32 



, In the experimental house, plants frpm 12 seeds produced 54 

 well-filled pods ; in the control house, five seeds produced 19 pods. 

 The former were of excellent flavour, almost equal to peas grown 

 outside, while the control ones had less flavour, and the pods not 

 so well filled. 



Some sweet peas were sown for out-door culture on April 4th. 

 They germinated in six days, and on April i8th were planted in 

 the open, being 8 Jin. high ; they grew robustly and bloomed well. 

 Professor Priestley kindly made a structural examination of some 

 of the plants sent to him, and gave it as his opinion that there 

 was " greater depth in colour and sturdiness of growth in the 

 treated plants, the leaf cells showed a markedly greater accummu- 

 lation of granules containing green colouring matter (the chloro- 

 phasts) and their stems showed the presence of a large quantity 

 of fibre at a time when the control plants showed practically 

 none." 



I am repeating the experiment chiefly over tomatoes, and the 

 results are very encouraging in germination, sturdiness of 

 growth and depth of green. The response is what would have 

 been expected from last year's trials with vegetables plants 

 which were from 7 J to 8 inches high when put in the experimental 

 house measured over three feet within a few weeks, with a pro- 

 fusion of foliage and a good show of buds, which at the time of 

 writing are not yet in blossom, those in the control house not hav- 

 ing made anything like the same growth. Seedlings sown on 

 October 2oth, and germinated under the lamp are now plants 

 .from 14 to 17 inches high, and of a very healthy appearance, 

 whereas the control seedlings have made no growth for five weeks, 

 and are only from 5 to 7 inches high. 



CONCLUSION 



THE foregoing experiments all show that the application of elec- 

 tricity, whether in the form of a silent discharge from overhead 

 wires, or luminous by means of lamps, has a decidedly beneficial 

 effect upon plant growth. In the illuminating experiments it 

 .has been the object of each experiment to imitate as closely as 

 possible the rays emanating from the sun that have the most 

 favourable affect upon vegetation. 



