ELECTRICITY AND PLANT- GROWING. 



77 



The following year, the investigation was continued upon a 

 more extensive plan, with garden vegetables, and the results were 

 strikingly interesting, although some plants did not thrive so well 

 under the treatment as in normal conditions. The percentages of 

 gain in edible products were as follows : 



White Beets 



Red Beets, 



Potatoes, 



Radishes, 



Parsnips, 



Leeks, 



Celeriac, 



Turnips, 



Ruta Baga, 



Plants which showed loss were as follows 



Carrots, 

 Kohl Rabi, 



Cabbages, 



Two conclusions clearly follow from these results : Atmospheric 

 electricity, applied artificially, may exert a powerful influence 

 upon growing plants ; the character of this influence varies with 

 the species. Here, then, is another illustration that the response 

 of plants to external influence is a matter of adaptation with each 

 individual species, and which is probably governed by the phylo- 

 genetic history of this type. 



Experiments were also made in Finland in 1886 and 1887, upon 

 cereals and potatoes, and the general results were very favorable. 

 Aside from this fact, two general conclusions are stated by the 

 experimenter, drawn from all the foregoing experiments : 



1. The plants studied fall into two groups — 



(a) Those in which the electricity favors the development : 



Wheat, 

 Rye, 



Barley, 



Oats, 



Beets, 



Parsnips, 



Potatoes, 



Radishes, 



Celeriac, 



Leeks, 



Kidney Beans, 



Raspberries, 



Strawberries. 



