The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Are “Electrifiers” of Benefit? 
Last year Mr. H. P. Demarest, of 
Orange Co., X. Y., reported his use of a 
homemade “electrifier,” a device for at¬ 
tracting electricity from the air for the 
benefit of farm crops. The following re¬ 
port brings the matter up to date: 
Our type of electrifier was made by 
purchasing as long a 5-16-in. rod from 
the blacksmith supply house as would 
stand without bending over of its own 
weight. 10 to 12 ft. rods. I took these 
over to a local tinsmith and had him 
solder on three heavy, pointed copper 
wires at one end. These were bent up 
basket-shape about three inches above the 
end of the rod. These copper wires were 
-Hodin ground 
Telephone 11 ire Adjusted as Electrifier 
to collect the electricity. Such a rod, 
with only its top pointed by the black¬ 
smith, is reported to have served the pur¬ 
pose. 
To set the rods we used a ,‘>0-in. steel 
rod of similar size, which we drove in the 
grouud about 2 ft., close beside the tree 
trunk. After this was withdrawn the 
long rod was inserted and the earth was 
trampled in firmly beside it. A seven- 
year-old tree with rod beside it looked 
about as indicated in cut below, and so 
far as we have been able to determine 
such a rod will affect an area about 
equaling its height in all directions, the 
power diminishing as with the distance 
from the rod itself. From this it will be 
seen that the plan is to induce a freer 
flow o. lectricity from the atmosphere 
into the soil than is afforded by the tree 
itself, although I believe that every tree 
is said to be a natural lightning rod. This 
also makes it cmereni that it is not at 
all necessary to use any one type of 
rodding in order tc conduct such an ex¬ 
periment. In fact, i think that it wou d 
be perfectly practical to rod a very large 
tree by inserting a screw eye in the top- 
-‘mm 
Iron R<jd Electrifier 
most branch of the tree and to make an 
electrifier by using ordinary telephone 
wire, the top of which was simply caught 
in a loop through the screw eye while 
the bottom was connected up with a rod 
or something like a sheet of zinc or cop¬ 
per sunk a foot or two in the grouud. 
So much for the electrifier itself. I 
was interested in this matter in the first 
place by reading a group of reports taken 
from various sources. The experiment 
the results I got with certain of our gar¬ 
den fruits and vegetables, popcorn having 
responded particularly well. But I have 
no idea as to what the electricity is sup¬ 
posed to do to stimulate plant growth. 
Perhaps it helps make certain plant food 
directly available, perhaps it does its 
work indirectly by stimulating certain 
soil micro-organisms. As I say, I don’t 
pretend to know anything about this, but 
results in the garden led me to carry the 
experiment out to our orchards. And 
here the results ar ? far harder for the 
layman to report convincingly upon. I 
will say this, however, that my father 
and I are both pretty well convinced that 
we are getting some good results, but 
hardly know how to express the results 
scientifically. A group of rodded trees 
situated right on a line between a rich 
and poor section of oui orchard are cer¬ 
tainly some of the finest trees of them all, 
particularly wherever the tref . odded has 
happened to be a McIntosh. Early in the 
season, I am sure that t’ ‘se same rodded 
trees show a better green in sunlight at 
the proper angle and the fruit shows up 
a little better and bigger. I think that 
there is no question but what the rodded 
trees are a trifle bigger than their neigh¬ 
bors. On the other hand, these differ¬ 
ences seems to diminish towards the ends 
. of the season and these things are harder 
to point out. However, I think that there 
must be some advantage even then, just 
as there would be in the case of two 
quite similar animals, one of which had 
started off better than the other. 
As it. stands, therefore, I feel that those 
interested should do a little experimenting 
on their own part: especially so, since 
the experiment i.s so easily made. There 
seems to be some extremely good author¬ 
ity for saying that the results are splen¬ 
did with strawberries, and several men 
have said that they are well worth while 
in their fruit trees. it. t. demarest. 
New York. 
The Sun and the Weather 
Some time ago Prof. Massey asked why 
we got our coldest weather after the sun 
turns northward. The following, taken 
from a daily paper, seems to explain it. 
