WONDER WHEAT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 990, 3 December 1910, Page 13

WONDER WHEAT.

J! TRIALS WITH ELECTRIFIED SEED. 5' TWO CROPS A YEAR, s i That electrified crops might in a less t conventional senso of the word mean an - electrified' agriculture has been evident 1 since Sir Oliver Lodge's extraordinary experiments were set fortli in detail in these columns (says tho London "Stand- ,, art!"). Tho thin, almost invisible ivires : which are spread above tho fields stimu- • late growth and particularly favour ' rapid approach to maturity. Tho api_ paraius, luifortuiiatoly, is very costly, j and tho production of electricity in an D applicable form is not cheap. It is y littlo wonder, therefore, that clever men . have been eagerly seeking to apply tho r electric stimulus in a cheap and com- . pact form, and this application is now i reported to havo been made by Mr. J. o J. Melville, who claims that by a secrot 0 process of somo threo weeks' duration 1 an electrical change in the condition of . the seed wheat can be wrought, whereby from the day it is confided to the s' soil its growth is throughout expedited, s with the result' that all the stages, from . the start of germination to the attainl menfc of sufficient ripeness for the - reaper, are put through within the space _ of threo clear months. Both - electrician and botanist will have thoir s -doubts, because tho impact of energy - on tho seed will appear to tho ono difficult of conserving in its effects over t three months, whilo tho botanist will ( admit with reluctance tho advent of s crop-promoting power -from without. Fertilisers are, of course, simple soil 3 additions, and supply the. elements 1 which the botanist had been able to inL dicato as needed by the plants under x his. observation. None the less, the careful scientist will, hesitate to pronounce the word "impossible"; the . potentialities of the seed of every plant • remain ono of the most remarkable natural miracles, and these potentialities we seo brought to fruition in waving fields of corn year after year. Experiments in East Essex. The great seed-growing establishments of Messrs. John King and Co. and of Messrs. Hurst and Sons, both >' in East Essex, bear witness to tho suitability of the region for tho moro scientific experiments in seed and sced--0 corn culture, and the former firm havo this very season achieved some remark--0 able results in tho early maturity of _ spring wheat, their special selections. £ sown lato in April being ready for the sickle by August 10 and 11, a period j. of three months and a fortnight. Tho r experiments of Mr. Melville at Creek--0 s °a, near Burnham-on-Crouch, have, »j however, .been remarkable for his' ntilisg ing the later period of tho summer. Wheat prepared in Juno by his process e was sown by Mr. R. J. Sutor, farmer, 0 of Creeksea Hall, on July 19, and is 0 said to havo been just visible above 0 tho soil on July 24. Tho weather was 0 cool and showery, and favourable to a e quick start. Tho ground was rolled on' o August 1, and ears began to appear on' September 16. __ The modern custom is o to cut wheat two or threo days before - it is quite ripe, and on October 10 the s Creeksea field was pronounced fit for cutting. Tho period of growth, theroi- fore, was only 82 days. In Canada, s' wheat sown as lato as May 7 has been ; cut on August 14, a period of 97 days, and the best time on Messrs. John King >- and Co.'s farm has been, wo fancy, ii about 106 days. Tho latter is really tho b more startling record, as Canada has o nearly twico the English average of a sunshine over tho period of developii ment. o 0 Trying for Two Crops Yearly. Of course, two crops of different sorts > are frequently raised within a year, on English soil. "Whero thero is a sowing : of spring corn in February, it should be well secured before mid-August, and ~ then a green crop for cattle, rvo or winter fares, for example, may without j undue hasto be sown by tho first week _ of' September. This crop will give succulent green food and servo its purr pose for stock feeding, with time to = allow _ of tho spring sowing of a fresh crop in rotation. Nor is this form of > progressive agriculture alien from tho tliemo of food supply for man. Livo stock are simply corn ono stago re--1 moved, and tho food resources of tho country would by tho new discovery,, if verified, be rather shifted than iiicreased. The _ possibility of growing . spring wheat if desirable is perfectly c well known and admitted, and tlicro is little doubt that within a few years seed wheat selected for early maturity will be on sale, 'with a . guarantee of ripening within 100 days of being con- | fided to tho soil. " The growth of two crops of wheat within the year could conceivably bo ef- I fected iii this manner. The first crop , j would consist of seed wheat prepared ! r feV expediting process and sown in j k 1* cbruary-March, or of early maturing j sprmg wheat sown in the autumn.J 3 £ a 0 v S> 110 s P e 9^ I>e flsoh to supposo | that the .latter in our wheat counties would- succumb to, winter frost, except ! very sever© seasons like 1870-1 aud , j 13f4-5. If, however, tho expediting process did not prove specially expensive, wo might look to see wheat so preparecl relied on exclusively. This wheat, havj March, April, and May in which to ripen, would be reaped in June, and tho r s ? cond AA cr ?P> s °ra early in July, would" 1 4? ys l atcr J about October 10 or j Proufc long since demonstrated 5 tho perfect feasibility of growing wheat year after_ year on the same land if _ only the right, artificials were »applied j. between crop and crop. N • Climatic Limitations. • j. A? climatic limitations havo - ,2 0° They are not light, j If Mr. Melville had had only an average 3 September this year would tho wheat' havo ripened at all? Tho temperature at tho time when his wheat was flowering was high enough to allow of fer- • tuisation, but in how manv Septembers • hm a j centu yy would this be tho case? lho botanist and the electrician ' we have already spoken of, but the last - word may well bo with the meteorologist. Is or is tho earlier crop, to bo ripe oarly in Juno, assured of May temperature lngh enough to allow of fcrtiiisa--1 tion and subsequent ripening. Tho pro- . cess of Mr. Melville is one applied to f u? s ?,° c ? rn ' and is not alleged to ont able tho plant to pass from adolescenco t to maturity,or to fulfil its sexual life 3 at any lower temperature than that which has hitherto limited wheat pro--3 auction to tho area within • certain 3 isotherms. Now tho tomporato zone has only one summer, and the May and j September temperatures will, we fear, , bo found in England to lack that uili--3 !r r " 1 S cn ' a ".ty oil which apparently Mr. l Melville! relies. May varies in a half- - century from 28dog. to Sldeg. for its t coldest and hottest days, and 53.4 is the average. September varies from - :ni s " - to ®~deg., and its mean is 57.9. 3 thero is liopo about September . for wheat attaining ripeness, but that 3 is not the question,- the aim is to pro- . duco two crops a year, and the strength " v j a but that of its weakest 3 } ,vca ' s " n K ' lere ' s an English ' , •)'> * or tho flowering and fertilising, bo it remembered, havo in tho courso or L " plant lifo to preccde by about a fort- ' night the fitness of tho wheat for oven 3 an early spring. j All Aid to Largo Yield. J Tho opinions of Mr. Sutor, the far- | mer and grower, as well as-Mr. MolJ villo, seem to point to a change of j policy in the matter of sowing. They . bolievo in this sowing, and think that j if tho wheat was dibbled in instead 3 of drilled, at least 24 bushels moro 1 would.bo averaged to tho aoro.. This is surely, a very Bangufno riow, but after

