Page:Life in a thousand worlds.djvu/230

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A WORLD OF HIGHEST INVENTION.
225

intelligible to my fellow-men who live on this infinitesimal speck which is our world. First, let me call attention to:

Their Triumphs in the Vegetable Kingdom.

The people of Ploid have in their possession a remarkable line of fertilizers, not in the form of ground bones, but acidulous juices. These juices were improved for three thousand years until there was a particular liquid suited to each separate class of vegetables.

As used at the present time, a certain amount of the growth-acid is poured directly about the seed at the time of planting. This acid has a magical effect upon the soil and it is possible, by repeated fertilizing, to raise in two weeks a crop of zoftas, a vegetable similar to our potatoes. For raising a crop in two weeks the fertilizer costs one-half the value of the zoftas, and for maturing a crop in four weeks the fertilizer costs about three-eighths of the value of the zoftas.

Thus it is possible to raise six of these crops in one of our years. This law obtains throughout the whole vegetable crea-