ELECTRICITY ON A FARM

Horowhenua Chronicle, 25 July 1910, Page 2

ELECTRICITY ON A FARM

An cleo'tric installation which a progressive farmer in Illinois (U.S.A.) made about a year ago i.s described in " The Electrical World." The man i.s utilising a small stream which i.s through his property. By ■means of a waterwheel, having a. rapacity of 12 or 15 .horse-power, ho works a dynamo producing current enough fk> light his house and run a variety of farm machinery. Ho sruvs wood, operates a cream separator, and .shells his maize with electric motors.- He also has electric cooking vessels and electric flat-irons. On hot days, perhaps, he has electric fains running for the comfort of his family. -Many persons living in the country have considered the possibility of providing themselves with .similar facilities. Hitherto (says the ?!e\Y York Tribune) the favourite method of securing .electricity has been to generate it by means of a'windmill. Owing to the unequal force with which the wind blows, and to the. fart, that sometimes there is none at all, this source of power is highly unsatisfactory. A storage battery must be secured to supplement therest of the outfit, 'and the cost of such a plant i.s prao'tically prohibitory. A.s the Illinois farmer's stream gives him all the power he needs no system of storage has been necessary. When he wants current he turns on the water, and for twelve months the supply has been unfailing. Hero is an example worthy of imitation by men who have a little water jxwer of itheir own. Some <J«y it can hardly W doubted that electric tram companies will find it worth while to furinsli cunrwit Ito rural residents having homes near their traeks. ]» the meantime, remarks our American contemporary, any man a stream running through Ins ("in provide for him.solf without a heavy investment.