Mr. ALFRED T. DAVIESasked the Minister of Agriculture whether the Ministry are observing the progress in the development of electrical devices for farming; and what is the result of such observations?
Sir A. BOSCAWENThe Ministry is closely observing developments in the application of electricity to agriculture. A Committee dealing with electro-culture (or the application of electric current with the object of stimulating the growth of field crops) has been in existence for four years, and under its direction a great deal of experimental work has been done. The chairman of the Committee is Sir John Snell, and among its members are the leaders of several branches of electrical and agricultural science. Progress is necessarily slow in a question so complex and difficult, but the work of the Committee has now reached a stage where experiments are being conducted on an economic scale. I shall be glad to send to my hon. Friend copies of three Interim Reports which have been issued by the Committee. So far as concerns the application of electricity to stationary machinery and lighting, a good deal of progress has been made in several parts of the country which are served from urban electricity supplies, and also elsewhere where advantage has been taken of wind-power, steam and internal-combustion engines. The application of electricity to cultivation is of more recent introduction to this country: the Ministry is in close touch with a gentleman who is applying electricity to a large farm, and it has had the benefit of the data derived from his experiments. Some of his results have already been published, and the Ministry has arranged for them to be summarised and published in the Ministry's Journal for the benefit of farmers in general. At the same time it is desirable to say that the development of the uses of electricity in farming260W must largely depend upon the extension of power stations and cable services, and the utilisation of natural sources of power.