ELECTRO-HORTICULTURE 



ELEUSINE 



1109 



when it is desired to hasten the maturity of crops for a 

 particular date. Only in the case of lettuce is it yet 

 thought to be of any general commercial importance; 

 and even with lettuce, it is doubtful whether it will 

 pay for its cost in climates that are abundantly sunny. 

 For the literature of the subject, consult the publica- 

 tions of the experiment stations of Cornell University 

 and of West Virginia. See the article Light, Vol. IV. 



Electroculture is a term employed to designate any 

 culture of plants under the influence or stimulus 

 of electric currents. The electric stimulation may 

 arise from the electrification of the atmosphere in the 

 immediate vicinity of the plants, or from the applica- 

 tion of electric currents to the plants themselves. In 

 either case, electricity exerts an appreciable and often 

 a very marked influence, resulting in accelerated ger- 

 mination and growth (see the discussion, pp. 30-35, 

 Vol. II, Cyclo. Amer. Agric.). 



In recent years much more attention has been given 

 to the stimulation of plants by electricity directly 

 through the atmosphere than through the soil. Accord- 

 ing to experiments made at the Massachusetts Experi- 

 ment Station, this method appears to be successful 

 and offers a most promising field for future research. 

 Of the various methods used to stimulate plants by 

 electricity, direct currents applied through the soil 

 prove less valuable than alternating currents or static 

 charges. In a series of experiments made with radish 

 plants in closed glass cases, an average increase of 

 50 per cent was secured, and in another case 45 per 

 cent increase when the case was charged from a static 

 machine with an average potential of 150 volts for a 

 few minutes each day. There are some obstacles in the 

 way of electrically treating plants by the use of high 

 tension wires or static machines owing to the pos- 

 sibility of grounding through steam-pipes and iron 

 posts, and nothing very definite has been obtained as 

 yet from this method. High tension wires (100,000 

 volts, more or less) have been used in the field with 

 fairly good results, but winds affect a charged atmo- 

 sphere to a certain extent. The use of high poles pro- 

 vided with points to collect atmospheric electricity 

 has proved successful in laboratory experiments for 

 the stimulation of plants and the fixation of nitrogen, 

 and in the future probably some such method will 

 become of practical use. At present the various methods 

 cannot be considered as of great economic importance. 

 (G. E. Stone.) 



ELEOCHARIS (Greek-made word, meaning delight- 

 ing in marshes). Sometimes written Heledcharis. 

 Cyperacese. Rush-like native plants, mostly of low, 

 wiry growth, and commonest in marshes and on muddy 

 shores, mostly perennial. The culms are simple, terete 

 or angular, bearing a spherical or oblong head of incon- 

 spicuous fls. : Ivs. usually reduced to mere sheaths. 

 They are interesting for the borders of ponds, and are 

 very easy to naturalize. Numbers of species are likely 

 to be offered by dealers in native plants; three have 

 been listed: E. interstincta R. &. S. (E. equisetmdes, 

 Torr.). A shore plant, with terete knotted culms 2-3 

 ft. high, and cylindrical heads about the thickness of 

 the culm; resembles horse-tail (Equisetum). E. acicul- 

 aris, R. & S. Hair-like, 3-6 in. high, making grass-like 

 mats. E. ovata, R. & S. Culms nearly terete, 12-15 in. 

 high: head globose or ovate. Eleocharis has about 

 100 species, widely distributed, of which nearly half 

 occur in Canada and the U. S. L. H. B. 



ELEPHANT'S EAR is a name for begonias. The 

 elephant-ear Caladium is a Colocasia. 



ELEPHANT'S FOOT: Testudinaria. 



ELETTARIA (East Indian name). Zingiberdcex. 

 CARDAMON. Hothouse perennial herbs, sometimes 

 seen in collections of economic plants. 



Differs from Amomum in technical characters, as in 

 the slender tube of the perianth, the presence of internal 

 lobes in the perianth, and the filaments not prolonged 

 beyond the anther. Probably only 1 species, although 

 more have been described. E. Cardamdmum, Maton 

 (Cardamomum officinale, Salisb. Amdmum Carda- 

 momum, Linn.), affords the small or true cardamons 

 of commerce, which are the dried capsules and which 

 are used in medicine. Species of Amomum yield other 

 kinds of cardamon. The elettaria is native to India, 

 but is cult, in Jamaica, and it will no doubt thrive in 

 parts of S. Fla., where plants have been offered. The 

 cardamon plant grows 5-10 ft. high, bearing a curving 

 jointed, closely sheathed st. and oblong-lanceolate 

 acuminate entire nearly sessile Ivs. often 2 ft. long: 

 rootstock horizontal: fls. purple-striped: caps oblong 

 or nearly globular, with many thin vertical ribs, 

 indehiscent; seeds small, angled. Gt. 62, p. 93. It is 

 said to prefer shade and a moist soil. In three or four 

 years plants give full crops, but they become more or 

 less exhausted after bearing three or four crops. Prop, 

 by dividing the roots and by seeds. Under glass, 

 handled the same as Alpinia. L, jj. g. 



ELEUSINE (Greek, Eleusin, the town where Ceres, 

 the goddess of harvests, was worshipped). Graminese. 

 CRAB-GRASS. YARD -GRASS. Coarse tufted annual 

 grasses, more or less grown as ornamentals; also for the 

 grain in Africa. 



The stout unilateral spikes digitate at the apex of 

 the culm; spikelets several-fld., awnless, arranged in 2 

 rows along one side of a continuous rachis; rachilla 

 articulate above the empty glumes; fls. perfect or the 

 upper one staminate: grain loosely inclosed by the 

 lemma and palea. Species about 6 in tropical regions 

 of the Old World. Some are valued as cereals in Afr., 

 India, and some other east- 

 ern countries. For E. segyp- 

 tiaca, see Daciyloctenium. 



1388. Eleusine indica. 1389. Eleusine coracana. 



( X Yd ( X H) 



indica, Gaertn. WIRE-GRASS. GOOSE-GRASS. Fig. 

 1388. Erect, or in open ground prostrate, 2-4 ft. high: 

 culms flattened: spikes 5-7, about 2-4 m. long, digi- 

 tate, often with one or two lower down; spikelets 3-6- 

 fld. Blooms from June to Oct. A very common grass 

 in cult, fields and dooryards in the S., often trouble- 

 some as a weed on lawns throughout the S. and in Calif. 



