AGRIMOTOR NOTES.
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World Wheat Shortage. Electricity and Agricultural Results.
World statistics eh.ow that not only this country but the world at large is getting short of wheat. This is not only because of the devastation caused by the war and the diversion to war work of labour previously engaged on the -farms, but because there it steadily taking place an increase in the number of bread eaters. As a matter of fact—a fact which is little realized by the casual observer—more than half the world lives on rice and other cereals and not on wheaten bread. With the spread of European civilization into all parts of the earth new habits are acquired and old ones abandoned di modified, and one of these new habits is the eating of bread, with the consequence that the demand for wheat in countries which have hitherto consumed very little of it has increased to such an extent that the amount of foreign-produced wheat available for importation into this country is getting less and less; hence, quite apart from the effects of the war, it becomes more and more important that we in this country should gi-ow more wheat and make ourselves as sell-supporting in this matter as possible.
1 One way of doing this, of course, is to plough up more land, which we are doing, and another way is td increase the productivity of the land we already have under cultivation. Here there is room for wide development. If we can increase the yield per acre only to a slight extent, the net result in our aggregate wheat crop will show a far greater increase than can be obtained by the ploughing up of a few hundred thousand additional acres, and it mutt be remembered all the time that the total available acreage of these islands is limited, and that we have to keep. ourselves supplied, not only with bread, but with meat and milk and butter and cheese ; all of which has to be got out of the land, -so that there TOUSt always be a limit to the amount of acreage which it is possible or advisable to break up. Therefore it follows that to increase the fertility of the soil is of even more importance than to increase the area of the soil worked upon. Now the tractor is a, beneficent instrument in both directions for not only is it a most valuable acquisition in the breaking up of new lands, but its use enables deeper ploughing to be carried out on the land already under cultivation, and deeper ploughing, by enabling a larger amount of moisture to be retained in hot weather, and allowing the root growth of the plants to penetrate deeper and draw more nutriment from the soil, results in appreciable crop increase. Improved manures and methods of manuring are also having their effect, but of late some developments in this direction which are almost of a startling character have taken place, which bid fair to revolutionize farming, and give us a very substantial increase in our available home supplies of foodstuffs.
Electricity has been enlisted in the service of agriculture with wonderful results, and it is being applied in more ways than one. In one way, and perhaps the oldest, for the method has been employed and has been known for several years, the area to be treated is strung with overhead wires and a powerful electrical current is passed through these wires continuously for a period of several weeks when the crops are coming to maturity and ripening, and a substantial increase in crop results has been obtained. It is true the method has not been very largely adopted, and perhaps not without reason, as it entails some expense in setting up and wiring the fields, whilst the requirement of continuous current application uses up a lot of power, and rather prevents the tractor being employed to supply it, as this would mean taking the tractor away from its other and more legitimate work for too long a period.
According to another system, however, which is said to produce good results, a tractor could be employed, and could fill up its time most usefully. Under this system overhead wiring is not employed, but one wire only is used, which runs right round the field to be treated, and is buried about 3 ins, in the sail. This forms the negative pole of the system. The positive pole is connected with a series of iron electrodes driven into the ground along the central axis of the field, at an equal distance from the sides. The current• employed is intermittently-induced hightension, supplied from a portable dynamo and induction ooil, coupled with a portable engine, which may very well be a tractor engine. The primary voltage required is 110 and the secondary 20,000, and the electrical treatment through this system is not applied, continuously, but intermittently, for five or six hours, at intervals of from two to six weeks, according to the nature of the crop ; so that it will be seen that one powerful tractor could do the work for several ,fields, and still have time to work in other work done during the growing of the crops. It is stated that not only is the straw heavier and of finer quality after this treatment, but that the yield is enormously increased—more than doubled, in fact, for it is claimed that crops at the rate of from 10 to 12i quarters of 480 lb. per acre have been obtained under the system.
A still further development, however, has been made during the past two years in the direction of harnessing electricity to the needs of the agriculturist for the production• of increased crops and a system, too, which requires no expensive or crops, installation on the field, and can be adopted with but little expense. It consists in electrifying, not the land but the seed which is put into the land, and it is carried out in the following manner. The see'clwhich may be wheat, oats, barley or other cereals— is first soaked in a weak solution of common salt or calcium carbide, .and a comparatively small electric
current passed through it for a few hours whilst in soak, after which it is dried slowly in a kiln, the cost of the work 'being about 14s. per sack of wheat and rather less for other grain. That is all the treatment the grain receives, and it is then sown in the usual manner.
The results are said to show a very decided increase in crop results. The system is the invention of a Dorset farmer, Mr. H. E. Fry, with whomis associated Mr. Charles De Wolf, of London, and its use has not spread very much beyond Dorset yet, but in the county, although it was only introduced kat year, quite a number of farmers have given it a trial with decidedly satisfactory results, and quite sufficient number of such trials have been made and accurately noted as to prove its general effectiveness ; so that there is a probability that, in the near future, it may be generally adopted all over the country, with a beneficial result on our home-produced food supplies. Records have just been published of plantings made on ten different farms this season alongside similar pieces of land sown with untreated seed, and in every case the ,crop grown from treated seed has shown a substantial increase. -Thus, in wheat crops, gains of 81, 7, 51, 7 and 6 bushels per acre have been shown ; in oats, gains of 12, 5, 51-, 18 and 191,, and in barley, 1E3 bushels per acre have resulted ; whilst the grain has shown a gain in weight from 1 to 4 11, per bushel, and the straw also has been both stronger, longer and heavier, so that it would appear that a system has been introduced which may be looked to become a great bendt to the country in the near future.
AGRIMOT,