Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 223, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1914 — Gas in Agriculture. [ARTICLE]

Gas in Agriculture.

Apropos of the reported discovery in this country that carbonic acid gas (CO 2 ) is a valuable stimulator of plant growth a recedt communication to the British Royal society by Mr. F. Kidd is of some interest. Mr. Kidd had found that the germination of seeds was prevented by an atmosphere containing twenty to thirty per cent of COj. This treatment seemed to do the seeds no permanent injury, for upon removal from the gas they “sprouted” readily under favorable conditions of heat and moisture. The Beed of white mustard, however, proved an exception to this rule, and following a COi treatment could be caused to germinate only after removal of the testas, or after complete drying following by re-wetting. Mr. Kidd also found that a quantity of green mar terial buried at a considerable depth under ground and allowed to decay may produce sufficient CO 2 in the Boil to prevent the germination of seeds. He suggested that this observation had considerable agricultural significance, and might account for otherwise inexplicable cases of delayed germination.'