ELECTRO-CULTURE. 97 
of experiments made by Miss Dudgeon in rg11. These 
showed that potatoes grown under such a system weighed 
184 per cent. more than was produced on adjacent ground of 
exactly the same area without such treatment. Miss Dudgeon 
now gives us the result of subsequent experiments made 
during the three following seasons, and it is satisfactory to 
notice a steady improvement in each successive year. Last 
year (1915) the same experiment was made with a crop of 
oats, when the relative gain was 31 per cent. in grain and 
63 per cent. in straw. Everything was done under the super- 
vision of an expert appointed by Government, whose duty it 
was to see that all conditions were uniform, and the results 
accurately ascertained and recorded. Now practical people 
may probably want to know something about the appliances 
required and the expenses involved by this process. He 
happened to know that the engine and dynamo, which pro- 
duced all the electric current used by Miss Dudgeon, cost 
less than £50, or about the price of one farm horse. The 
high tension transformer was more expensive, and there was 
the storage battery, wires, poles, insulators, etc., which must 
vary according to circumstances, but the total capital expen- 
diture in 1911 did not exceed £175, including plant sufficient 
to treat 15 acres of land. All management and manipulation 
was done by Miss Dudgeon herself, the working expenses 
were therefore confined to the cost of fuel or petrol and lubri- 
cating oil. Petrol and oil are becoming expensive, but it is 
possible to obtain electric current without fuel of any kind. 
Last year, after careful investigation, he found that 1500 
horse-power could be generated from high level lochs on Lord 
Galloway’s property in the parish of Minnigaff, and the 
speaker believed that water now running to waste in the 
Stewartry would produce enough electricity to fertilise all the 
arable land in the county. It seemed to him that what 
remains to be done is to find the most simple, safe, and least 
expensive method of inducing the atmosphere to lend some of 
its superfluous nitrogen for the nourishment of the soil, just 
as the air we breathe gives vitality to every living creatur:, 
including mankind. 
