Department of Meteorology. 



Clarence D. Warner. 



ELECTRICITY IN AGRICULTURE.* 



It is well known that currents of electricity exist in the atmos- 

 phere. Clouds are charged and discharged. There is a constant 

 change of electricity from earth to air and from air to earth, the 

 Ihtter being the great reservoir for all electricity. Hills, mountain 

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

 the earth's surface assist greatly in charging and discharging the 

 atmosphere. Again, if two iron rods are driven into the earth and 

 connected by a copper wire with an electrometer in the circuit, the 

 instrument is almost immediately affected, showing that currents of 

 electricity are running through the ground. Now, what is the func- 

 tion of these atmospheric and ground electric currents? Many sci- 

 entists are agreed that certain forms of precipitation are due to elec- 

 trical action ; but my observations have led me to believe conclusively 

 that electricity is a potent factor in tlie economy of nature, and has 

 more to do with the growth and development of plants than has hith- 

 erto been known. Davy succeeded in the decomposition of the 

 alkalis, potash and soda, by means of electric currents. In our 

 laboratories, water and ternary compounds are rapidly decomposed 

 by the battery, and we may reasonably suppose, that that which is 

 effected in our laboratories by artificial means, takes place in the 

 great laboratory of nature, on a grander and more extended scale. 



Plant food is carried throughout the plant by means of the flow of 

 sap ; these currents circulate through all the rootlets and center, as it 

 were, in the stalk, carrying their tiny burdens of various elements 

 and depositing them in their proper places. That this phenomenon 

 of circulation is due to electricity cannot be doubted. Most plants 

 grow more rapidly during the night than in the day. May not the 

 following l)e a I'eason for this? 



We have already mentioned how electric currents pass from air to 

 earth and vice versa ; at night the plant is generally covered with 

 dew and the plant itself becomes a good conductor and consequently 

 currents of electricity pass to each through tliis medium, and during 

 the passage convert soil elements into plant food and stimulate the 

 upward currents to gather up the dissolved elements and carry them 

 to their proper places. 



*As this bulletin is the first of several which may appear on the subject of electro- 

 culture, it was thought proper to give a brief resume of what has been done in this 

 direction. 



