§ Mr. RENNIE SMITHasked the Minister of Agriculture if his attention has been drawn to the production of strawberries in France by the use of artificial sunlight; whether he can give particulars; and whether such experiments are being carried out in this country?
§ Captain BOWYERI have been asked to reply. The experiments formed, I understand, the subject of a very recent report to the French Academie des Sciences, but no published information beyond that which has appeared in the Press has yet been received at the Ministry. The fact that plants can be grown to maturity solely with artificial light is well known and has been often demonstrated. At the present stage such experiments appear to be solely of academic interest. My right hon. Friend has no information of precisely similar experiments in this country, but many research workers have investigated the effect of artificial light upon plant growth.