The ground, the earth is a great store¬ 
house of heat and cold. During the 
warm days of Summer and Autumn in 
our northern hemisphere the earth is stor¬ 
ing up the warmth being poured upon it 
by old Sol. \\ her. the first frosty winds 
of late Fall begin to sweep down “from 
Greenland's icy mountains” the stored 
up heat of the earth rises up in its might 
and softens the bite of the unwelcome 
northers. 
But the northers refuse to abate their 
att°ck. They return again and again 
with greater and greater fury, until the 
storehouse of heat that good Mother Earth 
has replenished during the warm days 
become more and more exhausted. Mother 
Earth with her storehouse bravely with¬ 
stands the seige until the dreary, short 
days of late December, when almost de¬ 
serted in the struggle by old Sol himself, 
she weakens rapidly. Then the Winter 
winds from the north find little opposi¬ 
tion for six weeks or more after the 
shortest days of the year, and spread 
Winter’s grasp more completely over the 
then more thoroughly chilled earth. 
The same story, but in reversed form is 
to be told about the warmest days of 
Summer. The earth, chilled thoroughly 
by the Winter months, is not thawed out 
sufficiently for the most direct rays of 
407 
the sun to burn with all their fury as 
one might think around June 21. ‘The 
greatest heat is not felt until a month 
or more after the sun has been shining 
from nearly a perpendicular position over¬ 
head and thereby thawing out the cold 
stored up in the earth during Winter. 
Cancelled Postage Stamps 
In times past we have had many let¬ 
ters from our people who want to know 
about the schemes for collecting postage 
stamps. Formerly there were many such. 
Generally the report was that some per¬ 
son in Australia or in some foreign coun¬ 
try was trying to make a collection of 
the stamps which they proposed to use 
m securing a fund for a college. No one 
was able to tell how such stamps could 
be used tor the purpose, and it was gen¬ 
erally feared that the scheme was to re¬ 
move the cancellation marks through the 
use of chemicals and sell the stamps as 
genuine. The Post Office Department al¬ 
ways discouraged these chain letters 
which called for the stamps, and they 
seem to have disappeared from the mails. 
Now comes a new proposition. It is 
stated that a clergyman in Pennsylvania 
is trying to obtain cancelled stamps of 
all kinds. It is said that he sends these 
stamps to Christian workers in foreign 
fields._ These workers paste nine stamps 
on bright-colored paper and give them to 
the school children for deportment and 
attendance. It is stated that these for¬ 
eign children are eager to get these strips 
of cancelled stamps. W r e received in¬ 
quiries about this work and sent the case 
to the Post Office Department. After an 
investigation they reply that this clergy¬ 
man is a man of high standing. They 
think his scheme for collecting these 
postage stamps is a worthy cause, and 
they can obtain no evidence indicating 
that the scheme is improperly conducted. 
rj 
Titan 10-20 —for Economy Farming 
DURING THE YEAR 1921 
AND THE YEARS TO COME 
T RACTORS come and tractors go but Titan 10-20 continues its steady 
traveling along the roads of popularity, and in the fields of labor, con¬ 
quering the most difficult of practical farm tasks. 
Theories and experiments in design and construction run their course 
among manufacturers and among farmers — and leave behind a varied 
history. But the service record of Titan has been a revelation in the agri¬ 
cultural world. Its record as an efficient farm power unit has been, to state 
a plain truth, convincing. 
During its history, Titan sales have swept ahead; this tractor has carried 
its success into every county and country. Yet, except for minor improve¬ 
ments and betterments, Titan design has remained unchanged. It has stood 
the test of time, the test of hardest, roughest usage, the test of strenuous com¬ 
petition, so that to date the farming world has invested over seventy million 
dollars in Titans. Can there be better proof of thorough practicability? 
Titan 10-20 is now more than ever standard because it is fundamentally 
simple, enduring, reliable, right. Do not be deluded by initial false economy. 
Increase the efficiency of your work for 1921 by an investment in this 
power. The International dealer is the man to see. 
International Harvester Company 
° fAmerica 
CHICAGO (incorporated) USA 
92 ‘■Branch Houses and 15,000 ^Dealers in the United States 
