They stepped up to a glass case containing samples of wheat grown for hundreds of years, showing that a head of wheat grown in the year 1900 was about three inches long, while the present year's crop showed a length of more than six inches, or twice as much flour content per stalk. Ralph also pointed out to Alice that the modern wheat stalk was much bigger in circumference than the ancient ones, which, he explained, was attributable to the greater weight of the modern wheat. The old stalks could not possibly have supported such a great weight of grain, so it was necessary to cultivate bigger stalks.
Ralph went on: "As I said before, we waste nothing here. The harvested hulks go to a paper mill, a few miles away, and are converted into a first class paper. A few decades ago an entirely new paper process was invented. Where straw was once used for making so-called strawboard or cardboard, the finest commercial papers are now being made from the straw grown right here. We no longer annihilate our forests, to make paper pulp. Since the invention of the straw paper process, chopping trees for paper purposes has been forbidden and all the paper in this country is now made exclusively of straw chemically treated."
A potato farm was seen the same afternoon. The processes in this and other vegetable growing plants being under somewhat different conditions than the wheat farm.
It was dark when Alice and Ralph returned to wheat farm No. D1569, and found that the manager of the plant had prepared an elaborate supper for the two, informing Alice that everything set before her had been grown the same day. The whole wheat bread had been harvested that morning, the grains had been artificially aged by heat, flour had been made, and the bread had just been baked. He said, somewhat proudly, that this was probably a record.
The entire meal consisted of vegetables, all grown in plants in the vicinity. There were fresh peas, fresh asparagus, new potatoes, fresh lettuce, juicy apples, and many delicacies.
For dessert the manager brought in, on a great silver tray, a number of new crossfoods, which as yet had not been seen in the open market. There was, the appear, a cross between an apple and a pear, which had all the good qualities of the apple and all the good qualities of the pear. There was also a delightful combination of plum and cherry, a cantaloupe with a faint taste of orange, and cherries as big as a good-sized plum.
Tea was served from tea leaves grown in one of the farms and harvested the same day. The manager also showed Alice cigarettes and set before Ralph a box of cigars, made from tobacco planted and harvested that day. The leaves had been aged rapidly by dry heat in a partial vacuum.
Both thanked the manager for the novel treat. After dining they walked into the wheat growing farm. It was now dark outside, but in the hothouse, the wheat for miles and miles seemed to be aglow in a light purple haze. A faint half-crackling, half-swishing sound was heard. The points of the wheat seemed to be almost luminous.
"This is the night appearance of the electricity you felt this afternoon," said Ralph. "During the daytime you do not see the faint discharge, but in darkness it becomes luminous. One pole of the high frequency generator is connected with the soil and the other with the steel framework of the hothouse. Without this electric current we would not be able to grow more than two, or at the utmost, three crops a year.
"It is also necessary to vary the strength of the current during the day. With full sunshine and maximum heat we do not need as much current as we use during the night. Several hundred years ago when using somewhat similar methods that had not as yet been perfected, it was necessary to use artificial light during the night, as plants need light for growth. We found, however, that the electric current with the soft light which you see glowing now, is sufficient for the purpose and the plant does not require any other light."