THE ELECTROCULTURE OF CROPS 617 



Exactly similar criticism can be levelled against those who 

 regard the benefit resulting to growing crops from the electric 

 discharge as due to changes brought about in the soil ; with 

 this school it is therefore not necessary for us to deal further. 



It is strange that the greatest and most remarkable con- 

 tribution to electroculture should have come from a physicist, 

 namely S. Lemstrdm, who was Professor of Physics in the 

 University of Helsingfors. His work is remarkable not only 

 because it was the first in which comparatively large areas of 

 land under crops were subjected to treatment, but because 

 he pursued the subject with great energy through his lifetime 

 right up to his death in 1905. He carried out experiments in 

 many countries under a great variety of different conditions, 

 and so collected a great deal of empirical information as to the 

 conditions under which the discharge affected the life of the 

 plant. Further, he made many experiments with the object 

 of discovering the manner in which the discharge affected the 

 plant, but in this matter his lack of knowledge regarding the 

 life of the plant prevented him from expressing himself in a 

 way which would appeal to plant physiologists or scientific 

 agriculturists. Nevertheless, it is likely that some of his 

 observations and ideas may prove to be sound when correlated 

 with later experiments. His researches make it clear that the 

 overhead electric discharge will affect the life of the plant in 

 all its phases : germination, vegetative growth, and maturation. 

 Lemstrdm in his experiments used the unidirectional discharge 

 from an influence machine, but he obtained favourable results 

 when either the positive pole or the negative pole of the 

 influence machine was connected to the overhead network. 

 Similarly he was able to obtain favourable results whether the 

 discharge was applied in the day-time or at night. He sums 

 up his experience, however, by stating that the best results 

 are obtained (1) with the network positively charged ; (2) 

 by applying the discharge in the morning and the evening ; and 

 (3) by having the general conditions favourable for plant growth. 



Although Lemstrom used an influence machine giving a 

 very high potential, the overhead network in his experiments 

 was only charged to a few thousand volts or even less. That 

 neither he nor subsequent investigators should have derived 

 advantage from this observation for the construction of more 

 efficient apparatus is at least surprising. All experimenters 



