April 1 8, 19 1 8 
Land & Water 
19 
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Electrification of Seeds: By Charles Mercier, m.d, f.r.c.p. 
ELECTRICITY is a word to conjure with. In the 
estimation of the ignorant it is a kind of superior 
witchcraft, a mysterious power that is capable of 
working great marvels, they do not in the least 
know, or care, how. For this very reason, those 
who do know a good deal about electricity are apt to be 
sceptical when some new claim is made on its behalf. They 
are inclined to put the claim— provisionally, at any rate — 
on a level with the assertion that "Electricity is Life," and 
to regard it as a bit of quackery. 
This, at least, was my own mental attitude when I heard 
it asserted that treatment of seeds by electricity before they 
are sown produces an increase in the crop that grows from 
them, and I was reluctant to waste time in investigating the 
process. But when I was assured that an agent of the 
Ministry of Food was taking sufiScient interest in the process 
to inquire into it, I began to think there might be something 
in it ; when I found that the Ministry of Munitions had 
released the materials and machines necessary for con- 
struction and working of the plant, my interest was aroused ; 
when I read the reports and heard the verbal explanations of 
agricultural experts of eminence, it seemed that the thing 
was worth examination ; when I heard that the firm of 
Mitsui, the Rothschilds of Japan, had taken the matter up 
and are arranging to instal a plant in Japan, I was con- 
finncd in the view ; and when I discovered that practical 
farmers, farming on a large scale, who had in previous seasons 
made trial sowings of a few acres, were now preparing to sow 
a large acreage — the whole of their cereals — with treated 
seed, I could no longer doubt that the project was worth 
serious examination. I was now prepared to find that there 
is something in it. I was not quite prepared to find how 
much there is in it. 
The process was invented by Mr. H. E. Fry, a gentleman 
residing at Godmanstone, near Dorchester, who has been 
working at it for the last six years, and by means of some 
hundreds of experiments of gradually increasing magnitude, 
has brought a promising conjecture to a practical success. 
He has been fortunate in possessing open-minded neighbours, 
who have confidence in his ability, and who have conducted 
for him field-trials upon a considerable scale. The process con- 
sists in steeping the seed in a Uquid, such as solution of 
common salt, or of calcium chloride, that is a good conductor 
of electricity, and in passing, when the seed is thoroughly 
soaked, a current of electricity through the solution, and 
thereby through the seed also. The current is allowed to 
flow for a time that varies with the kind of seed treated, 
the optimum duration for each having been determined 
by many careful experiments. The moment the proper 
time has elapsed, the liquid is run off, and the seed is taken 
out and dried ; and at this stage a very unexpected result 
was manifested. 
In the early trials, the seed was not thoroughly 
dried, or but little attention was paid to the drying ; but 
subsequent experiments showed that the drying is a very 
important part of the process. The temperature needs 
careful regulation, and the more thoroughly the moisture is 
removed, the greater is the increase in the yield of the crop. 
The crude methods of drying at first resorted to are now 
superseded by kiln-drying, which, though not ideally perfect, 
is very satisfactory in practice. When the seed is dry, the 
pr(x;ess is complete, and the seed is ready for sowing. The 
sooner, in reason, it is sown, the better are the results ; but 
it is ascertained that the seed retains its increased power 
wjtliout serious diminution for a month, and may then still 
be sown with profit ; but at or before the end of two months 
deterioration sets in, and the seed gradually reverts to the 
condition it was in before being treated. It suffers no harm 
from the treatment, if this is properly conducted, but if the 
sowing is delayed beyond a month the treatment is partly or 
wholly wasted. 
The early experiments showed varying results. In most 
of them there was a gratifying and encouraging increase in 
the growth of the plant, and in the yield from it. In some, 
little or no improvement could be discovered ; and in a few 
there was an actual deterioration. As the experiments pro- 
ceeded and the method was perfected, these discrepancies 
disappeared, and a stage has now been reached at which it is 
possible to reckon confidently upon an increase in the crop, 
and upon a greater increase than was attained in the early 
stages of experimentation. It may now be said that an 
increase of yield more than compensating for the cost of the 
process is assured. 
The cost of the treatment is, indeed, trifling, being only 
about 14s. per sack, which will sow an acre of ground in 
spring and more than an acre in autumn. To get this money 
back at the present price of wheat, the yield should be 
increased by 3 bushels per acre, or about 10 per cent, on a 
moderate crop of 30 bushels to the acre. In fact, the average 
increase on the trials in 1914-5 was 36 per cent. ; in 1915-6, 
22 per cent. ; and in subsequent seasons these percentages 
have been maintained. 
To judge of the trustworthiness of these results, it is neces- 
sary to know how the trials are conducted. The method is 
this : of a given bulk of seed, so many sacks are taken and 
submitted to the treatment. The treated seed is then sown 
in one patch, side by side with the untreated seed from the 
same bulk. The whole of the field has precisely the same 
preparation ; the whole has been cropped in the same manner 
in previous years ; the whole is similarly manured ; the two 
samples of seed are sown on the same day, with the same 
drill, the rows at the same distance apart, the same amount 
of seed to the acre. The subsequent cultivation is the same 
in every respect. No field is precisely uniform in every 
respect in every yard of its surface, but these little local 
differences are swamped and submerged when a sufficient 
area is taken. In the trials that have been made, the areas 
taken have been considerable ; that is to say, several acres 
— from 6 to 20 — in extent. When, under these conditions, 
trial after trial, by different farmers, in different parts of 
the country, as widely distant as Dorset and Cheshire, show 
results uniformly in favour of the treated seed, it is no 
longer possible to doubt that the difference is due to the 
treatment the seed has undergone. Scepticism becomes 
unreasonable. 
It would be incorrect to say the results have been uniformly 
in favour of the process. Therfe have been a few failures; 
but when these have been investigated it has been found 
that either the treatment of the seed has been ifi some respect 
faulty, or the conditions of cultivation have not been the 
same. 
If the facts are as here stated, doubt becomes unreason- 
able ; but are the facts as here stated ? To establish this it 
is necessary to call evidence. The evidence is abundant, 
far too abundant to give here, and I must be content with 
citing that of a single witness, but this witness is of unim- 
peachable authority. Mr. Molyneux is accepted throughout 
the world of agriculture and horticulture as a man wl\ose 
authority cannot be gainsaid. He has judged more frequently 
at agricultural shows than perhaps any other living man. 
