12 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



clover and alfalfa. It is probable that the unusually slight 

 amount of moisture present in the soil during the past spring 

 had much to do with weakening many plants which might 

 have made some recovery under other conditions. 



We append to this report some experiments relating to 

 the influence of electricity on the growth of plants, which 

 have been carried on by us and students in a minor way for 

 some years. Notwithstanding the considerable accelerated 

 growth that electrical stinuilation is capable of giving rise to, 

 these experiments are not presented with any idea in mind 

 that they furnish evidence of legitimate lines of forcing, or 

 that the matter Avill be taken up by practical groAv^ers as a 

 means of increasing their crops, especiall}'^ at the present 

 time. There are many legitimate lines of increasing and 

 improving crops of which growers ha^e not as yet made full 

 use, and, so long as such exist, the wisest policy to pursue is 

 to pay little attention to the so-called freak farming methods. 

 This subject is, moreover, an especially complicated one, 

 and it is a question whether it would be of nmch value to 

 those who arc following commercial methods, even if con- 

 siderable gain could be obtained. All stinuili to plants are 

 by no means advantageous from the commercial point of 

 view, inasmuch as they do not alwa3^s induce acceleration in 

 the right direction, since the law of correlation holds good 

 in the plant kingdom, as elsewhere. Whether the scarcity 

 of forcing elements or the development of more refined 

 methods of the gardening of the future Avill induce gardeners 

 to utilize the various cosmic forces which act as stimuli, and 

 which are not employed at the present time, remains to be 

 seen. 



