10 



brought in contact with it, except when the trees are moist in which 

 case a grounding occurs. The very high resistance exhibited by 

 plants, in general, furnishes a means of protection against death by 

 electrical contact with ordinary currents applied in the usual way. 

 Under peculiar conditions electrocution of trees has taken place. 

 This subject, however, will be referred to later. 



A number of exper- 

 iments have been 

 made by us showing 

 the amount of current 

 that will pass through 

 plants. These exper- 

 iments have been 

 made on large trees 

 and small succulent 

 plants. In a number 

 of instances, a wire 

 was passed from the 

 tree to the rail or 

 ground, and another 

 wire was connected 

 to a bare feed wire 

 leading to some other 

 portion of the tree, a 

 milammeter being 

 placed in the circuit 

 to obtain the actual 

 current. Electrodes, 

 which were made of 

 nails attached to the 

 end of No. 18 insu- 



Fig. 6. Showing disfigurement of trees, caused lated wires penetrated 

 by electric wires. From W. F. Gale, City Fores- 

 ter, Springfield, Mass. into the wood. 1 he 



results were as fol- 

 lows : 16^/2 ft. of a maple tree, 18 in. in diameter, gave 25 milliam- 

 peres, (1-40 amp.*), 7 ft. of the same tree gave a current of 45 mil- 

 liamperes, (1-22 amp.) and i ft. of the trunk gave 70 milliamperes, v 

 (1-14 amp.). These experiments were made on a dry day. and no 



''Ampere. 



