1858. 



XEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



561 



be protected ?" I answer, by tJiorougJily ventilat- 

 ing a building, you perfectly protect it. I have 

 never known of a building being struck by an 

 electric bolt that was well ventilated, but on the 

 contrary, if you examine into the circumstances 

 connected with one that has been struck, you 

 will find that the chief damage was done to that 

 part which was the poorest ventilated. 



One of your correspondents says, "seven-tenths 

 of the buildings struck by lightning are barns, 

 and this occurs during the curative process of 

 the hay ;" this is undoubtedly true, for without 

 doubt, our barns are less ventilated than any 

 buildings we have, and certainly very much less 

 in proportion to their requirements, and that 

 they should be fired by lightning is only the nat- 

 ural result of great natural causes ; if we wish to 

 avoid the result, we have only to remove the 

 cause. 



Let us look for a moment at the process that 

 is carried on during the making of hay. Nearly 

 all vegetables, especially the grasses, are highly 

 charged with electricity, both positive and nega- 

 tive, and by their mutual attraction they hold 

 each other in subjection. After the grass is cut, 

 evaporations begins, and if it be a good hay-day, 

 goes on very fast. Volta has shown very con- 

 clusively, that "the evaporation of water sets 

 positive electricity f^ee, which goes into the at- 

 mosphere, while the negative fluid remains in 

 the body from which the water was evaporated." 

 The farmer then puts into his barn a quantity of 

 hay highly charged with negative electricity, and 

 this process he curries on from day to day, until 

 at last he has completed one of the largest and 

 most powerful batteries that could be conceived 

 of; in a few days, clouds form and hover over 

 his building ; they are charged positively, as the 

 atmosphere usually is. Nature, true to her laws, 

 must establish an equilibrium between these two 

 bodies of electricity ; the positive fluid in the 

 cloud enters into union with the negative fluid 

 in the hay, intense heat is evolved, and the barn 

 is fired. Now, how could this result have been 

 avoided ? The cause was unavoidable ; the pos- 

 itive fluid must go into the atmosphere, because 

 it had a greater afnnity for that than for any- 

 thing else ; the negative had a greater affinity 

 for the hay than anything it came in contact 

 with, and must remain ; after the positive fluid 

 had escaped into the air, it was beyond the con- 

 trol of man, and only subject to the control of 

 the winds. 



If the lightning rod theory could be carried 

 sufficiently far into practice, it would answer our 

 purpose ; if this cloud could be pierced by a good 

 conductor, putting it in connection with the 

 ground, the great reservoir both for the absorp- 

 tion and for the supply of this fluid, then the 

 positive body would pass silently down until an 

 equilibrium was formed ; but this is simply an 

 impossibility ; we must next turn our attention 

 to the negative fluid, to remove that. We learn 

 from Coulombe, that the laws which regulate 

 the gradual dissipation of electricity have been 

 investigated, and the causes which operate are, — 

 "1st. The imperfection of the insulating property, 

 and 2d. The contact of successive portions of air, 

 every particle of which carries oS" a certain quan- 

 tity of electricity." His expei-iments show con- 

 clusively that electricity is capable of being, 



transferred like caloric, and that as water is one 

 of the best conductors, any portion of it suspend- 

 ed in the -air tends to carry ofl" electricity from 

 bodies charged with it. 



Now if this theory be true, and it has never 

 been controverted, what prevents our so con- 

 structing our buildings as to be able to send 

 currents of air through them at our will, and 

 thus remove the negative body, and by removing 

 it, move the cause of our troubles ? It is as 

 necessary to apply this system of ventilation to 

 our dwellings as to our barns, if v.-e would pro- 

 tect them, for it is found that the air of close 

 rooms, vitiated by respiration, is negatively elec- 

 trified. In olden times, when the good old- 

 fashioned fire-place was in use, we had a more 

 perfect ventilation than we have now with our 

 air-tight stoves and furnaces ; then our dwelling- 

 houses were not damaged by lightning, although 

 we had no protecting rods, and the only way 

 that we can secure to ourselves the same immuni- 

 ty that we enjoyed then, is to return to an equal- 

 ly efficient system of ventilation; this can be 

 done without much trouble, at one-half the cost 

 that would be met in covering our houses with 

 rods. 



And now, Mr. Editor, one word to the farmer, 

 and I will close this communication. 



Barns, as they are being filled with new hay, 

 should be kept open night and day, and if there 

 is a window in the roof, that should be kept open 

 also, for at least thirty days after haying is fin- 

 ished ; but this will not be sufficient to ventilate a 

 large bay of hay, and a portion of the floor 

 should be constructed with slats secured under- 

 neath with a tight box, (so as to exclude the ex- 

 halations from the cellar,) connecting with a pipe 

 running to the outside of the barn ; by this plan 

 currents of fresh air might pass continually 

 through the mow, keeping the hay in most perfect 

 condition, free from all these dangers we have 

 been considering, and also from any decay or 

 must v/hich is very common from imperfect cur- 

 ing. ELECTraCITY. 



Qroton, Oct. 25, 1858. 



CHINESE AGRICULTUKE. 



The Pennsylcanian., referring to a narrative of 

 travels in China, published by a Russian officer, 

 says •— . 



"This author, like every other who has visited 

 China, bears testimony of the high development 

 of agriculture in that mysterious country. The 

 harvest in China, he remarks, ' produces fifty, 

 seventy, and even a hundred fold. The cause 

 will be found in the care M'ith which they manure 

 the ground, and the custom of sowing early, of 

 weeding and watering, etc' The acre of land 

 yields in England, Germany and France, twice 

 or three times as much as with us, but the Chi- 

 nese agriculturist surpasses even the European 

 by far. 'How infinitely inferior,' says Professor 

 Liebig, 'is the agriculture of Europe to that of 

 China! The Chinese are the most admirable 

 gardeners and trainers of plants, for each of 

 which they understand how to prepare and ap- 

 ply the best adapted manure. The agriculture 

 of their country is the most perfect in the world, 

 and there, where the climate in the most fertile 

 districts diS'ers little from the European, very 



