2 3 



wire under the wooden frame supporting the glass roof, the wire 

 being passed through a long cylinder of porous earthenware that 

 was suspended freely from the roof by means of paraffined string. 



Under these conditions the discharge was obtained, but from the 

 construction of the houses it is certain that a very large percen- 

 tage of the charge must be lost. 



Thus the hot-water pipes are raised well above the floor, and 

 the base of the plants may be descrived as being in the " shade 

 of these iron pipes as regards effective discharge, as the plants are 

 not raised upon staging above the hot-water pipes. Cucumbers and 

 tomatoes are the crops usually grown, and while the tomatoes may 

 obtain their fair share of the charge, the cucumbers, in their at 

 tempt to obtain lignt, spread their leaves and stems so close to the 

 glass that they run within the protection of uninsulated wires, 

 placed near the roof to afford them support, and to which their 

 tendrils cling. To such extent as they lie behind these wires they 

 must be very much out of the region of discharge, and it does 

 not seem to me surprising that the results for 1908 with cucumbers 

 grown in this manner show very little difference that can be at- 

 tributed to the current. And yet even in this case the acceleration 

 results are quite striking, as is shown by the table appended ot 

 the cucumbers cut from five of the houses in April, 1908. 



Another difficulty that has to be met in installation under glass 

 is the added risk of shock to those working amongst the crops 

 Cultivation under forcing conditions involves almost continuous at- 

 tention being paid to the plants, and as a consequence arrange- 

 ments have to be made to allow men to work amongst the crops 

 without the risk of a shock, which would be sufficiently violent 

 to be a considerable inconvenience. This result may be achieved 

 by running the electrical discharge only at night. At Bitton this 

 practice has usually been followed, the wires through the green- 

 houses being charged at night and an area out of doors electrified 

 during the daytime; unfortunately there are not sufficient physio- 

 logical data to. hand to say whether current applied at such a time 

 is effective or not. 



" Cost of Treatment. The practical man will probably desire 

 that this article should include a reference to the cost of this new 

 method of treatment, but that is a subject which I do not feel 

 competent to pursue in any detail. 



Presumably any person desirous of installing such an apparatus 

 would first get in touch with some competent firm of electricians, 



