the following day was set aside for a visit to the accelerated plant growing farms. it had been known for hundreds of years that certain plants, such as mushrooms, could be fully developed in a few days. plant or vegetables grown under glass and the temperature within kept at a high point, would grow at great speed and be ready for the market long before those grown in the open.
but only recently, as ralph explained to alice, had it been possible to do this on a large scale. to be sure, certain vegetables, like asparagus, lettuce, peas, etc., had been produced in hothouses for hundreds of years, but these, after all, were rather luxuries, and could not be classed as essentials.
when, about the year 2600, the population of the planet had increased tremendously and famines due to lack of such essentials as bread and potatoes had broken out in many parts of the world, it was found vitally necessary to produce such necessities on a larger scale and with unfailing regularity. these farms became known under the term of accelerated plant growing farms and were located in every part of the world. the first (and now obsolete) european and african farms were built along the lines of the old-fashioned hothouses. the european farms were simply horizontal steel-latticed roofs, with ordinary[pg 98] glass panes, permitting the sunlight to penetrate to the soil beneath. while covering huge acreages, they were not heated artificially, using only the sun's rays to accelerate plant growth. as compared with nature's single crop of wheat or corn, two could be made to grow in the same season by means of these super hothouses.
similar farms were used in america until ralph undertook their study and approached the subject from a scientific angle. one of his first efforts was to obtain greater heat for these huge hothouses. one of these hothouses is about three miles long and the same width. ralph took the existing hothouses, which were simply oblong steel and glass boxes, and built a second hothouse box covering each of them, thus creating a double-walled, air-locked hothouse. the second glass-paneled wall was about two feet inside the outer one. this left dead air locked between the walls, and as air is a poor heat conductor, the heat in the hothouse was retained longer, particularly during a cold night.
ralph and alice left early in the morning, winging their way in an aeroflyer toward northern new york, where there were many accelerated plant growing farms. when the farms came into view, the entire country below, so far as the eye could see, appeared to be dotted with the glass-covered roofs of the plants, reflecting the sunlight and affording an unusual sight. alice marveled at their number, for while she had seen some of these farms in europe, she had never seen so many grouped together of such immensity.
within a few minutes, they landed near one of the giant hothouses. the manager led them inside of the farm labeled no. d1569.
[pg 99]
d1569 was exclusively a wheat growing farm. where mother nature used to grow one crop of wheat a year, ralph's latest accelerator made it possible to grow four, and sometimes five crops a year. in the old-fashioned european farms such as alice knew, only two crops could be grown.
"how is it possible," she asked, "that you can obtain three more crops a year than we do in europe?"
"in the first place," said ralph, "it may be taken as an axiom that the more heat you supply to plant growth, the quicker it will grow. cold and chilly winds retard plant growth. electricity and certain chemicals increase the ratio of growth, a fact that has been known for many centuries. it is, however, the scientific application of this knowledge that makes it possible to raise five crops a year. the european farms use only the heat of the sun to stimulate plant growth, but during the night, when the temperature drops, growth is practically nil.
"notice that the top and sides of our hothouses have two walls. in other words, one hothouse is built within another. the air locked between the two hothouses is an excellent heat insulator and even though the sun is low at 4 o'clock, the temperature is practically unchanged in the hothouse, at 8 or 9 o'clock in the evening. even in the winter, when the sun sets about 4 o'clock and it is cold, we are able to store up enough heat during the day to keep a high temperature as late as 7 and 8 o'clock. if we did nothing between the hours of 8 in the evening and 8 in the morning, the temperature would continue to fall to a point where no plant growth would be possible.
"here in america we had to have a greater production to supply our huge population. it was a pure case of ne[pg 100]cessity. so we had to employ artificial heating during the night.
"if we start sinking a shaft into the earth, the heat increases rapidly as we go down—more quickly in some parts of the world than others. on an average, the temperature rises about one degree fahrenheit each 100 feet of depth. we found it economic, therefore, to use the earth's own heat to heat our farms.
"by means of high speed drills, we can cut a three-foot shaft 3,000 feet deep in the earth in less than a month. we go down until we strike a temperature around 100 to 120 degrees fahrenheit. then we lower steel tanks into the cavity and run pipes up to the surface. the tanks are filled with water and two larger pipes run from each tank into the circulating system of pipes, around the lower walls throughout the length and breadth of the farms. the shafts are then closed at the top and we have a circulating system that is both cheap and efficient. the hot water continually rises into the pipes and circulates. as it cools, it flows down again into the tanks, where it is reheated and rises again. thus the temperature of our farms is uniform all the year around and plant growth is as rapid during the night as during the day.
