Science: Acceleration

Forced growth for hothouse flowers and vegetables by the use of electric light during the absence of the sun, may soon be a regular procedure with large florists and nurseries. The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. and the Department of Agriculture of Columbia University, Prof. Hugh Findley in charge, learned how to do it in six weeks of experiments at the Peter Henderson greenhouses, Baldwin, L. I. The lights were turned on at 9 o’clock every night; turned off at 2 in the morning, giving five hours of light additional to the normal sunshine. Between time, the plants are allowed to “sleep.” Celery plants doubled in size in six weeks, and roses, carnations, lilies bloomed eight days before their sisters grown by sunlight alone. The system will eliminate flower ” famines ” on such occasions as Easter Day, and dearth of out-of-season delicacies retarded by cloudy weather.