APPENDIX. 



ELECTRO - HORTICULTURE. 



INFLUENCE OF SOIL ELECTRIFICATION AND OF ELECTRIC LIGHT 

 UPON PLANT-GROWTH. 



'' Light is Lifer 



ECENT development of electrical science has 

 wrought wonderful changes in all our industrial 

 and social conditions, changes so wonderful in 

 number and character, indeed, that we now are 

 constantly in expectation of the discovery of 

 new manifestations and new uses of this wonder- 

 ful natural force. It was a very natural idea to 

 direct electrical energies upon the soil and plant 

 growth in the hope of finding marked influences. 



Direct Electrification. — At the agricultural college at 

 Amherst, Mass., and at several places in Europe, wires have been 

 stretched across fields and gardens and passed through the soil, 

 and then charged with electricity. In many cases certain crops 

 were largely increased by these influences ; while other crops 

 seemed to be injured rather than benefited. That a powerful in- 

 fluence of the artificial use of electricity, either in the air or in 

 the soil, about plants, does exist, seems hardly open to dis- 

 pute. Yet it is my conviction that this discovery will remain of 

 little practical value to the average soil tiller. At any rate, it is 

 not of practical use now, and before it could possibly become so, 

 a great deal more of accurate knowledge about this yet mys- 

 terious force will have to be developed. 



Electric Light Influence. — More marked upon plant 

 growth perhaps than the effects of this direct electrification, have 

 been those of the electric light. Yet there is no telling, at pres- 

 ent, to what extent the new factor will ever be employed in 

 vegetable growing. The home gardener will scarcely feel justi- 

 fied in incurring much expense for electric lights when these are 

 wanted solely for the purpose of stimulating plant growth in his 

 small garden or greenhouse; and he cannot be expected to re- 

 ceive any benefit whatever from the stimulative effect of electric 



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