INFLUENCE OF ELECTRICITY ON VEGETATION. 109 



The remarks in the last column show the appearance of the two 

 patches as favouring or opposed to the view of electric influence, 

 that is to say, the comparative vigour of the plants with the 

 plates and those without. It will be observed in the first place, 

 that the number of seeds which came up was, generally speaking, 

 very similar — in 6 cases the numbers were equal, in 32 the 

 standard squares were most forward, and in the remaining 32 those 

 with the plates were most numerous. Again, on comparing the 

 appearance of the plants, in 18 cases the plates seemed to have 

 done harm, in 17 cases good, and in 49 cases to have produced 

 no effect at all. The plants were allowed to grow up, flower, 

 and form seed, but no marked effects or differences greater than 

 those usually observed in sowing different portions of seed, even 

 in the same ground, were at any time remarked. 



Pairs of zinc and copper plates were also buried at either end 

 of some rows of potatoes ; the fourth bed of the experiment 

 already described was employed for this purpose ; the plates were 

 24 inches by 12, and were connected together by stout copper 

 wires, rather more than 50 feet long, which were suspended 

 about three feet above the surface of the soil. Only three of the 

 four rows in this bed were thus arranged ; the fourth had wooden 

 uprights at the ends, and a wire stretched along its whole length 

 like the three others, but no zinc and copper plates were buried 

 at the ends. The plants were frequently and carefully compared 

 together, but at no time could any marked difference whatever 

 be observed between the four rows, or between them and the 

 plants of the standard bed. When tlie plants were fully grown, 

 it appeared that these four rows were a little taller than the 

 standard ; but the difference, if real, was very trifling indeed — 

 certainly not more than wliat might be expected from the natural 

 inequalities of the soil. The yield of these rows was — 



Wire only. 



108 lbs. 



Mean . . . 82 lbs. 81? lbs. 



The conclusion to be drawn from these experiments is, upon 

 the whole, opposed to the supposition of the great influence of 

 electricity on vegetation ; or at least, that the electrical effects 

 produced by such apparatus as those described have very little, if 

 any, influence on the growth of plants ; and from these and other 

 experiments made during the past year, I am led to believe that 

 a great part, if not the whole, of the effects recently described as 

 electrical, are accidental or due to adventitious causes. 



