JOURNAL OF LONDON HORT. SOCIETY. 



525 



The place selected for the experiments was one 

 of the grape-houses in his Lordship's garden at 

 Hawkstono, in which the convenience of a dry warm 

 room attached was obtained ; in this room, which 

 was in fact part of the storehouse, boarded over 

 above the furnace, a powerful cylinder electrical 

 machine was arranged. The cylinder of the ma- 

 chine was'about 20 inches by 16 inches, and was ve- 

 ry well insulated, so that although the room was 

 not always so dry as might have been wished, the 

 machine always gave abundance of electricity even 

 in wet and damp weather. Stout glass tubes of 

 about five feet long passed through the back wall of 

 this room into the grape-house, the tubes projecting 

 several inches from the wall on either side into the 

 store-room and grape-house. The walls were near- 

 ly four feet thick, being double, and containing flues. 

 Through these tubes copper wires of the 12th of an 

 inch in diameter were carried one end of each being 

 connected with one of the two conductors of the 

 electrical machine, the other ends of the wires being 

 fastened to two rings of wire placed on the top of 

 the separate stools well insulated with glass legs a 

 foot high. Each conductor of the machine was thus 

 connected with, and in fact made one with an insu- 

 lated stool in the grape-house, the stools being 

 placed at a distance of some feet from each other, 

 and the wire suspended from the frame work of the 

 house b}' loops of white silk. When thus arranged, 

 sharp and powerful sparks could be drawn in abun- 

 dance from any part of the wires or from the tops 

 of the stools when the machine was worked ; whilst 

 the latter was so completely apart from the house 

 and plants as not to be at all affected by the mois- 

 ture, &c., necessarily present in the grape-house. 

 It was also found that a pot of moderately moist 

 earth containing a growing plant, when placed up- 

 on the wire circle attached to the top of each stool, 

 became thoroughly charged with electricity when 

 the machine was worked , and gave abundant sparks 

 to the hand or a piece of metal. 



The first experiment was made in October, 1845. 

 Four sets of pots were taken, in all respects per- 

 fectly alike; each set consisting of five pots contain- 

 ing, 1, young plants of French beans; 2, young 

 plants of the common scarlet geranium ; 3, young 

 plants of strawberry ; 4, seeds of wheat ; and 5th, 

 seefls of mustard and cress. One series was placed 

 on the wire ring on the insulated stool connected 

 with the positive conductor of the machine ; a sec- 

 ond on that connected with the negative ; a third on 

 a similar stool of wood wholly uninsulated, placed 

 near tlic insulated stools as a standard of comparison, 

 wliilst the last was sunk in tan and exposed to the 

 influence of bottom heat. The experiment was car- 

 ried on for four weeks, the two stools being strong- 

 ly electrified four hours a day, namely, from ten to 

 twelve in the morning, and from two till four in tlie 

 afternoon ; during this time I he French beans came 

 into blossom and formed pods. Tliose which were 

 positively electrified were rather more forward than 

 either of the other three sets, appearing to be about 

 lour days more advanced. Mr. Nicman, however, 

 does not think that this could bo fairly attributed to 

 the influence of tlie electricity, but that it was caus- 

 ed by accidental circumstances. In the other plants 

 no difference whatever could be observed, and the 



seeds came up at the same time and were in all re- 

 spects perfectly alike. 



Being rather surprised at this result, and having 

 certainly expected to observe some little difference 

 in the germination of the seeds, I requested the ex- 

 periment might be repeated with some other seeds, 

 and this was accordingly done in January, 1846, 

 with pots containing wiieat, barley, oats, mustard, 

 and rye. The action of the machine was kept up 

 four hours a day for three weeks, but in this case 

 also no perceptible difference whatever could be ob- 

 served. As in these two experiments, however, 

 the conditions were very unlike those which ever 

 can occur in nature, another experiment was tried 

 at the suggestion of my friend, the Rev. E. Sidney, 

 in which the plants themselves were left quite free 

 and untouched, a peculiar electric state beincr 

 brought about by induction, so as to resemble as far 

 as possible the effect of an electrified cloud. For 

 this purpose the insulated stools were removed and 

 a branched wire terminating in several points con- 

 nected with the wire from the positive conductor of 

 the machine was suspended over an uninsulated pot 

 in which wheat was sown, a wire from the negative 

 conductor being connected with the ground as in 

 the ordinary manner of working a machine. The 

 machine was worked as before four hours a day, and 

 consequently the germinating wheat was exposed 

 every day to the influence of the positive electricity 

 given off from the pointed wires suspended a few 

 inches above it. Another similar pot of wlieat was 

 kept by way of standard, and on comparing it with 

 the electrified wheat from day to day no diflTerence 

 whatever could be observed. 



Since to some extent plants growing thus under 

 glass can never be fairly compared with those grow- 

 ing naturally in the open air, it became desirable to 

 make an experiment with plants growing wholly in 

 the open air, and for this purpose three sets of pots 

 were arranged in the open air, two being placed on 

 insulated stools, and the third placed close by, but 

 uninsulated, the three being in all other respects 

 perfectly alike. One stool was connected by wire 

 with the positive, and the other with the negative 

 conductor of the macliine. Six pots were taken in 

 each series, containing seeds of French beans, spi- 

 nach, cauliflower, turneps, cabbage, and mustard. 

 The macliine was worked four hours a day, from 

 ten till twelve in the morning, and from four till six 

 in the afternoon ; the experiment was commenced 

 early in July and continuetl till ncarl}' the mid- 

 die of August, and the weather being rem;irkably 

 fine and warm, the machine worked well and gave 

 abundance of electricity. In the middle of August 

 the working of the machine was discontinued, the 

 plants were all then perfectly similar, and durin<f 

 the whole time of carrying on the experiment no 

 perceptible difference could be observed in any of 

 the pots. 



The general result to be drawn from these four 

 experiments made on dillerent kinds of plants is cer- 

 tainly oj)]iosed to the idea of much influence beinw 

 exerted by free electricity on the growth of plants 

 under ordinar}- eircumstnnces. It is very possible 

 that the arrangements devised for tlie purpose of 

 those experiments were by no means tlie best, or 

 those most fitted to exalt the effects sought for, but 



