ELECTRICITY IN AGRICULTURE. By CLARENCE D. WARNER.


It is well known that currents of electricity exist in the atmosphere.
Clouds are charged and discharged. There is a constant change of
electricity from earth to air and from air to earth, the latter being
the great reservoir for all electricity. Hills, mountain peaks, trees,
high chimneys, spires, in fact all points elevated above the earth's
surface assist greatly in charging and discharging the atmosphere.
Again, if two iron rods are driven into the earth and connected by a
copper wire with an electrometer in the circuit, the instrument is
almost immediately affected, showing that currents of electricity are
running through the ground. Now, what is the function of these
atmospheric and ground electric currents? Many scientists are agreed
that certain forms of precipitation are due to electrical action; but
my observations have led me to believe conclusively that electricity
is a potent factor in the economy of nature, and has more to do with
the growth and development of plants than has hitherto been known.
Davy succeeded in the decomposition of the alkalies, potash and soda,
by means of electric currents. In our laboratories, water and ternary
compounds are rapidly decomposed by the battery, and we may reasonably
suppose that that which is effected in our laboratories by artificial
means takes place in the great laboratory of nature on a grander and
more extended scale.

Plant food is carried throughout the plant by means of the flow of
sap; these currents circulate through all the rootlets and center, as
it were, in the stalk, carrying their tiny burdens of various elements
and depositing them in their proper places. That this phenomenon of
circulation is due to electricity cannot be doubted. Most plants grow