338 
AGRICULTURE IN SCOTLAND'. 
2lgriatlture in Scoilanb.—No. 13. 
Electro-culture. —As I gave you in one of my 
former letters some information on the subject of 
electro-culture, I deem it right to furnish you some 
further results, both of my own observation and the 
experience of others—You may remember, that 1 
did not then evince any very strong conviction, as to 
the reality of the revolution in cultivation which was 
expected; and if I had ever believed in it, facts 
brought forward during the past season would have 
shaken my confidence. 
Many trials with wires, upon Dr. Forster's plan, 
have been made in this vicinity, and, so far as I have 
heard, with uniform ill-success. Mr. Coventry, a 
gentleman of this city, who embarked most enthu¬ 
siastically with the electro-culturists, early in the 
season, has lately come out with a long letter con¬ 
demning the whole thing. Mr. Gordon, of Knoch- 
espoch, on the other hand, has offered, through the 
Highland Society, a prize of £30 for the best series 
of experiments on the subject, to be reported before 
November, 1846. A farmer perfectly well qualified 
for such a task, tells me that he intends making 
extensive researches in consequence of this offer; but 
it is with the expectation of proving the whole thing 
a humbug, as he has very little faith in the success 
of his trials. 
During a tour in England, through Lincoln and 
Norfolk, a few weeks since, we heard something of 
electricity, and on the farm of Mr. Blyth, one of the 
best that we visited in Norfolk, we spied some wires 
set up in a barley field, but were unable to discover 
any difference in the crop over or around which they 
passed. We charged Mr. Blyth with dabbling in 
electro-culture ; he seemed rather ashamed of it, but 
said that his limited experience had driven away any 
glowing anticipations, in which he might have been 
inclined to indulge. He thought, however, that a 
little effect ims produced by an experiment in his 
garden. On repairing thither, we found a wire put 
up over a bed of onions, and certainly a few rows in 
the middle of the bed, near the wire, were better 
than the others; but in the course of our investiga¬ 
tions we happened to look at the next bed, where, 
behold, we found the middle roivs also best, fully as 
good as those that were electrified. Such was the 
result of our personal observations, and we heard 
many such stories from others. 
I mentioned in my former letter, the experiments 
of Dr. Forster, of Findrassie House, near Elgin, who 
is the great advocate of electro-culture, and whose 
results of last year were so wonderful. With res¬ 
pect to these results the Elgin people do tell some 
queer stories; but as a prophet is never honored in 
his own country, I will not repeat them. In their 
place, however, I will give you the experience of a 
credible witness who has seen his this year’s opera¬ 
tions. 
It was in a letter published in the Caledonian Mer¬ 
cury of the 7th instant, from Mr. Cowie, of Haul- 
kerton, Maine, who visited the northern counties 
expressly to see the modus operandi and results of Dr. 
Forster’s experiments. I transfer an extract in his 
own words, he says : 
“ l was accompanied on the occasion by two crack 
practical farmers. We drove our vehicle to the sta¬ 
bles of Findrassie, where we intended to put up our 
horse for a short time. While I was engaged in 
searching for Dr. Forster, who, however, had left 
home, my friends got into conversation with a very 
communicative lad, a servant on the farm, respecting 
the experiments on electricity. The man seemed 
rather astonished that we had come to see what was 
thought nothing of in the neighborh tod. On being 
asked if the crops were better where the poles and 
wires were placed than on the rest o: the field, he 
answered—* Weel, the crop sud be better, consider¬ 
ing the additional pickle-dung it got beside the wires, 
but that he could not say there was really any dif¬ 
ference observable.’ After this expose our expecta¬ 
tions were very moderate ; but we determined to have 
ocular demonstration on the subject, notwithstanding 
the absence and want of permission of the lord of the 
manor, whose public announcements have, however, 
laid that portion of his grounds under experiment, in 
some measure open to public exhibition. The poks 
and wires are placed in two very small fields, one of 
which is in pasture, and the other a crop of barley. 
The first had not a living animal upon it, and hu¬ 
mane and considerate it certainly was, for the total 
want of anything in the shape of grass beyond the 
roots, would have starved any hill ewe—nibble she 
ever so eagerly. The devoted field, instead of being 
electrified, seemed to be paralysed, and will to all 
appearance require some more ‘ pickles of additional 
dung’ to revive its sensibilities after the shock it has 
sustained. Then as to the barley, it seems neither to 
have suffered nor to have been ameliorated by the 
magic wires, for no perceptible difference can be seen 
over the field. The crop, what with electricity, 
‘ the additional pickle dung,’ and all, looks at less 
than four quarters per acre. It is perhaps premature, 
so long before the in-gathering of the crop, to con¬ 
demn the experiments at Findrassie. As far as I 
have seen and learned on the subject—for simila? 
experiments have been tried and failed in this quarter 
—I cannot, however, reserve myself until after har¬ 
vest in denouncing the thing as a hoax. Dr. Forster 
may have himself been deceived, and we must give 
him credit for good intentions in wishing to enlighten 
his brethren ; but he should either now acknowledge 
the failure of his experiments, or submit them to the 
inspection of some of those shrewd Morayshire farm¬ 
ers by whom he is surrounded.” 
No comment is necessary on the above, it is con¬ 
clusive as to those experiments at least. I think you 
will see that I was somewhat justified in the jocular 
tone of my first letter; I arm sure that most of the 
agriculturists and scientific men of this country would 
now join me. The general impression and belief 
undoubtedly is, that electro-culture is all fudge. I 
have endeavored to give you both sides impartially, 
and have reported the only favorable trial known, 
that has been conducted on a large scale. If our 
farmers can still make something out of it, it will 
give me great satisfaction. 1 will close with an ex¬ 
tract on the subject from one of the English agricul¬ 
tural papers. 
“ Royal Polytechnic Institution.—Dr. Bachboffner 
has delivered a lecture on electro-culture, or the ap¬ 
plication of electricity to agricultural purposes. We 
felt anxious to hear what the Professor would say 
in the matter, because from his peculiar position we 
have a right to expect from him a thorough know¬ 
ledge of the subject. The lecture opened with au 
