Country Life
ELECTRICITY AND PLANTS.
SOME queer and interesting byways of production from the land have been explored recrzntly by the Intelligence officers of the Ministry of Agriculture. Numbers of people in most countries have been experimenting with the effect of elec- tricity on plants ; and at last some real knowledge has been reached by English research students. It maj now be taken as tolerably certain that a high-tension electrical discharge, though it may have little effect on growth, has a proved effect on flower and fruit formation. It promotes reproduc- tion in a notable degree. Another discovered fact is that the discharge exercises most influence in the early months of the year. It is en rapport with the spring. Some field experi- ments (now temporarily given up for pot experiments) suggest that a cereal crop may yield 20 per cent. more if treated in the early months by certain electrical discharges. Of course, there are a thousand complications. The nature of the soil, the manuring, the weather may all fight with or against the elec- trical influence, and we are a long way yet from knowing whether electricity can be used economically ; but the exten- sion of such knowledge must mean real advance in the sequel.
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