NOTES AND ABSTRACTS. 



127 



experiments. This apparatus consists of an iron rod tipped with an 

 unoxidizable point. It is driven into the ground among the crop which 

 it is designed to accelerate, its height above ground being in proportion 

 to the height of the crop. It must be 2 metres high for cereals, for 

 instance, and only 0m.80 for low plants such as strawberries and 

 spinach. Its diameter is in proportion to its height and varies between 

 2 and 5 millimetres. The length of rod below the surface of the soil 

 must depend on the vertical development of the root-system of the 

 plants to be treated. 



Theoretically the apparatus is efficacious over a space equal to a 

 circle drawn with the base of the rod as centre and a radius measured 

 by its height, but in practice it will be found better to plant the rods 

 closer to each other than this would necessitate. 



Its working is explained by the property of " points. " The electric 

 potential of the soil never being in equilibrium with the potential of 

 the atmosphere, there is in the neighbourhood of the points a constant 

 exchange of the two electricities which creates a sort of atmosphere of 

 storm. This produces a constant discharge, feeble it is true, but 

 sufficient to provoke the formation of ozone and to produce a series of 

 advantageous modifications in the composition of the air. At the 

 same time the electric current accumulates at the base of the rod and 

 decomposes the electricity from the molecules of the surrounding soil- 

 slowly if the soil is dry and therefore a bad conductor, more rapidly if 

 it is wet. 



Thanks to the action of the apparatus there is a slow decomposition 

 of the electric fluid without sparks — that is, without any violent effect 

 which could hurt the tissues of plants. The action of the rods will be 

 interfered with if they are surrounded with trees, shrubs, poles, &c. 

 taller than themselves, as these last will act also as lightning conduc- 

 tors and attract the atmospheric electricity to themselves. It is con- 

 sidered that this apparatus has a future before it. It has been proved to 

 be efficacious, it is cheaply installed, and costs nothing to keep up. 

 M. Basty himself conducted a series of experiments on a bit of poor 

 land to which no manure was added, and which he divided into two 

 parts. On one he planted a series of seeds, tubers, &c., with no pre- 

 liminary treatment, and the other was first electrified by his apparatus, 

 the current being a continuous one of an intensity of 4-10 amperes and 

 6 volts, the same crops being afterwards planted. 



As a result spinach, peas, strawberries, &c., were gathered on 

 May 15, on the electrified plot, while three weeks later no crops had yet 

 been gathered from the untreated ground. The proportion of yield 

 between the two plots was as 4-4^ to 1 in favour of the electrified 

 plot, and this last gave produce of a much higher quality. M. Basty 

 is preparing a work on the subject. — M. L. H. 



Embpyo-sac and embryo of Ang-iosperms, A new series of 



researches. By M. Treub {Ann. Jard. Bot. Buit., ser. ii. vol. ix. 

 Pt. i. pp. 1-17, 1911, with plates i.-v.). — This investigation deals 



