168 POPULAR ERRORS. 



merely by putting down at one end of the row a 

 copper plate, at the other one of zinc, and con- 

 necting both by a wire, by which he was able to dig 

 full grown potatoes, while the ordinary rows on 

 each side contained only half -formed tubers; and 

 still more that of Dr. Foster, who enclosed part of 

 a barley field in Scotland with a few poles driven 

 into the ground in the form of a square, over which 

 wires were stretched making a wire parallelogram 

 eleven feet high which was connected with a simi- 

 lar square formed by running a wire at the base of 

 the poles, about three inches under the soil the 

 result of which was stated to be the most strongly 

 marked difference in luxuriance and product of the 

 parts of the barley field thus acted upon by the 

 intercepted currents of electric fluid." 



These experiments were repeated in various 

 forms by many others in Europe and the United 

 States, uniformly without beneficial results. 



A recent number of the Youth's Companion 

 publishes the statement that some seeds which were 

 soaked and then electrified gave plants which were 

 larger and had more highly colored leaves than usual, 

 though the yield was not affected. As no further 

 particulars are given we must wait until the experi- 

 ment is repeated before accepting this statement. 

 Electricity, undoubtedly, has some effect on all 

 vegetable as well as animal life. If a current of 



