14. ELECTRICITY IN AGRICULTURE 
1888 was exceptionally bad, and fatal to the experiments 
on a number of plants, because the field on which they 
were carried out was not suitable in many cases. It has, 
therefore, been necessary to exclude a number of doubtful 
results ; but for further details we must refer to a more 
complete publication, “Expériences sur l’Influence de l’Elec- 
tricité sur les Végétaux.”* Here we give only the results 
which were certain and of consequence for our purpose. 
The plants which were objects of suitable experiments 
were :— 
In the garden: Raspberries, peas, onions, carrots and cabbage. 
In the field: Wheat, oats, maize, red beets and white beets. 
The results gave an augmentation in the following pro- 
portions :-— 
WiKGd tric. cuea aa ete An eas eel about 21°2 per cent. 
Oats: | sacs den cidade aon cipianedenlvannen icles » 18°64, 
IMAI ZO: sesoecercentsi coe skate aiislacalieeis Gansbeusrn i Be ys 
Raspberries “igo. slates yersies con alasistoateos 5 423 gy 
Red beets ..... idertdtet alan igeada steeyshlaeteuhstos 3 16" 5; 
AVEAS”  cisctidisd sea sac east dnlanteibeedvocmmaenea i 4 TSO a5 
BEANS! sus cacusstonionerennnstenanyeosmares » 304 4» 
Among the plants treated were strawberries, which we 
must consider separately, because the experiments on them 
were most instructive. On the experimental field were 315 
plants, and on the control field 392 plants. The experi- 
ments began April 18, 1888, and were continued day and: 
night. On the plants were, at the beginning, only leaves, 
but on April 29 appeared the first flowers on the experi- 
mental field,and eight days later on the control field. During 
this interval of 19 days there were four days of rain, and, as 
the machines are not effective under conditions of rain and 
moisture, the time of active action was reduced to 15 
days. The development of the flowers on the experimental 
field was, therefore, twice as rapid as on the control field, 
and the plants of the former field possessed an appearance 
of much greater activity than the latter. This state of things 
* See Note on page 12. 