"heat alone, however, is not sufficient. we should still get only a normal growth. we wanted five crops a year. i put my research forces to work studying fertilizers. while the old nitrogen fertilizers were excellent, they were not suitable for high pressure, high speed growing methods. we evolved chemicals which were both cheap and easy to apply. we found that small quantities of termidon, when mixed with water and sprayed over the field by overhead sprayers, which you will see running along[pg 101] the ceiling, would accelerate the growth of the crops enormously.
"this liquid termidon is sprayed over the entire length and breadth of the field before planting time, so that the soil becomes well soaked. the termidon immediately turns the soil into a rich, dark strata, the best soil for potatoes, wheat, or corn. no other fertilizer need be used, the termidon, applied after every growth, giving the soil all the vitality necessary."
they were now in the field, when suddenly alice asked:
"what is the peculiar tingling in the soles of my feet, i feel as we walk along? you are using some electrical vibrations, i suppose."
"you guessed correctly," ralph replied. "with all our artifice the speed of the plant growth had not been accelerated sufficiently. i therefore insulated the inside hothouse from the ground. the inside hothouse rests upon glass blocks, and is electrified by high frequency currents. the entire area is sprayed day and night with a high frequency current, in the use of which we found was the real secret of driving plant growth ahead at enormous speed. the theory of course is nothing new, having been known for centuries. what is new, however, is the way it is done. it makes all the difference in the world if the current density is too high or too low, if it is direct or alternating current, and many other details. i found that the quickest way to accelerate plant growth by electricity was to send the current from the growing plant toward the ceiling, and the current must be direct, pulsating, but not alternating."
ralph asked for a discharge pole from one of the at[pg 102]tendants. it was a metal pole about seven and a half feet high. in the middle it had a long glass handle which ralph grasped. he then set the pole vertically so that its top was about six inches from the glass ceiling. a roar of fine sparks leaped from the steel frame of the ceiling to the top of the pole.
"see," said ralph, "there is the current we use in accelerating the growth of our plants."
removing the pole, ralph continued: "the electrical current density per square foot is not very high and the wheat does not get a very great amount of electricity during the twenty-four hours. the continuance of the force applied is what counts."
after luncheon, during which they ate some of the bread made from wheat grown on the premises, they went to an adjoining farm, also a wheat farm, where harvesting was in full progress. machinery, suspended from overhead tracks, cut the wheat rapidly with circular scythes. all the wheat being of the same height, the machine cut the wheat almost directly below the heads, dropped them on a conveyor, which carried the real harvest to a central distribution point. another machine immediately followed the cutter, grasping the stalks that were still standing, unerringly pulled out the straw hulks, roots and all. thus the roots were entirely removed and the soil loosened, obviating plowing. within a few hours following cutting, the last stem was out. the field was then sprayed with the liquid termidon from overhead. within another three hours, sowing began, also from overhead pipes.
going to an adjoining plant, they saw a bare field with almost black soil, ready to be sowed. an attendant, at ralph's request, pulled a switch and immediately alice[pg 103] witnessed a seed rain from the overhead pipes.
"the seed," ralph explained, "is supplied to these tubes by means of compressed air. the tubes are perforated, and when air pressure is applied, the seed, flowing through the tubes is ejected evenly—just so many seeds to a given area. closing the openings of the pipes automatically as the seeding proceeds, means only a given quantity of seed will fall upon any given square foot of soil. this makes for scientific planting, and we raise just the exact quantity of wheat we want."
alice watched the seed rain spellbound. like a wall of rain it slowly receded into the distance until finally it disappeared. "how long does it take to sow this field?" she asked.
"from two to three hours, depending upon the size of the field. this particular field is about eight miles long and three miles wide. the process should be completed within about three and a half hours."
"and when will this crop be ready for the harvest?" alice wanted to know.
"in about seventy days from now the wheat will be ready to cut."
alice walked along thoughtfully and then inquired whether the great cost of such an undertaking would not make the growing of the foodstuffs prohibitive.
