156 
BRITISH PLANTS. 
electricians of the day, and earnestly recommend our enquiring readers — friends t 
truthful science and improvement — to recur to experiment, and never to abandoj 
research. 
Of one point they may rest assured ; if electricity can in dry weather be made t 
operate upon the watery portions of the soil, it will decompose the manure or veg( 
table organic matter therein contained ; and if so, will as certainly add luxurianc 
and richness of tint to the verdure of all plants : what effects it may produce upoi 
the tintings of flowers we cannot conjecture, as authorities are absent; but so fa 
from economising manures, it will be found that by hastening their decompositioi 
electricity will require a more speedy supply to be given. 
As the subject assumes importance, in both farm and garden, it will be interests 
to consult the opinions of so judicious an observer of phenomena as Mr. Stephens 
author of “The Book of the Farm.” Writing upon weather and meteorology, h 
observes that the electrometer is an instrument of much greater utility than some o 
the instruments usually employed, “ because it indicates with a greater degree of 
delicacy the existence of free electricity in the air ; and as electricity cannot exist ii 
that state without producing some sort of action, it is satisfactory to have notice of it 
freedom.” The best instrument is the condensing electroscope, or that usual! 
called the gold-leaf electrometer ; its construction is easily ascertained by consulting 
any accredited hook on the science, or by inspection at the makers of philosophica 
apparatus. The indication by the strips of leaf-gold is unerring, and affords anothe 
evidence of the truth of our theory ; for if these strips diverge, merely by virtue o 
the electricity which is conveyed from the air by a pointed wire, that same powe 
may be attracted by another arrangement of wires. The great point being proved 
minutiae will form no serious difficulty. 
BRITISH PLANTS. 
There is, perhaps, no recreation more within the enjoyment of the multitude 
more replete with real and lasting pleasures, than the study of the wild flowers o 
our hedges. There is such a never-failing fund of variety, and so many remarkabl 
and interesting features and peculiarities to occupy attention, that those who onc< 
fairly embark in the work, are seldom at a loss for amusement — neither is it 
frivolous trifling of time, but an amusement teeming with instruction and refine* 
pleasure. To young gardeners, and amateur cultivators especially, it is a fund fron 
which a vast store of hints and ideas may be derived, that will prove of no littl 
importance to the successful direction of their operations. 
Highly, however, as we estimate the laudable desire to push enquiries into, an* 
form a close intimacy with, the indigenous floral productions of our country, we have 
at present, a further object in view than the mere recommendation to encourage i 
