"•ti,
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OF
GARDEHj
VOL. LXV
INDIANAPOLIS, AUGUST 6, 1910.
NO. 82
ELECTRICITY AND AGRICULTURE.
HARNESSING    UP CHEAP    POWER
FOR  THE FARM  WORK  AND
LIGHT.
Last of all the great industries to feel
the stimulating influence of electric
power is the world-old industry of
farming.
Farming was the flrst great industry,
born long before the first obsidian chisel carved a record of man in the hard,
volcanic rock. The crude tools of these
lirst agriculturists, with slight improvement served their purpose until this
very day. Indeed, they are still used
in the primitive parts of Europe and
Asia. Time ls well within the memory
of man when the first marked improvement in farm machinery was made and
the mowing machine and reaper were
invented. These great inventions showed the possibilities for improving farm
work and other great improvements
were thought out, commercialized and
inaugurated, such as the hay-fork, the
cream separator, the power churn, the
small feed choppers, ensilage cutters
and a dozen and one other inventions
from the milking machine to automatic
pumps.
Scarcity of farm labor hurried the
invention of farm machinery but the
installation of this machinery called
for some form of safe and reliable
power. In answer to this call came
the giant, Electricity, who knows no
fatigue, no task too small, no labor too
large for its copper-muscled, Iron-boned arms.
Farms there are in this great country
boasting of suitable water-power which
has been harnessed and changed to
electrical energy to drive all the farm
machinery and to light the home and
farm buildings. But by far the greater
portion of the farms in this fair land
cannot draw upon the resources of nature for power and light and must resort to such subterfuges as man has
developed with his nimble brain and
cunning hands.
It was a very easy task to demonstrate that the powerful electric motors could be built in all sizes from a
little fellow, the size of a large apple,
to whirl a tiny fan in the farm house
kitchen, to a twenty-five horse-power
machine large enough to saw the wood,
cut the ensilage, do the threshing and
all the other hard work about the
premises. But for years the farmers
could not obtain a reliable source of
electricity. Those near enough to the
electric transmission lines of railroads
and lighting companies purchased an
adequate and reliable supply of electrical energy, but those remote from
such circuits had to resort to steam
engines or gas engine driven dynamos.
The New Power Generator.
It was the United States government
which first demanded a compact form
of engine driven generator for their
fortification use and accordingly a type
of gasoline engine of the best design
directly connected on the same frame
and shaft with a high power light
■weight electric generator was made.
This machine takes up little floor
space, runs even and continuously with
Practically no attention and makes little noise. A few years later it developed that this same type of generating
was easily adapted to supplying isolated country homes and farms with a reliable source of electricity in any quantity desired.
In these days of cement construction
it is easy enough to build a small con-
which continues to pump uptil the water is raised again to the top of the
tank when the float shuts down the
motor. X large twenty-five horsepower motor is mounted on a truck
and   wheeled all about the farm to do the
Electric Outfit   for a Kitchen.
crete power house where the gasoline
electric engine can be conveniently located. This tiny power house contains
besides the generating set, the little
switchboard for conducting the current
to the various parts of the farm buildings. One line sends the current to
the lighting circuit which provides an
abundant supply of electric lights for
the house .yards, barns and all the out
buildings. Another switch sends the
current to the main barn where It unloads the hay and grinds the feed. Another controls the dairy circuit.
The electric current is carried from
the power house on insulated copper
wires to the various buildings. This
wire is heavily protected and at every
contact is further Insulated with porcelain tubes making it absolutely safe.
Farm Where it is Tested.
In one large farm in northern New
York, nearly twenty large motors are
used to do the work about the farm.
One little motor automatically pumps
water into a high tank or use about
the house and barns and for fire protection. A suitable float controls the
motor circuit. When the water drops
to a certain level it starts  the motor
heavy work, being taken to the fields
to do the threshing. A reel of insulated wire is laid along the ground to
supply the necessary current.
The vacuum milking machines make
milking easy but they require a steady
supply of power to drive the vacuum
pump. Such power is only furnished
by the electric motor which is ready
and willing to do the work at a pres
sure of a finger and stops as readily
when the milking is done.
What It Cossts.
Gasoline engine driven generating
sets, mounted compactly on the same
frame, driven by the same shaft, and
supplying a steady and reliable flow of
electricity, cost from $900 to $1,200
plus the small cost of installation. The
engines give from four to seven horsepower of electricity and can be had in
larger sizes if desired. A four horsepower machine will give ample electricity to light the entire home and all
the barn buildings. It will supply
power enough to do the work of one
hired man about the place. Will cut
all the wood, pump all the water, milk
the cows, separate the cream and churn
the    butter,    grind    the feed for    the
stock, turn the grindstone, unload
and store the hay and do a hundred
and one other things about the place
from freezing ice cream to driving the
lathe and circle-saw in the repair shed.
These gasoline outfits are cranked
like an automobile and once started require practically no attention as they
are self-oiling, self-regulating and run
noiselessly, easily and without balking.
The four, or more, cylinders give a
perfectly uniform source of power, insuring steady lights for the home—
lights without flicker.
The cost of running these machines
is.nominal, the greater cost being for
fuel, which will not exceed 50 cents per
day and the cost for lubricating oil is
very slight.
Advantages of Electric Power.
The advantages of electric power on
the farm over all other forms of energy
is summed up in the single statement
that electric power can be had where
it is wanted in any quantity desired
whether it be a tenth of a horse-power
in one corner of the hay loft or thirty
horse-power in the granary. This
power is so flexible that it can be installed in any old place where a wire
can be carried. The motors can be fastened to the floor or the ceiling or
against the side walls with equal facility, and they will run just as well in
one place as another.
Electric motors do not wear out as
they have no wearing parts except the
journals which are easily and cheaply
replaced. With ordinary care they will
last a lifetime and they will withstand
more at use than any other engine in
the world. A motor has been known
to survive a small fire and still run.
One recently continued to run a pump
although it was totally submerged,
pumping itself free of water. Still
another ran for years almost buried
in cement. They do not spark, being
fire proof, and run well under all conditions being capable of a thirty per
cent overload  for a considerable  time.
The value of electric lights needs no
words of commendation and praise.
Anyone who has noted the ease of control and the brilliant light which
gushes forth at the pressure of a finger
knows'the value and worth of electric
lights. With the new inventions in
electric lighting the lamps take only a
third of the former current and give a
vastly better light which is nearly akin
tb actual sunlight.
BIRDS SAVE PLANT LIFE.
Men of science are generally agreed
that birds are nature's great check on
the excess of insects, and that they
maintain the balance between plant
and insect life. Ten thousand caterpillars, it has been estimated, could
destroy every blade of grass on an acre
of cultivated land. The insect population of a single cherry tree infested
with aphides has been estimated by a
prominent entomologist at no less than
twelve million. The bird population
of cultivated country districts has been
estimated at from seven hundred to
one thousand a square mile. This is
small, compared with the number of
insects, yet, as each bird consumes
hundreds of insects every day the latter are prevented from becoming the
scourge they would be but for their
feathered enemies.