"quite the contrary," ralph replied. "we are now growing wheat, corn, potatoes, and many other foodstuffs, for a much lower price than our ancestors did five or six hundred years ago. you see, it is the installation of the hothouses and machinery that is costly, but these glass and steel buildings will last for centuries with proper care. the frames are made of non-rusting steel which needs no[pg 104] painting. the glass lasts for hundreds of years. the labor we use in planting and harvesting is a mere fraction of what was used in olden times. thus, for sowing and harvesting this plant, eight by three miles, we require only twenty people. this is a very much smaller number than was used on a small old-fashioned farm.
"we waste nothing. we have no poor crops, and we get three or four times as much as our ancestors did."
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 proc[pg 105]esses 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[pg 106] 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."
alice stood for many minutes silently watching the beautiful sight of the glowing purple field, listening to the faint crackling discharge of the electric current as it leaped from the points of the wheat into the air. they finally left and flew back to new york.
the next day, ralph took alice to one of the city's synthetic food laboratories. while flying toward it, ralph explained that while the farms which they had looked over yesterday were for the purpose of raising real foodstuffs, there were many commodities that could not be so[pg 107] raised, such as sugar, milk, and many others, which were now made synthetically. as chemists had known for many hundreds of years, sugar was nothing but a simple carbohydrate, whereas milk was composed of an emulsified mixture of casein, lactic acid, butter, water and minor constituents.
as the population increased, it was neither possible, nor profitable to obtain these foods by natural means, and it was found necessary to resort to the chemist.
they alighted at one of these chemical laboratories which manufactured sugar, milk, cooking fats, butter and cheese.
there was really not much to see, save large boiler-like chemical retorts, large white enameled vats, and a lot of pumps and electric motors. the manager explained that sugar was made out of sawdust and acids. the sawdust, he explained, was digested in the huge white enameled steel vats by means of certain acids. after the digesting process was completed other chemicals were added, the ensuing syrup then being run through retorts and finally emerging as a stream of white liquid sugar.
the manager handed alice a piece of clear, transparent sugar, as well as several specimens of crystallized sugar, which she ate delightedly, exclaiming laughingly that "it was the best sawdust she had ever eaten."
they next visited the synthetic milk section, where hundreds of thousands of gallons of milk were produced every day. this being a recent discovery the manager explained it in detail.
"milk," he said, "has been known since the dawn of humanity, but only when man became somewhat civilized did he learn how to obtain milk from animals, such as the[pg 108] goat and the cow. it took thousands of years to domesticate these animals, and it is not known at what period man first began to milk these domestic animals for his own supply of milk.
"men of an inquisitive nature must have asked themselves the question for thousands of years, 'why grow grass, let the cow eat the grass, digest it, and finally turn it into milk? why not eliminate the cow entirely?' the thought, while elementary, had no actual basis or foundation for centuries, because the chemical processes of the intermediate stages between the grass and the final milk were too complicated and were not at all well understood. only during the last few years has the problem been solved satisfactorily.
"now we grow the fresh grass, which we put into these large retorts, where the grass is digested just the same as if it were in the stomach of the cow. by the addition of salts and chemicals we imitate this digestive process, and by eliminating solids and the liquids, we finally get a milk that is not only better than the original cow or goat milk, but has many qualities not possessed by cow's milk.
"try this glass of artificial milk," he said to alice, handing her a glass of rather unappetizing-looking liquid of a slightly pale green color, not too clean looking and somewhat thick. alice tasted it, however, and found that it tasted exactly like a good rich cow's milk. the manager asked alice to close her eyes and take a good drink. she did so, and exclaimed in surprise that it tasted exactly like rich, creamy milk.
the manager then explained that synthetic milk was free from the bacteria which give milk its white color. moreover, the fat content was much higher than cow's[pg 109] milk, and, there being a greater percentage of sugar present, the milk tasted sweeter. certain added salts gave it a distinguishing taste.
from this milk, he further explained, any sort of fat could be extracted, and the usual array of milk products, such as butter, all sorts of cheeses, etc., could be made much better than from cow's milk, which never ran uniform.
after inspecting the laboratory, alice and ralph sampled a number of products, all of which tasted excellent—better, if anything, than the natural products. the manager added "you will find our synthetic products are far easier to digest, and are more wholesome than the natural product. the reason is that we have eliminated all of the disease-carrying microbes and bacteria, retaining only the beneficial ones, which we can control very easily in our plants, more than the cow or goat can do."
