JOURNAL OF THE LONDON HORT. SOCIETY. 



93 



Vegetation.''^ Mr. Solly recapitulates all, 

 or nearly all, the experiments made with 

 electricity, applied as a stimulent to vegeta- 

 ble growth, beginning as far back as Dr. 

 Maimbray's result with the two electrified 

 myrtles in 1746 ; and brings the account of 

 our knowledge on this subject down to the 

 present day. 



Our readers will remember the startling 

 account of the growth of crops under elec- 

 tric action, which went the rounds of our 

 agricultural papers, about a year ago. Mr. 

 Eoss's report, read before the Farmer's Club 

 in New- York, in which he stated that by 

 galvanizing a row of potatoes two hundred 

 feet long, merely by putting down at one 

 end of the row a copper plate, at the 

 other one of zinc, and connecting 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. Forster, who en- 

 closed 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 connect- 

 ed with a similar square, formed by wires 

 running 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 the luxu- 

 riance and product of the parts of the bar- 

 ley field thus acted upon by the intercepted 

 current of electric fluid : these accounts 

 naturally enough infected all the experi- 

 mentalists on both sides of the water with 

 an electric fever, ourselves among the num- 

 ber. \Vc failed completely, and we have 

 heard of no single well authenticated ac- 

 count of success. The brilliant hopes of 

 inducing galvanism, or, as one of our 

 friends wittily remarked, ^'■complacent light- 

 ning,''' to do the work of that good old 



fashioned clumsy substance, called manure, 

 have gradually faded away like a summer 

 cloud. 



A very interesting series of experiments 

 to test this matter, was carried out by the 

 Horticultural Society. They prove that no 

 practical benefit is yet within our reach from 

 the action of electricity on vegetation. 



Article XIV. is entitled " Some account 

 of the Jefferson Plum,'''' by Mr. Robert 

 Thompson, the head of the fruit department 

 in the Society's garden, and author of its 

 celebrated Catalogue of Fruits. A beauti- 

 ful coloured plate is given of this, our favo- 

 rite plum, representing a fruit considerably 

 below the size, however, which it attains in 

 our gardens. We think the Jefferson re- 

 quires the hot sun of America to bring out 

 its highest flavor ; but the following re- 

 marks will show that even in England it 

 will hold a high rank: 



This is an American variety of the highest ex- 

 cellence. It was presented to the Society in 1S41, 

 by Mr. James Barnet, who obtained it for his nur- 

 sery at Edinburgh from Mr. Wilson, nurseryman, 

 Albany, New- York. It fruited for the first time 

 in the garden of the Society last season, an unfa- 

 vorable one for plums and fruits generally. Ne- 

 vertheless, the variety in question was found to 

 possess so much merit as to render a drawing of it 

 desirable from a specimen, produced on a standard, 

 to which the rest on tlic tree were very similar. 



It appears from Mr. Downing"s " Fruit and Fruit 

 Trees of America," recently published, tliat the 

 Jetfcrson Plum was raised b}' the Jate Judge KucI, 

 and that tlie original tree was growing in his gar- 

 den near Albany. The judicious author of the 

 above-mentioned work says, " If we were asked 

 which we think the most desirable and beautiful 

 of all dessert plums, we should undoubtedly give 

 the name of this variety." No one can read this 

 statement witliout recollecting the well Unown ex- 

 cellence of the Green Gage, and questioning 

 whether, in point of flavor, it can possibly be 

 equalled by the variety under consiiloration. To 

 say that tlic Green Gage, under the most ra\ orable 

 circumstances for acquiring perfection, would be 

 surpassed, might prove an exaggeration. That re- 

 mains to be determined. In the mean time it can 

 be stated that in the past unfavorable season in 

 which onlj' there has been an ojiportunity for com- 

 jiarison, the Jefferson was found decidetlly sui>erior 

 to the Green Gage. 



There is a good deal of interesting infor- 

 mation on various gardening topics, notices 



