ELECTRO-CULTURE. 89 
Considerable work has been done in France at the 
Institute for Agricultural Chemistry by Professor Berthelot, 
also in Russia and other parts of Europe. 
‘In the year 1846 a prize of thirty guineas was offered 
by the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland for 
‘“An Improved Report on the Application of Galvanism or 
Electricity to Cultivation,’’ but it was not till the year 1885 
that experiments of an elaborate nature were commenced, in 
which year Professor Lemstrém, a Swedish scientist, began 
to make investigations on more scientific and practical lines 
than had hitherto been attempted. 
Professor Lemstrém travelled extensively in the Polar 
regions, and during his travels there was immensely struck 
by the development of vegetation, in spite of the conditions 
of temperature and soil being so unfavourable; though the 
plants did not come to maturity any earlier than those in 
Icwer altitudes, the scent and colour of the flowers, freshness 
of the green leaves, and luxuriant growth was most striking 
to the most casual observer. Knowing the peculiar electrical 
conditions which prevail in high altitudes, he came to the 
conclusion that this marked development in vegetation was 
due to small electric currents passing between the atmosphere 
and the earth. Upon his return to Finland he began a series 
of experiments which extended over several years, producing 
variable results, and though his investigations yielded much 
evidence that was contradictory, he showed conclusively that 
a definite increase in weight of crop might be gained from 
electrical treatment. 
Following the death of Professor Lemstrém in 1903, the 
work of investigation was taken up by Mr J. E. Newman, of 
Bitton, near Bristol, with the assistance of Sir Oliver Lodge, 
and it was under their supervision and direction that large 
trials of a practical nature on agricultural crops were first 
made in this country. ‘ 
In this brief paper we will not go into a detailed account 
of these trials, which were of a most interesting and in- 
structive nature, but confine ourselves to those carried on in 
this district at Lincluden Mains, the experimental ground 
