THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



219 



plants in a very astonishing degree, but we find 

 in the New York Farmer and Mechanic a com- 

 munication from Mr. William Ross, in which 

 he gives an account of the most practical appli- 

 cation we have ever seen. The following is his 

 statement : 



" I had potatoes planted on the 6th of May, 

 and as a first experiment with Mr. Bain's dis- 

 covery, I procured a,sheet of sheathing copper, 

 which is about five feet long and fourteen inches 

 wide, and cut a piece of sheet zinc the same 

 size as the sheet of copper. 



w 



Surface of ground. 

 1 00 feet. y 



c, in the above diagram, represents the sheet of 

 copper buried in the ground at one end of the 

 rows, and z the sheet of zinc buried at the other 

 end of the rows, and w is a copper wire which 

 is attached to both the copper and zinc. The 

 result of this arrangement is, that the two me- 

 tals form a galvanic battery, being in metallic 

 connexion by means of the wire w, and the 

 moisture of the soil completing the galvanic cir- 

 cuit, which last is necessary before any chemical 

 action takes place. The potatoes were planted 

 in drills, but as the copper was only five feet 

 long, only three rows could be influenced by it. 

 The potatoes were only once hoed, and from 

 circumstances never earthed up. On the 15th 

 of June some potatoes were taken by the fingers 

 from these rows, varying from one inch to one 

 and a quarter in diameter; and those exhibited 

 at the New York Farmers' Club, July 2d, were 

 about two and a half inches in diameter, and 

 were dug from the same three rows. Some of 

 the adjoining rows were tried, but few of them 

 had potatoes larger than marrowfat peas — cer- 

 tainly none larger than a boy's marble." 



From a subsequent communication of Mr. 

 Ross we make the following extracts : 



"For experiment, the writer would suggest 

 that at one end of several rows, in a tolerably 

 long field, a plate or sheet of common thin 

 sheathing copper be placed on its edge, just so 

 deep as that the upper edge may be within one 

 or two inches of the surface of the ground — and 

 at the other end of the same rows, a sheet of 

 zinc of the same size, placed in a similar man- 

 ner. Connect them together by a copper wire, 

 the shorter the better, and take care that the 

 wire and sheets are in perfect contact when the 

 battery is complete. As soon as the copper and 



zinc are moistened by the damp soil, action will 

 commence by the decomposition of the moisture 

 in the soil — the oxygen combining with the 

 zinc, and the hydrogen travelling through the 

 soil to the copper surface, where, unless taken 

 up by the plants, it escapes into the air. Part 

 of the alkaline water in the soil dissolves the 

 oxide formed on the zinc plate, and the action 

 continues till the zinc is all dissolved. Neither 

 the copper sheet or wire is acted upon by the 

 oxygen — consequently they do not waste, and 

 the whole expense will be every year or two for 

 a new sheet of zinc to replace the one worn out. 

 The wire will not require to be insulated, and 

 may lay on the surface of the ground, or be at- 

 tached to a fence. 



" Whatever metals are adopted for forming 

 the battery, it is essential, or in fact indispensa- 

 ble, that the} 7 be in metallic contact — otherwise, 

 the electricity will not be set in motion. The 

 usual method of doing this is by connecting 

 them with a wire or strip of metal, for which 

 use copper is by far the best, owing to its excel- 

 lence as a conductor, in addition to its great 

 flexibility. It is not enough that a hole be made 

 in the plates, and the wire passed through them, 

 but the parts of the wire, as well as the plates 

 which come in contact, must be cleaned by 

 scouring or otherwise, so that all rust be removed 

 from them to the clear metal. The wires may 

 then be soldered to the plates, or passed through 

 holes, and firmly twisted together, so as to press 

 the plates with some force: the parts so in close 

 contact will remain clear as long as the battery 

 is in action. 



"Mr. Bain has found that when the plates 

 are near together, their action is much more 

 feeble than when they are far apart. This to 

 the farmer is of great advantage in every way, 

 both in labor of putting it down, and in the eco- 

 nornv of materials." 



SALTPETRE ON SEEDS AND PLASTER ON 

 FLOWERS. 



Hart Mussy, Esq., of this village, took a 

 small portion of the corn with which he planted 

 a field, and soaked it in a solution of salts of 

 nitre, commonly called saltpetre, and planted five 

 rows with the seed thus prepared. Now for the 

 result: The five rows planted with corn prepared 

 with saltpetre, yielded more than twenty-five 

 rows planted without any preparation. The 

 five rows were untouched by the worms, while 

 the remainder of the field suffered severely by 

 their depredations. We should judge that not 

 one grain saturated with saltpetre was touched, 

 while almost every hill in the adjoining row suf- 

 fered severely. No one who will examine the 

 field can doubt the efficacy of the preparation, 

 He will be astonished at the striking difference 



