186 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ELECTEICITY 



NOTES ON THE APPLICATION OF ELECTRICITY TO PLANT 



GROWTH. 



PROF. SAMUEL B. GREEN, ST. ANTHONY PARK. 



We hear much about electricity, in fact, it has come to the front where 

 we must profess to know something about this strange form of energj' in 

 order to keep up with the times. Our knowing ones prophesy that all 

 sorts of things will be done with it, and talk about converting the energy 

 of the tides, the Falls of Niagara and the winds into electricity for warm- 

 ing our houses, cooking our food and running our factories, when the sup- 

 ply of coal shall be exhausted,- and even now it is said to be the intention 

 of the Niagara Falls Power Co. to transmit electric power to Chicago 

 within a year or two. As to what electricity is and whence it comes, we 

 know but little more than the motoneer who calls to his companion to 

 "turn on the juice" to start the electric cars; or the poor woman who is 

 said to have likened the electric car to a witch riding a broomstick. 

 Electricity is fast coming into universal use in the various occupations of 

 life, and, of course, a few of us wiseacres in horticulture have begun to talk 

 about its use in our line: but, really,we are talking about nothing new, for 

 ever since electricity becamea science there have been many efforts made 

 by scientists to find its relation to both plant and animal life. 



It is well known that currents of electricity exist in the atmosphere. 

 There is a constant change of electricity from earth to air and from air 

 to earth, the latter being the great reservoir for all electricity. "Hills, 

 mountain peaks, trees, chimneys, spires, in fact, all points elevated above 

 the earth's surface, assist greatly in charging and discharging the atmos- 

 phere. If two iron rods are driven into the ground and connected by a 

 copper wire it is found that there is a current of electricity passing 

 through the wire, showing that there are such currents passing through 

 the ground." Again, Sachs has shown that each movement of water in 

 the tissues of the plant induces feeble electric currents. In fact, this 

 mysterous something, this energy we call electricity, pervades almost every 

 form of matter. 



But I do not mean to take up your time with a lot of rambling ab- 

 stractions, but wish to call your attention to the experiments that have 

 been made in using this force in a practical way in horticulture. 



There are at least two ways of using electrical energy to influence plant 

 growth; one is where the current is brought in direct contact with the 

 plant itself, and the other where it is used in its form as light. Let us 

 consider the former method first. 



The early investigations to determine the effect of electricity on plant 

 growth gave in many cases contradictory results, and it was not uniil 

 after 1845 that practical electro-culture was undertaken. Williamson 



