CHAPTER III 



UPON ELECTRICAL STIMULI GENERALLY— AND 

 IN RELATION TO SIGN OF CURRENT 



WE have remarked that the tendency of seed electri- 

 fication is to mature or advance the development 

 of the embryo but when we ponder the application of 

 electricity to horticulture and agriculture the first and 

 most important thing to bear in mind is Nature's own method. 



The air is the positive and the earth the negative terminal 

 of the natural electrical system, and the current is con- 

 tinuous, not alternating. 



We may improve along those lines, but if we depart from 

 them we shall, I think, waste time. 



Now, positive air and negative earth mean that there is, 

 in normal conditions of weather, a downward driving force, 

 with a return through the roots, stem and venation of the 

 plant ; the aerolae of the leaves taking in oxygen — plus 

 air electrification and light energy to stimulate them to 

 growth. 



Light energy is not yet fully understood but it is to be 

 reckoned with because we know from experience that it 

 is too powerful for young seedlings, which require to be 

 shielded from it. 



When plants are grown in pots they are cut off from 

 the negative earth current and the moist soil in the pot, 

 possessing, as it does, capacity, takes its charge from the 

 positive air, and the plant reverses its polarity, becoming 

 positive where an earth-grown plant is negative and vice 

 versa. The effect of this is to stimulate upward growth, 

 and were the electromotive force higher there would be 

 very little root production. Such plants are not, in fact, 

 grown naturally and would be far better if the soil in the 

 pots could be connected, by means of a metallic conductor, 

 with the earth ; other things, of course, being equal. 



