524 



JOURNAL OF LONDON HOKT. SOCIETY. 



REVIEW. 



The Jouknal ok the Horticultural Society 

 OF London. Vol. I, Parts HI and IV; Vol. H, 

 Part I. Publisheil by the Society, 1S47. 



We have spoken of the character of this 

 Journal at some length in a former number, 

 p. 87. There are several interesting arti- 

 cles and descriptions of many new plants, 

 in the numbers now before us. We are 

 able at the present moment only to notice 

 one. 



Art. VII, in Part I, of the new volume, 

 is from the Professor of Chemistry to the 

 Society, Mr. Solly. It is entitled. Further 

 Ohsercalioiis on ihe Influence of Electricity 

 on Vegetalio?i. We remarked, in reviewing 

 the first two numbers of this Journal, how 

 unsatisfactory had been all tlie galvanic 

 experiments which were carefully made 

 with the plates of copper and zinc, after 

 the method given by Mr. Ross, in his re- 

 markable statement two years ago before 

 the Farmer's Club, in New-York, as well 

 as those undertaken to verify Dr. Forster's 

 experiments of enclosing plots of ground 

 with copper wires. These experiments have 

 been repeated again and again in England, 

 and almost universally without the least 

 success. In 184.5, we applied the plates of 

 copper and zinc to rows of plants in the 

 open ground, without producing any per- 

 ceptible effect whatever. And, subsequent- 

 ly, R. L. Pell, Esq., of Pelham farm, N. 

 Y., who exhibited plants in pots before the 

 Farmer's Club, in New-York, Avhich had 

 been submitted to galvanic action, with Avhat 

 was at the time considered satisfactory re- 

 sults, has informed us that all experiments 

 tried afterwards, 7/po?? "plants in the open 

 grmmd, completely failed. 



As very extraordinary accounts have been 

 given of the supposed or imputed effects of 



electricity upon vegetation, all accurate and 

 faithful experiments that bear directly upon 

 this subject, are in the highest degree inte- 

 resting. That electricity may hereafter be- 

 come a powerful agent in culture, we are 

 strongly inclined to believe ; but at the same 

 time it must be admitted, that little or no 

 progress whatever has been made towards 

 a discovery of the manner in which it is to 

 be successfully applied. 



In aprcccdinir number of the Journal I drew atten- 

 tion to the subject of electricity in connection with 

 the prowth of plants, and briefly recapitidated some 

 of the more important of the numerous investiga- 

 tions which have been made during the last hundred 

 years, with a view of determining the nature and 

 extent of the influence which electricity has been 

 supposed to exert on vegetation. I also described 

 a few of the experiments on this subject which were 

 made last year in the gardens of the Horticultural 

 Society at Chiswick; the general tendency of which, 

 as far as the results of so comparatively small a se- 

 ries of experiments may be trusted, was certainly 

 opposed to the view that electricity in its ordinary 

 forms exerts any very marked influence on the 

 growth of plants. The experiments described were 

 designed with the object of endeavoring to augment 

 or diminish the natural supply of electricity which, 

 under ordinary circumstances, might be supposed to 

 aSect the plants ; for it was imagined that if this 

 power played so important a part in the phenomena 

 of vegetation, any means which could either dimin- 

 ish or increase the natural quantity of electricity in 

 the earth on plants would necessarily either assist 

 or retard tiie growth of such plants. No result of 

 this kind, however, was produced ; but this was of 

 course only negative evidence, which might be influ- 

 enced by the form of the experiments and other cir- 

 cumstances ; and in drawing the general conclusion 

 that the direct eflccts of electricity on the growth 

 of plants is far less than is commonly supposed, I 

 was led to do so by other experiments than those 

 described. Some of these I propose now to men- 

 tion. 



In the experiments at Chiswick just alluded to, 

 no direct attempts were made to increase the natu- 

 ral effects of electricity by augmenting its quantity 

 from artificial sources, in the manner described with 

 such opposite results by the electricians of the last 

 century ; I was, however, enabled to make a series 

 of observations of this nature through the kindness 

 of Lord Hill, who intrusted the management of the 

 following experiments to his excellent gardener, 

 Mr. F. Nienian. under whose superintendence I was 

 quite certain they would be carefully and accurately 

 carried out, and the results minutely observed and 

 noted. 



