ELECTRO CULTITRF. 231 



sive rain, instead of being carefully preserved as is done ly 

 the roofing of the beds. The question is one of sullioicnt 

 consequence to induce further trials, under such circumstan- 

 cos as will be likely to afford data tor estimating the precise 

 force of the cause. 



ELECTRO CULTURE. The application of electricity to 

 growing plants is a subject which has occupied the attention 

 of scientific men for many years, and apparently without arri- 

 ving at any beneficial result. That it is capable of producing 

 unusually rapid growth when applied to vegetation, we have 

 too many examples to admit of any doubt. A stream of 

 electricity from a galvanic ball^ry, directed upon the scr.l.s 

 or roots of plants under a favorable condition, has sometimes 

 produced an amount of vegetable development within a few 

 hours, which would have required as many days or even 

 weeks to produce, in the ordinary course of nature. An egg 

 has been hatched in one fourth the usual period of incubation, 

 and every dairy maid is aware of the accelerated change in 

 the milk, from the presence of a highly electrical atmos- 

 phere. A thunder storm will sour milk in two hours that 

 would otherwise have kept sweet two days. But after all 

 the efforts hitherto made to secure this agent for the advance- 

 ment of the farmer's operations, a careful review of all the 

 results obtained, compels us to acknowledge that no applica- 

 tion of electricity is yet developed, which entitles it to the 

 consideration of practical agriculturists. Yet when we con- 

 sider the power and universal presence of electricity, we 

 must confess our confidence, that the researchers of science 

 will hereafter detect some, principles of its operation, which 

 may be of immense value to the interests of agriculture. It 

 is probably the principal, and perhaps the sole agent in pro- 

 ducing all chemical changes in inert matter ; nor is it at all 

 improbable, its agency is equally paramount in the changes of 

 vegetable and to a certain extent also, in animal life. Inde- 

 pendent of human agency or control, it forms nitric acid in 

 the atmosphere during thunder showers, which is brought 

 down by the rain, and contributes greatly to the growth of 

 vegetables. It is also efficient in the deposit of dews, and 

 in numberless unseen ways, it silently aids in those benificent 

 results which gladden the heart, by fulfilling the hopes of the 

 careful and diligent husbandman. But until something is 

 more definitely established in relation to its principles and 

 effects, the prudent agriculturist may omit any attention to 

 the subject of electro culture. 



