21 



At the commencement of the experiment, the discharge was 

 applied chiefly in the day time, after which it was principally on 

 at night. The following table gives the results obtained from 

 the electrified crops as compared with the unelectrified : 



CROP. 



Under Glass Cucumbers. 



' Strawberries, 5 year 

 old plants. 

 Strawberries, i year 

 old plants. 



In the 



open. 



Broadbeans. 

 Spring Cabbages 



Celery 

 [ . Tomatoes 



PERCENTAGE OF INCREASE OVER 

 UNELECTRIFIED CROPS. 



17% 

 % 



36 o/ 



80% and more 



runner. 



15% decrease but 

 ready for picking 5 days earlier. 

 Ready for picking 10 days 

 earlier. 



2% 



No difference. 



Spot disease was noticed upon the cucumbers in both the ex- 

 perimental and control houses, but those plants under the in- 

 fluence of the discharge were much less affected than the others. 

 Professor Priestley, who kept in touch with the experiment, gave 

 it as his opinion, in a paper written for the Journal of the Bristol 

 Naturalists' Society, that " It seems probable that the ravages 

 of the disease were largely inhibited by the electric discharge, 

 for during one week, when the influence machine broke down, 

 the disease progressed more rapidly under the wires and was 

 again checked upon restarting the machine. The action of elec- 

 tric discharge may be due to one of two causes, either the resisting 

 properties of the host have been increased or the attacking powers 

 of the parasite diminished." A similar experiment was carried 

 on the same year by Mr. Newman over a vegetable garden near 

 Gloucester. In this trial the wires were fixed higher than at 

 Bitton, and the plants experimented over were beets, carrots 

 and turnips, with the following result : 



CROP. 



Beets 



Carrots 



PERCENTAGE OF UNELECTRIFIED CROP. 



33% 



50% 



Turnips showed an increase, but the quantity could not be 

 satisfactorily judged owing to the damage done by slugs to the 

 crop. 



