736 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



lu experiments in 1904, 500 sq. yds. of Icitchen garden were electrified by the 

 overliead discharge system. The yields as compared with the control plats 

 showed that cucumbers gave a gain of IT per cent and strawberries from 36 to 

 80 per cent. Upon tomatoes there appeared to be no effect. An outbreak of a 

 bacterial disease of cucumbers seemed much lighter upon the electrified plants. 

 ■ In another experimental plat, carrots showed 50 per cent increase, and beets 

 30 per cent increase of crop with an increase of 1 per cent in sugar content. 



In 1906, 20 acres of wheat were electrified with discharge wires at a con- 

 siderable height and with a high tension current. In this case an increase of 

 from 29 to 39 iier cent over the control areas was recorded, and the electrified 

 wheat is said to have given a better baking flour and commanded a higher price. 



The author carried on some laboratory experiments to test the nature of the 

 electrical acceleration of plant development, but no satisfactory clues were 

 arrived at. There was nothing to indicate that the electric current enables a 

 leaf to form starch in the dark, as is claimed by Pollacci. 



Temperature and growth, W, L. Balls (Ann. Bat. [London], 22 (190S). 

 Ao. 88, PI). 557-591, figs. 4, dgms. 7). — The object of this paper was to analyze 

 the effects produced upon the growth process by the temperature factor. The 

 research was initiated by a casual observation, but it developed into an attempt 

 to determine the chemical effects of the temperature factor by studying the 

 pathological portion of the growth-temperature curve, and hence to demonstrate 

 that the time factor is chemical in its nature and that its effects can be simu- 

 lated immediately. After describing the methods of observation and tabulating 

 the results of a large number of observations, the author arrives at the follow- 

 ing conclusions : 



"(1) The growth rate at various temperatures accords with the expectations 

 of Van't Hoff's law. 



"(2) The decrease, and ultimate cessation of growth at high temperatures, is 

 due to the accumulation of catabolic products in the cells. 



"(3) This cessation is distinct from the disorganization of the protoplasm 

 by heat, which results on a further rise of temperature to the death point. 



"(4) The same products are formed at low as at high temperatures, but with 

 greater rapidity in the latter case. 



"(5) To the rapid formation of these bodies is due the injurious effect of 

 prolonged exposure to submaximal temperatures, commonly known as the time 

 factor. This time factor is identical with the phenomenon of ' staleness ' in 

 rich cultures of fungi. 



"(6) In the case of isolated cells these bodies diffuse out into the surrounding 

 liquid. In multicellular organisms they have to be otherwise disposed of, 

 probably by decomposition ; since the conditions under which this decomposition 

 takes place must be fairly uniform in the interior of a higher plant, these latter 

 show in consequence a well-marked ' optimum,' which is the expression of the 

 internal struggle between the increasing rapidity of chemical change with rise of 

 temperature, and the inhibiting effects of the accumulating catabolic products." 



As mentioned in the preliminary part of the work, this investigation was 

 due to observed conditions in the infection of cotton seedlings with the sore- 

 shin fungus. In a note appended to the paper, the author states that the 

 artificial infection of cotton seedlings with the sore-shin fungus can be readily 

 effected by placing the former on several layers of damp blotting paiier in a 

 Petri dish and then placing a fragment of rapidly growing mycelium from a 

 cool culture in contact with it. If the dish is then stored at 20° C, within 24 

 hours the seedling will be found to have rotted at the point of inoculation. If 

 the trial is repeated at a temperature of 33°, a brown superficial scar 



