KLKCTROCULTURE 



9 



half of the control plat. Aside from this, there appears to be a gradual 

 increase in the total yield of the south plat relative to the north one, 

 irrespective of whether a positive charge, a negative charge, or no 

 charge at all was used. It is of interest to note that the grain ratios 

 with a positive charge on the network are all slightly higher than the 

 ratio in 1917, when no treatment was given; with the negative charge 

 the reverse is true. This seems consistent, for if increasing the posi- 

 tive gradient of the electrostatic field tends to stimulate growth, then 

 to reverse the sign of the field may perhaps tend to inhibit growth. 

 Opposed to this speculation is the fact that the negative field appar- 

 ently had no effect on the ratio of the total yields of the two plat-. 

 In brief, while there is some evidence of a slight increase in grain 

 yield when wheat is grown under a network which is positively charged 

 to a high potential, the observed effect is so small that it is well within 

 the experimental errors of field trials. 



EXPERIMENTS IN SECTION B 



Experiments in 1911. — The first electrocultural field experiments at 

 Arlington Experiment Farm were made in 1911 with grains in sec- 

 tion B, employing a plat which had been seeded in strips to wheat 

 the previous fall. In the spring of 1911 a network of small wire was 

 installed over the eastern half of the plat, covering half of each 

 variety. The network was 7 feet high with wires at intervals of 3 

 feet, connected to the positive pole of a static machine operating at 

 a potential of about 40 to 50 kilovolts. The machine was in opera- 

 tion six days a week from 3 p. m. to 7 a. m. except during rainy 

 weather from early spring to harvest. 



Table 8 shows the relative yields of the treated and control halves. 



Table 8. — Yields of winter wheat on plats following electrocultural treatment (posi- 

 tive charge), section B, Arlington Experiment Farm, in 1911 





Yields per acre (pounds) 



Ratio of 



grain. 



treated to 



Variety 



Treated half 



Control half 





Grain 



Straw Grain 



Straw 





G. I. 1942 



820 

 1,320 

 1,240 



1,740 

 1,920 

 2,520 



780 

 1,450 

 1,300 



1,360 

 2,070 



1.05 



Fultz ... 



.91 



G. I. 1974 



.95 











Experiments in 1912. — In the fall of 1911 one variety of wheat, 

 Currell {CvrrelVs Prolific), was sown on section B, and the network 

 was again erected at the height of 7 feet with cross wires 3 feet apart, 

 as before. The treated and control plats each had an area of three- 

 fourths of an acre. This year the network was charged with a 

 Snook-Roentgen set, which consisted of an inverted rotary converter 

 supplying a 160-volt current to a 1-kilowatt 100,000-volt transformer. 

 A mechanical rectifier was used on the high-tension side to obtain a 

 positive charge on the network, the other terminal of the trans- 

 former being grounded. Even with this set it was not possible to 

 charge the network much above 50,000 volts. The treatment was 

 given daily from 3 to 7 p. m., except Sundays and during had weather. 



At harvest the weights shown in Table 9 were recorded. 

 62149°— 20 2 



