ELECTROCUTING SOIL PESTS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 24, Issue 16, 28 February 1913, Page 7

ELECTROCUTING SOIL PESTS.

Currents of electricity serve to stimulate the rapid germination of seeds in the soil, and it lias imw been discovered that the current uj.-o has the effect of destroying i.ijcc a in'the soil. Experiments i erg made to discover now far ih;,agency can he used to abate in -;ur. pests in Southern Eur ipo. ' With ;..t object of destroying a beetle th. t greatly damages tender plants in ibe neighbourhood of Odessa, an electrician has mounted a dynamo in a cart and arranged the cinut so that the current reaches the earth through Lie metal wheels on one side and on tbs other through copper-tipped brushes placed in the rear a few inches above the soil. All insects near the brusht.-; are instantly killed, as if by lightning. A fly infesting the olive tree has received the attention of Dr. Rapare, and he has devised an arrangement generating sparks between a metal panel and the leaves of the tree.