No. 6.] president's address b. a. a. s. 347 



for effecting the various operations of the farm and the fields 

 from one centre. Having worked such a system myself in coni- 

 bination with electric lighting and horticulture for upwards of 

 two years, I can speak with confidence of its economy, and of 

 the facility with which the work is accomplished in charge of un- 

 trained persons. 



As regards the effect of electric light upon vegetation there is 

 little to add to what was stated in my paper read before Section 

 A last year, and ordered to be printed with the Report, except 

 that in experimenting upon wheat, barley, oats, and other cereals 

 sown in open air, there was a marked difference between the 

 growth of the plants influenced and uninfluenced by the electric 

 light. This was not very apparent until towards the end of 

 February, when with the first appearance of mild weather the 

 plants under the influence of an electric lamp of 4000 candle- 

 power placed about 5 metres above the surface, developed with 

 extreme rapidity, so that by the end of May they stood above 4 

 feet high, with the ears in full bloom, when those not under its- 

 influence were under 2 feet in height, and showed no sign of 

 the ear. 



In the electric railway first constructed by Dr. Werner Sie- 

 mens, at Berlin, in 1879, electric energy was transmitted to the 

 moving carriage or train of carriages through the two rails upon 

 which it moved, these being sufficiently insulated from each 

 other by being placed upon well creosoted cross sleepers. At the 

 Paris Electric Exhibition the current was conveyed through two 

 separate conductors making sliding or rolling contact with the 

 carriage, whereas in the electric railway now in course of con- 

 struction in the north of Ireland (which, when completed, will 

 have a length of twelve miles), a separated conductor will be 

 provided by the side of the railway, and the return circuit com- 

 pleted through the rails themselves, which in that case need not 

 be insulated ; secondary batteries will be used to store the sur- 

 plus energy created in running downhill, to be restored in ascend- 

 ing .steep inclines, and for passing railways where the separate 

 insulated conductor is not practicable. The electric railway 

 possesses great advantages over horse or stream power for towns, 

 in tunnels and in all cases where natural sources of energy, such 

 as waterfalls, are available ; but it would not be reasonable to 

 suppose that it will in its present condition compete with steam 

 propulsion upon ordinary railways. 



