THE COTTAGE GABDENER. 
March 11. 
3(5 I: 
husbandman's watering of them 1 »y his spirit, they will grow 
and blossom, and bear much good fruit here and for ever— 
Fruits of Faith, Love, Joy, Peace, and other fruits of the 
spirit.” 
We have space hut for one extract:—“ The husbandman 
is careful to engraft his trees while they are young. So God 
calls his people (for the most part) in youth. How seldom 
has it been seen that an old person turns to God, having 
served Satan and his lusts all his youth. They being old en¬ 
grafted trees, growing upon the stock of corrupt nature, its 
a thousand to one but they shall grow there, until the 
axe be laid unto their roots to cut them down, and they 
be cast into the fire, not to be consumed, but to burn for 
ever.” 
In 1817, a reprint of this most excellent volume was pub¬ 
lished by Mr. Pamplin. 
The following letter from A Window-Gardener, has 
revived from our memory the almost-forgotten subject 
of the influence of Electricity on Vegetation :— 
“ I have a small propagation-box, in which I propagate 
geraniums, &c.; it is about two feet long, one foot wide, 
and six inches deep. It is covered with a glass shade, 
which rises about fifteen inches above the box which con¬ 
tains the soil. The glass shade is not fastened to the 
bottom box, but merely set on it, and can be lifted off at 
pleasure; there is also a door at the side of the shade, 
which can be opened to admit air, and pick off dead leaves, 
Ac. As I am “ a window-gardener,” of course it stands in 
one of my windows fronting the south. Last autumn, near 
the end of September, I filled the box with cuttings of gera¬ 
niums, verbenas, &c. About a fortnight since, my young 
plants or cuttings looking very sickly, and having by me one 
of Pulvermachcr's Ihjdro-dcctric Chains, I thought I would 
try them with a dose of electricity ; for if it is good for re¬ 
viving and invigorating the animal system, why not the vege¬ 
table? Accordingly, I inserted a piece of copper wire, about 
three inches long, into the centre of each end of the box, 
letting the wire go about an inch-and-a half into the soil, 
from which I suspended the chain by its hooks, letting it 
pass freely under the box, without coming in contact with 
anything. I passed the chain three times a-day through 
vinegar, as recommended for curative purposes; so when 
the chain is suspended from the wires in the ends of the 
box, there is a constant stream of electricity passing through 
the soil. Before a week was at an end, I marked a great 
change in the appearance of my plants; they turned to a fine 
healthy green, and had grown perceptibly. I also tried the 
eelctricity to plants in pots, with the same beneficial effect. 
Do you think it is the current of electricity constantly circu¬ 
lating through the soil, or is it the increasing length of 
the days and more sunshine which have caused the plants 
to grow, and has given them a fine healthy colour ? A few 
years since, 1 remember seeing in some agricultural pub¬ 
lications a great deal about applying electricity .artificially to 
crops by various means, but haring heard or seen nothing 
about it this long time, I thought it had all turned out a 
fallacy. I should like very much to hear your opinion on 
the subject in Tiie Cottage Gardener.” 
As our correspondent did not have one pot of cuttings 
non-electriiied, to compare with those subjected to such 
treatment, it is quite impossible to draw any more decisive 
conclusion from the experiment, than that the cuttings 
were not injured by the electricity. Our own opinion 
is, that the germination of seed, and the vigour of 
plants, is promoted by subjecting them to positive 
electricity; but the evidence, at present, is too conflict¬ 
ing for any one to be justified in forming a positive 
conclusion. It is a very interesting research, and we 
wish that some of our readers would undertake a series 
j of experiments on the 
Che application of atmospheric electricity to the roots 
of crops, alluded to by our correspondent, was one of 
the bubbles of .1845. 
The following was the plan upon which it was arranged 
j on a quarter-of-an-acre of ground:— 
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55 yards. 
Wooden Pin. 
The mode in which the plot was laid out is as follows :— 
With a mariner’s compass and measured lengths of common 
string, lay out the places for the wooden pins, to which the 
hurled wire is attached (by passing through a small staple). 
Care must be taken to lay the length of the buried wire due 
north and south by compass, and the breadth due east and 
west. This wire must he placed from two to three inches deep 
in the soil. The lines of the buried wire are then completed. 
The suspended wire must be attached, and in contact with 
the buried wires at both of its ends. A wooden pin, with a 
staple, must therefore be driven in at A, and the two poles 
(one 14 feet and the other 15 feet), being placed by the 
compass due north and south, the wire is placed over them, 
and fastened to the wooden stake, but touching likewise, at 
this point, the buried wire. The suspended wire must not 
be drawn too tight, otherwise the wind will break it. 
Many stories were told of the increased produce obtained 
by Dr. Forster and others, but in every instance where such 
increase seemed to have arisen, beyond all doubt there was 
some mistake or some fallacy. Guano had been sown within 
the magic square by some friend in the night, as we have 
heard being done in one instance. 
The free electricity of the air is conducted in sufficient 
quantities by other conductors than the rods and wires in 
question; and that this is the case is now demonstrated by 
every well-regulated experiment which has come within our 
knowledge. Electro-culture, our readers may be assured, is 
a misnomer and a fallacy. That the galvanic or electrical 
fluid may be excited and applied with advantage to plants 
under certain circumstances, is another matter, but even this 
requires more evidence before it can be considered an horti¬ 
cultural agent. 
FOBSYTH MSS. 
Next in alphabetical order occur the letters of Dr. 
James Anderson, for a biography of whom we refer our 
readers to our 105th number. As we said then— 
There are very few characters adorning the history of the 
present century from the contemplation of which we derive 
so much satisfaction. From boyhood to old age he was 
always in advance of his contemporaries, and as invariably 
did he rise to meet and to triumph over the adverse circum¬ 
stances that encumbered his progress. 
Of the periodical alluded to in the following letter we 
gave these particulars:— 
