368 ATMOSPHERIC EFFECTS ON VEGETATION. 



of it, 5 ' as the grass hangs about the blade of the 

 scythe, and is become tough and woolly m } heavy 

 rains are falling to the southward, and thunder rolls 

 around us ; this indicates the electric state of the 

 air, and points out the influence that atmospheric 

 temperature and condition have upon organized and 

 unorganized bodies, though from their nature not 

 always manifested, all terrestrial substances being 

 replete with electric matter. In the case here men- 

 tioned, it appears probable that the state of the 

 air induced a temporary degree of moisture to arise 

 from the earth, or to be given out by the air, and 

 that this moisture conducted the electric fluid to the 

 vegetation of the field. Experiments prove that 

 electric matter discharged into a vegetable withers 

 and destroys it ; and it appeared to me at the time, 

 but I am no electrician, that an inferior or natural 

 portion of this fluid, such as was then circulating 

 around, had influenced my grass in a lower degree, 

 so as not to wither, but to cause it to flag, and 

 become tough, or, as they call it in some counties, 

 to "wilt;" the farina of the grass appeared 

 damper than is usual, by its hanging about the 

 blades of the scythes more than it commonly does ; 

 the stone removed it, as the men whetted them, 

 just at the edge, but they were soon clogged again. 

 As the thunder cleared away, the impediments be- 

 came less obvious, and by degrees the difficulties 



