HORTICULTURE AT CORNELL. 



150 



Till- Electric Light Experiment. — The general plan of 

 the old house is the same as the new, though differing in 

 some minor details. The most interesting thing in con- 

 nection with this at present is the electric light experi- 

 ment. The house is divided near the middle by a tight 

 board partition, and in one room is a Brush arc-lamp. 

 The complete plant is owned by the horticultural depart- 

 ment. A six-horse power engine and Westinghouse dy- 

 namo is in the cellar of the potting-house to supply the 

 current. This is kept running all night by a night en- 

 gineer, with a view to determining whether the light has 

 any influence upon the growth of plants. The lower 

 table is devoted to lettuce, the lower center one to peas 

 of different varieties, the next to salad plants, and the 

 upper one to radishes and carrots in alternating blocks. 

 Care has been taken to have all the conditions as nearly 

 identical as possible in each division, in order to make 

 the list reliable. The tables all run through both rooms. 

 Some machines have been devised for measuring the 

 growth of plants by the hour by means of clockwork. 



This is a very important experiment, and entirely new 

 in a practical way. It is of special moment to persons in 

 cities or wherever electric lights are used, and especially 

 to those who have much surface under glass. It is by 

 far the largest experiment of the kind which has ever 

 been carried on, and in fact the only one destined to be 

 of much practical value. Plants usually grow ordinarily 

 at night, and it will be of great interest to note what 

 their behavior is when subjected to light continuously; 

 whether they will grow under the electric light the same 

 as in darkness or change their habit of growth entirely. 



If they change, during what portion of the day will it 

 be most rapid ? Are the properties of electric light and 

 sunlight so similar that the operations of the plant must 

 be uniform throughout the whole twenty-four hours, and 

 if so will the effect be to make growth continuous and 

 accelerated or to retard it ? It is to assist in determin- 

 ing these and other points that the contrivances for 

 measuring the growth each hour were gotten up. It is 

 probable that later on trials will be made in the matter 

 of substituting the electric light for sunlight altogether. 

 Is it simply light and heat which plants need, or are 

 there properties essential to growth in the sun's rays 

 which artificial light does not possess ? 



A considerable portion of the work of growing and 

 caring for the plants in these houses is done by students 

 taking practical work in horticulture. One student is 

 making some extended trials with herbaceous grafting, 

 using many of the different methods of inarching and 

 grafting on such plants as coleus, tomato and potato. 

 Part of his trials are made with grafting wax and part 

 with sphagnum moss as a protecting material. Another 

 is doing some original work in the study of the striking 

 of cuttings by experimenting with many plants, taking 

 oft' the callus when formed and starting the cutting again, 

 preserving the callus in alcohol. 



It is designed to add another house the coming season, 

 as indicated by the cut, A^, in order to give better oppor- 

 tunity for the work of students without encroaching upon 

 the room of experimentation. 



Fred. W. Card. 



PenusykHinia . 



