
than unelectrified wheat grown at the same place, and, apart from
electrification, under exactly the same conditions. In some instances
the electrified wheat was as much as 8 inches higher than the
unelectrified wheat. Mr. Newman believes that by electrification land
yielding normally from 30 to 40 bushels of wheat per acre can be made
to yield 50 or even 60 bushels per acre. With cucumbers under glass
increases of 17 per cent. have been obtained, and in the case of
strawberries, increases of 36 per cent. with old plants, and 80 per
cent. with one-year-old plants. In almost every case electrification
has produced a marked increase in the crop, and in the few cases
where there has been a decrease the crops were ready earlier than the
normal. For instance, in one experiment with broad beans a decrease
of 15 per cent. resulted, but the beans were ready for picking five
days earlier. In another case a decrease of 11½ per cent. occurred
with strawberries, but the fruit was ready for picking some days
before the unelectrified fruit, and also was much sweeter. In some of
the experiments resulting in a decrease in the yield it is probable
that the electrification was overdone, so that the plants were
over-stimulated. It seems likely that the best results will be obtained
only by adjusting the intensity and the duration of the electrification
in accordance with the atmospheric conditions, and also with the nature
of the crop, for there is no doubt that plants vary considerably in
their electrical requirements. A great deal more experiment is required
however to enable this to be done with anything like certainty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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