During recent years plant physiologists, as also practical agriculturists, were eagerly engaged in studying the influence of electricity on the growth and fructification of plants, especially the various kinds of grain. The task was accomplished by the late Professor R. S. Lemstroem (died 1906). He spread a net of wire across a large area of cultivated ground which, by means of a battery, he charged with positive electricity, while the negative pole remained on the ground, and subjected a field, or part of one, to an electric current during its entire period of vegetation, while an adjacent field, which was under observation also, remained uninfluenced. The experiments were tried upon various areas of different size, and, wherever carried out properly, they all showed the same favorable results. Firstly, the crop increased from 30 to over 100 per cent.; secondly, it ripened in a shorter time, and thirdly, the quality was considerably improved. There were still a few practical short-comings connected with this method, which Newman, an English agriculturist, succeeded in removing. He succeeded in interesting a famous English physicist, Oliver Lodge, in Lemstroem’s method. According to recent reports from Lodge these experiments have been successively tried from 1906 to 1908; the area under observation has been extended to ten hectares, and it was satisfactorily proven that the charged wire net may be spread as high as five meters above the ground, without lessening the favorable influence of the electric current on the harvest. This altitude makes it possible to drive loaded wagons beneath the wire net and to perform all agricultural tasks without interference, while Lemstroem’s net was not to be more than 40 centimeters above the plants to be influenced by the electric current.[243] Several millers instituted comparative baking experiments, and the electrified wheat was found to make better flour than that which had not been electrified. So the new method is ripe for being successfully introduced into agriculture and horticulture.
Fowler’s steam-plough, with two compound locomotives, requires an area of 5000 hectares for its satisfactory application, which is larger than the cultivated area of most peasant communities. It has been calculated that, if the soil under cultivation in 1895 had been cultivated with the application of all available machinery and all other modern advantages, a saving of 1600 million marks would have been realized. According to Ruhland[244] the successful combating of the diseases of grain alone would make the import of grain into Germany superfluous. In his book on “Our Meadows and Produce of the Fields,” Dr. Sonnenberg informs us, that Bavarian agriculture suffers a loss of 30 per cent. annually, owing to the spread of weeds in the fields. On two areas of 4 square meters each, one of which was full of weeds, while the other had been kept clear of weeds, Nowatzki attained the following results:
| Stalks. | Grains. | Crop of straw. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| On the area with weeds | 216 | 180 | 239 grammes |
| On the area free from weeds | 423 | 528 | 1077 grammes |
Dr. v. Ruemker, Professor at the Agricultural Institute of the University of Breslau, declares that a careful economy of the nourishment of the soil is almost entirely wanting in Germany. The cultivation of the soil and the sowing are done in such a thoughtless manner, according to old, acquired habits, and by means of such insufficient and imperfect tools, that the returns of all the labor must remain poor and unsatisfactory. He claims that the German farmers do not even perform the easy task of rationally assorting their seed. Professor v. Ruemker showed by the following table how the harvest can be increased per hectare by assorting the seed:
| Wheat furnished | Not assorted kilograms per hectare | Assorted kilograms per hectare | Number of kilogr’s more from ass’d seeds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entire crop | 8,000 | 10,800 | +2,800 |
| Grain | 1,668 | 2,885 | +1,217 |
| Straw and chaff | 6,332 | 7,915 | +1,583 |
| Weight in hectoliters of crop | 77.2 | 78.7 | + 1.5 |
So, according to this table, 1200 kilograms more of corn might be obtained per hectare by properly assorting the seed, which, valued at 15 marks per cwt., represents a gain of 180 marks. Estimating the cost of assorting 4.40 marks per hectare at the most, there still remains a clear cash profit of 175.60 marks per hectare for the grain alone, not counting the additional gain in straw and chaff. By a number of experimental cultivations, Ruemker furthermore ascertained that by selecting that kind of grain best suited to each particular vicinity, the harvests might be increased and the gross receipts improved, on an average, as follows:
| Rye | by | 300– 700 | kilogr’s of grain or by | 42– 98 | marks per hectare |
| Wheat | “ | 300– 800 | “ | 45–120 | “ |
| Barley | “ | 200– 700 | “ | 34–119 | “ |
| Oats | “ | 200–1200 | “ | 26–156 | “ |
The gain obtained from assorting the seed and from a proper selection of the kind of wheat taken together, would, in the raising of wheat alone, increase the harvest by 1500 to 2000 kilograms of grain, or by 220 to 295 marks per hectare.
In a paper on “The Future of German Agriculture,” it has been shown how tremendously all agricultural products could be increased by sufficient and appropriate fertilization, by supplying mineral manure, as hypophosphate, phosphoric acid, etc. The German harvest of wheat might be increased on an average of 36 cwts. per hectare, and the harvest of rye by 24 cwts. per hectare. Moreover, a considerable portion of the land used for the cultivation of rye at present, might, by proper manuring, be used for the cultivation of wheat, so that the average harvest of grain for bread—two-fifths of wheat, three-fifths of rye—might amount to 28.8 cwts. per hectare. After the deduction of seed and of grain of inferior quality, there would still remain 26 cwts. per hectare to feed the nation. The 7.9 million hectares that are planted with wheat and rye at present might be increased by an additional 1.5 million hectares of pasture, fallow-ground, heaths and moor-land, so that, with an average crop of 26 cwts. per hectare and a cultivated area of 9.4 million hectares, a production of 251.92 million cwts. of grain for bread might be obtained. With an annual consumption of 175 kilograms for every person, enough grain for bread could be raised to supply the needs of 144 million persons. At the time of the census of 1900, Germany had a population of approximately 56,345,000 inhabitants, and even at that time science and technics were sufficiently far advanced that the German soil might have supplied a population two and a half times as large with bread. Under the present agricultural system, with the scattered private ownership of land, Germany is obliged to import annually about one-ninth of its requisite supply of wheat and rye. If, under the present agricultural system, similar quantities were to be raised, it would mean so great an increase in the cost of articles of food, that a majority of the people could not afford to buy them, and that would not answer the purpose. These results can be obtained only by communistic methods, when carried out on the largest scale; but of course the authors quoted above do not think of that possibility. According to calculations made by them, by means of an intensified cultivation of the soil, the products of German agriculture might be increased as follows:
| Rye and wheat | by | 145.1 | million | cwts. |
| Potatoes | “ | 444.0 | “ | “ |
| Oats, barley, peas and beans | “ | 78.7 | “ | “ |
| Hay | “ | 146.2 | “ | “ |
| Fodder | “ | 110.0 | “ | “ |
| Turnips (for cattle) | “ | 226.0 | “ | “ |