till dilf'bling is intensive agriculture, assuring to each seed its fair chance of fruition. It is tho law, too, of justico m nature, and gives with oven dibbling ' each seed its own littlo territory. in which to'thrive and expand, oil which to roly and to draw. Tho observations of Professor Percival, of Wyo College, point to tho "tall straw, long ears and 3 large grain" induced by wheat sowing i at wido intervals between tho separk ato seed corns. The wheat which grew , sa fast and well as Creeksea was dibbled in, wo imagine, with all the adi vantage bf regularity and distance be- - tween tho seeds. s Mr. • Melvillo as a man of science be- . to a profession which invites publicity, welcomes investigation, and lays down as an axiom that its -effccts can - bo repented. Should the Creeksea e.i- , periments receive endorsement from in- ! dependent investigators, aud tho effects 5 under equally favourable circumstances i —we cannot, unfortunately, assure 3 readers that all' Septembers will bo like . the last!—be repeated, wo shall havo r gained 13 to 20 per cent, in tho possi- . bilities of early maturity in tho wheat t plant. Tho second series of experiments i have been adumbrated by Mr. Melville; f they remain to be made, and until a . .wheat crop, sown when the experimen--3 talist- may will, lias flowered and achievI ed its self-fortilisation in an English ! May, and been reaped by mid-June, . thero will ho no possibility of saying 5 that England is capable of producing > two wheat crops within a single year. l ■