454 APPENDIX. 



that this is also the case with, the discharges of atmos- 

 pheric electricity, which are terrible in consequence 

 of their high tension, but do not represent a great loss 

 of energy. An oil motor of two horse-power was 

 therefore quite sufficient. 



The results were very satisfactory. The wheat crop 

 in the electrified field was, in the years 1906-1907, by 

 29 to 40 per cent, greater, and also of better quality, 

 than in the non-electrified field. The straw was also 

 from four to eight inches longer. 



For strawberries the increase of the crop was 35 per 

 cent., and 25 per cent, for beetroot. 



As to the inoculation of useful microbes by means of 

 watering the soil with cultures of nitrifying bacteria, 

 experiments on a great scale have been made in Prussia 

 upon some peat-bogs. The German agricultural papers 

 speak of these experiments as having given most satis- 

 factory results. 



Most interesting results have also been obtained in 

 Germany by heating the soil with a mixture of air and 

 hot steam passed along the ordinary draining tubes. 

 A society has been formed to propagate this system, 

 and the photographs of the results published by the 

 Society in a pamphlet, GartenkuUur, Bodenheizung, 

 Klimaverbesserung (Berlin, 1906), seem to prove that 

 with a soil thus heated the growth of certain vegetables 

 is accelerated to some extent. 



U. PETTY TRADES IN THE LYONS REGION. 



The neighbourhoods of St. Etienne are a great 

 centre for all sorts of industries, and among them the 

 petty trades occupy still an important place. Iron- 

 works and coal-mines with their smoking chimneys, 



