AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 529 



mitted the free access of light, air, and moisture, while it pro- 

 tected the plant from the action of the electricity of the at- 

 mosphere. Tobacco, giant maize, and Chiddam wheat were 

 thus grown. Grandeau concludes as follows : 



" 1. I consider it demonstrated that atmospheric electricity 

 is a decidedly preponderating factor in vegetable assimila- 

 tion. Plants deprived of its influence have elaborated in 

 equal times, and under circumstances otherwise the same, 

 from 50 to 60 per cent, less living substance than those 

 grown in ordinary conditions. 



"2. Plants slightly elevated above the soil, as grass and 

 forage plants, are likewise influenced to a notable extent (33 

 per cent.) by atmospheric electricity. 



"3. The percentage of protein compounds does not seem to 

 depend upon the action of atmospheric electricity. It re- 

 mains proportional to the total product in plants withdrawn 

 from its action. 



"4. Plants not exposed to the electrical action contain a less 

 percentage of water and a greater of ash in the dry substance 

 than others. 



"5. Nitrification in the soil does not, in my experiments, 

 seem to have been aided by the action of atmospheric elec- 

 tricity." 



The bearing of these conclusions upon the effects of forests 

 upon plant-growth Grandeau considers important. He also 

 calls attention to the experiments of Mascart, which sustain 

 his views (Jour. cVAg. Pratique, 1878, ii., 44). 



Influence of Electricity upon Water-Evaporation and upon Plant- 

 Growth. 



Mascart has made some interesting experiments upon the 

 influence of electricity upon the evaporation of water. Dishes 

 containing water or moist earth were subjected to the action 

 of electricity from conductors connected with a Holz machine 

 kept constantly running, while at the same time parallel se- 

 ries of dishes were connected with the ground. From those 

 under the action of electricity more w T ater was lost by evapora- 

 tion than from the others. He infers that this phenomenon 

 must be general, and that the role of electricity in nature, in 

 generating water-vapor from water, soil, and plants, must be 

 an important one. 



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