Scie7itific InteWgxnce. — Meteorology. 387 



one of these conductors, ^from thirty to forty feet in height, in 

 the middle of a large barley-field newly sown, the field level, 

 and in a wide open flat country. We joined ten smaller wires 

 to the lower end of the large wire near the surface of the 

 ground, and fixed these down to the mould by wooden pegs, 

 distributing them over several feet of surface, taking care not 

 to trample nor disarrange the mould near the wires. We at- 

 tended to the germinating, growth, and ripening of the barley, 

 and distinguished no difference between that among the wires 

 and the other parts of the field. TJie only thing remarkable in 

 this experiment, was, that portions of the wire became oxidated 

 (red rusted) externally, while other portions equally exposed to 

 the dew, rain, sun, changed only from a bluish to a whiter more 

 silvery colour, similar to the whiteness occasioned by a certain 

 degree of heat. We failed in satisfying ourselves of the cause. 

 — Experiment 2. We placed another conductor in a field of 

 oats, just brairded, fixing down the lower end of the large wire 

 about three yards along the surface of the ground. The growth 

 of the oats along the side and at the end of the wire was in no 

 respect different from the rest of the field. — Experiment 3. In 

 spring we placed the other conductor by the side of an apple- 

 tree, about three feet distant from the bole : the top of the pole 

 and iron-rod extending high above the tree. We led the lar^e 

 iron-wire round the bulb at about three feet distant, placed 

 four inches deep in the soil, immediately above the roots. This 

 tree shewed no difference in size or colour of leaf, or length of 

 annual shoot, from others of the same kind of apple, and same 

 age and size of tree near it. — Experiment 4. In sprino- we 

 procured a quantity of nails, about four inches in length, and 

 by means of small thin slips of wood, with a hole in the middle 

 to admit the nail, thus forming a T, and shreds of mat, we 

 fixed these nails to the branches and shoots of an apple-tree, 

 with the head of the nails touching the bark, and the point 

 standing out like thorny spikes, rendering the tree almost like 

 a hedgehog. We discovered no difference in the growth, leaves 

 or flowers, or fruit of this tree, during the season, from others 

 of its kind near it. There is one circumstance connected with 

 conductor?, which has not perhaps been attended to. There is 

 generally a pit dug where the conductor is led into tlic earth. 



