ee 
1 Junz, 1900.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 513 
Science. 
THE EFFECT OF INCANDESCENT LIGHT ON PLANT GROWTH. 
Experiments have been made at West Virginia Agricultural Experiment 
Station, to test the effect of a continuous application of light to certain plants, by 
Professor L. C. Corbett. The daylight was supplemented at night by the incan- 
descent light of the Welsbach burner, and the light was shown to be an active 
stimulus to plant growth when so used. The further teachings of the test 
are :— 
1. Lettuce plants subjected to the influence of the incandescent gas light 
at night were taller and heavier than plants of the same variety and seed 
sowing grown in normal conditions. Et 
2. That lettuce and spinach subjected to the stimulating influence of the 
light grew faster and completed their growth in less time than plants of the 
same sorts from the same seed sowing grown in normal conditions. 
3. That no injurious effects resulted from the use of the incandescent gas 
light. 
z 4, That the stimulating influence of the light, as indicated by the growth 
of plants used in the various tests, is shown by the order in which the sorts are 
named, the first being the most susceptible—spinach, cabbage, radish, lettuce, 
tomato. 
5. That the range of the light is somewhat variable for the different crops. 
In general, the maximum growth was attained at 12 to 16 feet from the light 
while a’ perceptible increase was noticed at 24 feet. 
6. Bloom record of tomatoes shows markedly earlier bloom in the light 
house—eight days the least and eighteen days the greatest difference. 
7. That in the case of radishes top growth was stimulated, but evidently 
not markedly, at the expense of root. With sugar beets top growth was greatly 
stimulated evidently at the expense of root growth. 
8. That while the roots of beets grown in the normal house were larger 
than those in the light house, the sugar contents and the per cent. purity was 
markedly higher in the lighthouse grown roots. 
9. Spinach, lettuce, and radishes all tend to make seed stalks earlier under 
the light than in normal conditions. 
10. Lettuce and spinach under the influence of the incandescent gas light 
not only grew faster during the growing period, but the period was actually 
longer than for plants in the normal house. 
THE EFFECT OF SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION UPON 
AGRICULTURE. 
Tue art of agriculture is as old as man, but the science of agriculture has 
not yet completed its first century. It seems at first thought impossible to 
believe that, before the nineteenth century dawned, agricultural science was, to 
even the most advanced scientific workers and explorers, a—“ dark continent.” 
In 1804, De Saussure published a work entitled, ‘‘ Recherches sur la Vegeta- 
tion,” in which he gave the analysis of the ashes of many plants, and contended 
that they were absolutely essential to the growth of the plant, that they must 
be derived from the soil, and that probably these ash or mineral constituents 
that the plant derived from the soil were the source of those found in the 
animals which fed upon the plants. From 1802 to 1812 Sir Humphrey Davy 
delivered several series of lectures, which he published in 1818, under the title 
“Elements of ,Agricultural Chemistry.’ To him is due the credit of making 
