ELECTRICITY IN AGRICULTURE 
AND HORTICULTURE. 
By Prof. S. LEMSTROM. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
§ 4. It is well known that the question which is the 
subject of this book has been a favourite field of investiga- 
tion for a century past. As the subject is connected with 
no less than three sciences—viz., physics, botany and agri- 
cultural physics—it is in itself not particularly attractive. 
The causes which induced me to begin an investigation 
of this matter were manifold, and I venture to hope that 
a short exposition of them will not be without interest. 
During several voyages in the Polar regions (1868 to 
Spitzbergen and the north of Norway, and 1871, 1882, 1884 
to Finnish Lapland), I had occasion to observe with my 
own eyes a peculiarity in the vegetable kingdom which also 
has attracted the attention of other explorers. When the 
plants in these regions have resisted the frequently destruc- 
tive night frosts they show a degree of development which 
greatly surpasses that of plants in more southern regions, 
where the climatic conditions are more advantageous. 
This rich development appears principally in the fresh and 
clear colours of the flowers, in their strong perfume, in the 
rapid development of the leaves on the trees, and their 
scent, but particularly in the rich harvest which diffe- 
rent seeds—such as rye, oats and barley—will produce 
when, as before stated, they are not destroyed by the 
frosts. From a bushel of rye sown they will often produce 
B 
