Vol. X. No. 229. 



'THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



43 



STATE AID FOR AGRICULTURAL 

 RESEARCH. 



In the course of his Uepoi't to the Board of Agiioalture 

 aud Fisheries on the Distribation of Grants for Agricultural 

 Education and Research during 1908-9 and 1909-10, 

 Mr. Mi'ldleton refers to the improved prospects of agricultural 

 research owing to the passing into law of the Development 

 and Roail Impr 'vcnient Funds Act of 1909, and discusses 

 some of the general considerations which bear on the question 

 of State aid for the investigation of agricultural problems. 



A public department, he points out, when authorizing the 

 e.xpenditure of money on research, is bound to take into con- 

 sideration the iirohalile value of the work t'j the State. It 

 cannot rest satisfied with the assurance that sooner or later all 

 accessions to knowledge will benefit the country. The tax- 

 payer of to-day naturally wishes to see a return for his 

 contribution, if not in his own lifetime, at least in that of his 

 children. It is obvious, therefore, that as a matter of elem- 

 entary justice, the question of'time must receive considera- 

 tion from any department entrusted with the expenditure of 

 State funds for research. This obligation may make it 

 difficult to resist the demands of those who call for early 

 results; but, on the other hand, these demands must be resisted 

 if the State is to avoid squandering its resources Nothing is 

 more certain ttan that much of the best work, and the work 

 which most deserves the aid of the State, is of a kind which 

 cannot be hurried, or than that no genuine >^cientific worker 

 can grind out results to order. 



As a preliminary questi&n it may be asked — What is 

 Research? What may be included and what must be excluded 

 when the time comes for discriminating between the various 

 claimants for assistance from funds provided for the imiirove- 

 ment'of agriculture? A certain class of agriculturist holds 

 that all that there is to learn about agriculture must be 

 learned on a farm; another class, now perhajis more numerous, 

 but not more logical, supposes that when any agricultural 

 product is transported to a laboratory, it becomes then, but 

 not till then, a subject for research. But in fact the 'expert' 

 agriculturist laying out manurial plots on a farm, or the 

 chemist analysing agricultural products in his laboratory, 

 may be no more engaged in research than the farm labourer, 

 or the miller carrying out his routine tasks. In order that 

 work may become research, it must satisfy one or both of two 

 conditions: (1) it must, as a result of observation or sxperi- 

 ment, result in the collection of fresh facts; (2) it must 

 involve an examination of the facts collected, or phenomena 

 ob.served, and the reduction of them to a form in which they 

 constitute an addition to knowledge. {'Wt' Journal of the 

 Board of Aiirindture, Xovember 191U.) 



ELECTRICITY IN AGRICULTURE. 



Sir Oliver Lodge, who has for some years been investiga- 

 ting the application of electricity to agriculture, gave some 

 interesting information on the subject in a lecture delivered 

 at the Midland Institute, Birmingham, on N^ovember 14, 

 1910. Of the problems which were receiving, and yet await- 

 itig attention. Sir Oliver placed the absorption of nitrogen by 

 plant life as one of the chief. The action of nitrifying 

 bacteria in the 'soil, the influence and function of leguminous 

 plants in the rotation of crops, the whole process of the 

 absorption, elaboration and assimilation of sap, the chemical 

 dhanges going on in the laboratories of the leaf under the 

 influence of sunshine, and the discharge of electricity from 

 plant surfaces under the action of ultra-violet light — all 

 these had been recognized, though as yet \cry iniiperfectly 



studied, for a few years. But there were others which were 

 coming to the front, of perhaps equal imi>ortance with these, 

 and which, in combination with them, would affect the power] 

 of the Briti.sh nation to feed it.self, and to lessen the amount 

 of imported food. Discoveries lay ahead ready to be made 

 in the direction of the reclamation of barren soils, the influence 

 of strong sunshine and of heat upon soils, and in preoaring 

 it for seed, and now in the curious eftect not only of burning,'' 

 but of poisoning or disinfecting the soil, and thereby increas-i 

 ing its fertility. This last process was coming to be undec-i 

 stood now as having the effect of destroying the opponents 

 or devourers of the useful and, co-operating bacteria, which 

 enabled the latter to multiply to a prodigious extent, and the 

 soil became far more fertile than before. In addition, there 

 was the problem of the electrification of the air above the 

 growing plant. Such electrification always existed, but by 

 artificial means it could be intensified, the plant stimulated, 

 and the action of feeble sunshine accelerated and assisted by , 

 high-tension electricity, purposely conveyed to the atmosphere 

 above the plants, Only recently had it been possilile to 

 supply electricity of the kind desired in a fairly eas}', and 

 permanent and engineering manner. 



His son, Sir Oliver added, had devised an apparatus for 

 applying electricity to growing crops in a practical engineer- 

 ing manner, and an agricultural electrical discharge c^Mnpany 

 had been started on a small scale at Gloucester, and had sent 

 out apparatus to many parts of the world — to Germany and 

 Austria, to .Java and Sweden, as well as to Scotland for 

 e.Kperiments by Mr. Lowe, of Balmakewan, who was testing 

 the whole proce.ss, scientifically and financially, for a period 

 of five years. Dr. Priestley, of Bristol, a scientific chemist 

 and botanist, was also giving careful attention to the testing 

 of results. A 2 h.p. engine was .sufficient for a 20-acre plot. 

 {The Fiehl Xovember 19, 1910.) 



Preservation of Labels and Plant Stakes.— 



Plant stakes and labels are often the cause of much trouble 

 in gardens, owing to the way in which they rot and break 

 ott', and the consequent labour and expense of having to renew 

 them. A frequently practised method is that of tarring tlie 

 portion that goes into the ground to prevent decay, or that 

 of charring the ends; but neither can be said to be quite 

 satisfactory, fungi and moisture often finding a way in, 

 especially just above the .sm-face soil. A correspondent to 

 Miiller'i Gartner Zeitutu/ mentions a simple plan which he 

 saw described in .some old horticultural work, which appears 

 to be practicable, ■ simple and inexpensive. When the stakes 

 are thoroughly dry they are placed with their lower ends to' 

 soak in lime water for several days, after which they are taken 

 out and allowed to dry. They are then painted over with 

 dilute sulphuric acid and put in the .sun to di'y. This results 

 in the formation in the treated wood of calcium sulphate, or 

 gypsum, which is almost insoluble in water, and fairly hard. . 

 It might be thought that the sulphuric acid would prove 

 injurious to plant roots, but this is not so, as all the free 

 aciji enters into combination with the calcium, and we know ■ 

 that gypsum is beneficial to plants. It cannot, of course, lie 

 claimed yet that this treatment of labels and stakes for use 

 in gardens has proved a good preservative, as it would require 

 several years to test it, but it certainly looks like serving the 

 purpose admirably, and every gardener and forester knows the, 

 value of a stake or label that would do duty for a number . 

 of years. The treatment might also prove useful for gate 

 posts, the principals of fences, etc.; in fact, for all wood that 

 is liable to decay from damp, etc. {The Field, November 5 

 1910.) 



