142 The Application of Electricity in Agriculture. 



certain places where experiments had been made, low tension 

 electricity was carried into a shed, where there was elaborate 

 machinery for changing it into high tension electricity, and it was 

 then carried out to the field by means of thick wires. When it 

 reached the field it was laid on to thin wires, which, being unable 

 to hold so much electricity, allowed it to leak off to the plants. 

 Over the part of the field to be electrified a network of wires was 

 taken, high up out of the way of all farm operations. An illus- 

 tration of the effect of the electricity was found in the fact that a 

 hedge showed extraordinary growth at that part of it over which 

 the wires were led. Experiments proved that wheat and other 

 crops had a much greater yield when electrified, wheat, in one 

 instance, showuig an increase of 29 per cent., mangels of 18 per 

 cent., and strawberries of 25 per cent.' But whether electrifica- 

 tion resulted in an increase or a decrease, it was found in nearly 

 every case that there had been acceleration. And as it was in 

 the early part of the plant's life that the effect of electricity was 

 to be seen in the acceleration of the yield, it Avould follow that 

 crops could be got in earlier. If ever the electrification of plants 

 came to be a practical thing, it would be of use in countries like 

 Canada, where it would enable them to reap the harvest before 

 the winter set in, and in this country ci"ops w'ould be on the 

 market earlier, and thus growers would be in an improved posi- 

 tion with regard to competition. He did not regard the work 

 that had been done in connection with the subject as completed. 

 It Avas only in its beginnings, because though the work had been 

 going on for a hundred and fifty years, it was only in the last five 

 years that it had been conducted on a practical scale. They still 

 wanted to know what the effect was on the complicated life of 

 the plant. If the work failed in the end, it had still been worth 

 the trial ; and if it was successful, it would mean one more 

 victory of man over nature. Replying to questions put b_\' 

 members of the audience. Professor Priestley said that he 

 believed that the biggest future for the system Avould be in places 

 Avhere there was a large irrigation scheme. The reason for this 

 was that plants Avere ahvays giving off water, and when electri- 

 fied they gave off more Avater than under normal conditions. 

 There had been nothing discovered to show that electrification 

 was a cure for disease in potatoes and other crops, but he thought 



