20 
Land & Water 
April 1 8, 19 1 8 
and the following extracts are from a report signed by him 
that appeared in the Gardener's Chronicle on December 6 : — 
On approaching the field I at once detected a difference in 
the greater luxuriance of the growth. [Mr. Molyneux does not 
say so ; but, in fact, the difference was noticeable at a distance 
of a quarter of a mile.] On a closer inspection, the straw on the 
half of the field so treate<l was found to be eight inches higher 
than in that untreated. Mr. Smith seized a handful of straw 
in quite a haphazard manner in both plots — treated and untreated. 
The comparison showed much difference in the tliickness of the 
straw and the size of the ears. 
The next field inspected was 10 acres of Champion Hybrid 
Yellow Turnips. . . . The treated seed occupied every fifth 
drill. The difference in the appearance of the plants in tliis 
single row was very striking. The foUage on many of the plants 
was much more robust, and possessed more chlorophyll than'' 
the untreated plants in the four remaining drills. I pulled up 
roots opposite each other froiYi the two rows without any attempt 
to choose. That from the treated seed was distinctly larger. . . 
We then crossed over to Nethercerne, a neighbouring farm, 
owned by Mr. Maby, who has taken an interest in the subject, 
and has sown two fields with treated and untreated seed. The 
barley was being cut. Here the untreated portion showed less 
luxuriance of growth in the thickness of the straw, as well as in 
. the height and in the size of the ears. 
The oats were sown in a field which had previously lain some 
years as derelict grass. . . . Here the difference in the treated 
portion was most striking in the length of the straw 
The conclusions I drew from these inspections arc that, to use 
a common phrase, there is "something in it." If by treating 
the seed only two more sacks per acre are produced, which is a 
low estimate, in value the two sacks are worth 40s., and surely 
the gain is considerable. 
In the Middle Ages, a Pope could not be convicted of 
crime except on the evidence of at least seventy-two unim- 
peachable witnesses. That a Pope should be guilty of crime 
is in the highest degree improbable ; but it would be almost 
as difficult to convince a farmer that the yield of his corn 
can be increased by 30 per cent, as to convince him that a 
Pope could be guilty of crime. In the one case, as in the 
other, a multitude of unimpeachable witnesses is required ; 
and as to the corn, the witnesses are forthcoming. They are 
not only agricultural experts like Mr. Molyneux, or ignorant 
outsiders like myself, but comprise seed experts, seed 
merchants in a large way of business, and, above all, 
practical farmers whose living depends on their success in 
farming, and who are by nature a cautious, sceptical race, 
clinging to traditional ways that have proved successful 
through the years of many generations, and shy of new- 
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fangled methods that have been insufficiently tested. More 
than a hundred such men have already testified in the most 
practical manner to the value of the electrifying process by 
using electrified seed. On a Saturday of last month no less thaa 
twenty tons of electrified seed potatoes were sold in Dorchester 
Market alone, and it is no exaggeration to say that hundreds 
of tons of electrified seed potatoes will be sown this season, 
■ and hundreds of acres will be sown with electrified seed 
com. 
It seems to me, therefore, that a knowledge of the process 
should be more widely disseminated in other parts of the 
country. I do not say that it is so completely past the 
experimental stage as to warrant its universal adoption, 
but I do say that it is worth a widely extended trial. It is 
open to any agriculturist to experiment for a few shilling* 
with a sack or two of corn. The trial plots are already 3» 
numerous that the harvest of igi8 will put the matter 
beyond doubt ; but localities, soils, and other circumstancec 
differ so much that the trials cannot be too widely 
extended. 
In conclusion, let me say that my interest in' the matter 
is scientific and patriotic only. Of' the commercial side »f 
it I know and care nothing. 
The Attorney -General's Pilgrimage 
THE extreme versatility of the writer is the first 
impression gained from perusal of Sir F. E. 
Smith's My American Visit (Hutchinson, 6s. net). 
The tour occupied two months, including the 
voyages to and from Liverpool ; in that period 
"F. E. " addressed forty-eight meetings, which meant an 
average of about four a day ; yet there was time to visit, 
time for Turkish baths, for dinners with such people as 
Elsie Janis and Maxine Elhott, and a considerable amount 
of social intercourse. The reflections on American life, and 
especially on America at war, . may be assigned to the 
slack times of the return voyage, which, on the word 
of the author, gave opportunity for the compilation •f 
the book. 
In spite of the hurried nature of the visit, the view afforded 
of the States is very complete, probably because the writer 
has not attempted to present a reasoned study of conditions 
from New York to San Francisco, but has set down ably 
and simply the things that he saw and the people he met. 
Where necessary, the narrative is supplemented by state- 
ments of American men — notably that declaration by the 
President of the American Federation of Labour : 
I Uved in a fool's paradise ; I have believed in men ; beliered 
that, when they solemnly pledged themselves and those in whose 
name they were authorised to speak, they would go to the limit 
in their own countries to prevent the rupture of international 
peace. I believed them, for I felt that I would have gone to 
the furthest Umit to uphold those pledges. Almost out of a 
clear sky came the declaration of war, and I found the men who 
pledged their word to me and mine to maintain peace, flying to 
the (^olours of the greatest autocrat of all time — a scientific, 
intellectual murderer — flying to attack their brothers whose 
lives they had sworn to protect ; and from then until the peace 
of the world is assured I count myself transformed from a pacifiat 
into a living, breathing, fighting man. 
In this statement Sir F. E. Smith saw the attitude of the 
United States toward the war. He emphasises the necessity 
for patience. "The United States have undertaken simul- 
taneously a number of tasks, each of which is so stupendous 
that even their gigantic energy must prove slower in its 
fruits than was hoped." He bears testimony to the unity 
of the American nation. Even the German element in 
Cincinnati, St. Louis, Cleveland, etc., supported the Mihtary 
Service Act and made no more attempt to appeal from con- 
scription than the rest of the population — "many of them, 
it was pointed out, had left Prussia precisely in order to avoid 
the military virus which had brought this cataclysm upo« 
the world." It is almost incredible that in so short a tour 
one man should have seen so much and done so much — the 
net impression of the book is a panoramic view of all the 
States, necessarily superficial, but not the less interesting, 
and even illuminating with regard to the cjuahty of the 
war America is waging. 
There are certain criticisms of the apphcation of "dry" 
measures to the various States of the Union which are not 
devoid of humour, both conscious and unconscious ; these 
are necessarily brief, for throughout the book is the note of 
hurry that must have been a dominant characteristic of 
the tour itself. The author admits that his work is " informal 
and often disconnected," but it is doubtful if a more careful 
and pretentious record of such a crowded tour would have 
been equally effective as this vivid series of keen and often 
brilliant impressions. 
