Vol. XIV. No. 337. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Ill 



RADIUM AND PLANT GROWTH. 



Si mm un "i Resi lts in connexion »i rn 



1 'i i.m \ti ■!. i 'HOPS. 



Tin radio acti i on plants has been 



rith from time to time in past issues ef tins journal. 



i to page 21 in Volume \ 111 | 191 1 1 "ill show the 



made by Mr. T. Thorm Baker before the B 

 Society of Arts in connexion with the utilization of residual 

 ctive waste material. i '' ; thai 



the stimulating eflect of radium had been den 

 Mr. Baker pointed out that the comparatively large supplies 



of cheap material should render possible the ntilizati £ 



In this article 



is made to extraordinarily hig] is obtained 



adishes, though againsl this was the result obtained 



Board o) Agriculture in its experiments with 



vheat, which gavi i much lowi ise in 3 teld due to 



.. On page 215, in the same volume, another 



uticle refers to Truffaut - expi riments in France. Th 



! principally to the msbip between radio 



activity and the supply of soil nitrogen. This investigator 

 found that the effect of the radium was greatest where the 

 percentage of nitrogen present in the soil was least. It was 

 1 1 I. that Truffaut had ! satis 



. results with black oxide turn. This whs 



held to be 1 result of in ■ . since this compound 



cheaper than theordinary radio-active ores, ["he reader 

 will learn with interest later in this article the results of 

 English experiments with this oxide. 



The last oot 1 the subject to appear in this j nal 



! l;lt on page 310, which had regard to the Read 

 Experiments conducted hist year by Martin Sutton. 

 Mr. Sutton ha- just furnished this Office with bis Bulletin 

 No. 6, which contains a full report of the trials made in 

 )()1 1. It may lie interesting to mention hero the 

 various radio-active materials which were used. There 

 was first radio-active ire certified to contain approximately 

 milligrammes of radium bromide per ton of ore: 

 aecondly, similar material containing 9 milligrammes of 

 radium bromide per ton; thirdly, mine residue after radium 

 had been 1 stracted, but certified to contain is milligrammes 

 of radium bromide per ton; lastly, black oxide of uranium. 



The general results obtained were to the effect that 

 radium has a distinct stimulating action on plant life in 

 general, and that the emanations possess the property of 

 developing and increasing growth. Many of the radish, 

 lettuce and pea trials which were dressed with ore showed 

 considerable superioritj over those grown in plain soil, but 

 oi the ore far outweighed the worth of the increase. 

 < ),. , |„. other hand, it is held that if future investigation shows 

 ilonce dressed with radio-active material 

 ,,,,, be used over a period of years, the original outlay may 

 be justified. The results obtained with black oxide of 

 uranium were by no means as satisfactory as those got by 

 Truffaut noted above, though it is true that the experiments 

 were more limited in number. In every case where it was 

 used, theaction oi the oxide appeared to retard flowering, and 

 1 growth much in the same manner as 

 ;v „,,, mure. Mr. Sutton does not give inj 



figures to show the results of his experiments with uranium 

 oxide, though the illustrations are perhaps sufficiently 

 striking. What seems to as one of the most interesting 



results' of Suttons' work is the demonstration that radio- 



ores do not take the place ol manures. It is noticeable in 

 most of the experiments that the effect.of the radium was 

 increased b v applying ■'■> it. This, however, 



in the cas< litrogen i- not in harmony with 



Truffaut's work. Sutti th germination in 



relation I I i-acti rid n id lid not give con- 



ive results. It i- '" : 



nee 



already gained. 



A very clear the ' tivity in 



relation to planl growth cularl ird to America, is 



contained in the Joui I ' Garden, 



foi January 19] i 9 II- H. Rusby, 



! 1. a of the Colli University, 



outline- the work of 1 the 



French work, and th 



ll is not intend- i i hese 



investigators, but it m all 



investigators conducted perl 1 pel 



ments, and 1 ed the mo tl results. 



Some of these will be considered I irative purposes in 



due course. It should be noted 1 



believes thai radio ., ' ■■ pi mi 



in the absence oi sunl ably 



influence the In ing 



Rusby's work ith a larg of 



vegetables, both temperate and ti m fair size,) 



plots with varying quantitii ■ ol what he calls his 

 radio-active fertilizer (R.A.F., eomp ■ en ). In 



,u these trial I I tons were ignored, 



and the trials w in the manner 



in which a farmer would proceed in preparing the land 

 and applying the radio-active materi; market crop. 



The largest, gains recorded were in the Nutley experi- 



is. which am ited to 129 percent., I at Nbrthfield, 



135 per cent. Families of plaints wei I 1 hov, the 



same varying susceptibility''. Members of the Cm 

 to which the cabbage belongs, were greatlj benefited. So 

 were the Cucurbitaceae, comprising the pumpkin, cucumber, 

 and squash. The Gramineae or grass family, comprising 

 hay, corn, sugar-cane, sorghum, and lawn grass, was eno 

 mously benefited. This does not mean that experiments 

 were tried with sugar-cane (though they were with corn), 



but that it is simply believed that radi tive material will 



stimulate the growth of sugai cane. Although Rusby's 

 maximum results were obtained with turnips, it will be con 

 venient in concluding this article to consider his figures 

 obtained in the case of peas, because this crop in relation to 

 radium was also investigated by several of the other expi 

 meiiters already mentioned. The following table shows 

 the maximum increases recorded by different workers in 

 connexion with the effect of radio-activity on peas grown in 

 uninanured soil: — 



Stocklasa (Hungary) 200 per cent. 



Sutton (England) 75 ,, „ 



Rusby I (United States) 22-5,, ., 



Rusby II (United States) 51-7 „ .. 



Consideration of these figures will make it evident that 

 in spite of a large variation, there is considerable -round for 

 believing that radio-active mat. rial can greatly increase the 

 yield of cultivated plants in certain cases. From an n in 

 standpoint, it would appear that at present the essential thing 

 is to obtain a source of radio-active n ■. hich is cl 



and to prove that after application its effect will be lasting 

 and never harmful. It would seem possible that as the 

 radium industry develops, it may be found practicable to 

 utilize some of the ch i|> I 3 products, like carnatite, in agri 

 culture. Till this has been done we ran hardly do more t] 

 regard the effects of radio ,n 1 1\. growth 



as a matter of great scientific interest with com- 



commer :ial possibilities. 



