Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1886 — Electricity and Plants. [ARTICLE]

Electricity and Plants.

An interesting experiment, showing the influence of electricity on the growth of roots, has been made in Germany by Prof. Hodefieiss. Plates of copper were thrust upright into the earth and connected by wires with similarly placed zinc plates about one hundred feet distant, an electric battery being thus formed, with the earth be tween the copper and zinc in the circuit. Both potatoes and beets planted between such plates gave an increased yield—beets 15 per cent., potatoes 25 per cent. —as compared with other parts of the same field. The plenisphone, an instrument that unites the tones of a violin, viola, 'cello, and double bass, is a recent invention of a Buffalo musician.