Abstract
AN amusing example of the way in which the publicity of the Press may embarrass scientific workers is provided by the need for Circular 347 of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Berkeley, California, in which D. R. Hoagland and D. I. Arnon have to try to dispel illusions about the commercial possibilities of growing plants by water culture. The authors point out that the technique of water culture contains nothing new and has indeed been employed for more than a quarter of a century by this experiment station, whilst the method was, of course, described by the German physiologist Sachs in his text-book about 1860. The California Experiment Station must rue the day that Dr. W. F. Gericke conceived the idea that the method might have some commercial application. A Sunday supplement article pictured a housewife opening a small closet off the kitchen and picking tomatoes from vines growing in water culture with the aid of electric lights, whilst a large chain of restaurants in New York City were credited with growing their own vegetables in basements. Actually, as the authors of this circular make clear, whilst very good yields may be obtained under glass from many crops grown in water cultures, with equal attention, similar or better crops may be grown in soil by methods which are more familiar to the amateur and professional grower.
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Commercial Water Culture of Plants. Nature 143, 467–468 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143467c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143467c0