The impossibility of securing a sufficient number of capable and
satisfactory farm hands in these days, when the majority of young men
are turning to the populous centers for their livelihood, is perhaps
the most compelling reason why machines which can be substituted for
manual labor are a decided advantage to the up-to-date farmer. Their
adoption as a part of the permanent equipment for the farm should
render their owner comparatively independent of some of the problems of
supply and demand for farm labor, the solution of which problems is
an important factor in determining the success or failure of the
farmer who disposes of his produce in open market. This condition is
supplemented by a commendable tendency for farmers to live better, to
place the home life of the farm on a higher plane, and to make farming
a means of pleasurable livelihood rather than the mere eking out of
a bare subsistence from the products of the soil. These conditions,
together with the greatly improved quality of illumination and
convenience which electricity affords, are creating a growing demand
for a reliable and reasonably economical source of energy with which to
supply both light and power on the larger estates and farms.
[Illustration: Motor Lifting a Ton of Hay, Hydro-electric Power]
[Illustration: Electric Toaster]
That electric light is much cleaner and more convenient than kerosene
lamps must, of course, be admitted by all. It must also be admitted
that a kerosene lamp of any considerable illuminating power has also
certain heating propensities which render it an unpleasant companion
on a warm summer evening. However, when it comes to a consideration
of mere dollars and cents, there seems to be a widespread belief that
kerosene as a source of illumination is cheaper than electricity.
Statements to this effect are too often allowed to go uncontradicted,
and too many people accept this view without taking the trouble to
investigate.
It is a comparatively simple matter to compare the cost of the two
kinds of light, knowing as we do exactly how much current an electric
lamp of a certain filament and candle-power will consume. Such a
comparison will frequently result in a choice of electricity as the
cheaper light. In many cases the selection of electricity to supplant
kerosene lamps would result in no considerable saving of money, but
would do away with considerable inconvenience and furnish much better
illumination. If cost is the controlling consideration, the comparison
cannot always be so much in favor of electricity. An important
consideration, often overlooked, is that with electric lights the
interiors of living rooms do not require such frequent repapering or
refinishing as they would require with kerosene illumination.
[Illustration: Motor-driven Sewing Machine]
However, the convenience and cleanliness of electricity are fairly well
known and appreciated, but the means by which electric currents may be
generated economically, and by which this form of energy may be applied
to bring about sufficient returns, financial and otherwise, to warrant
the installation of an isolated plant for a farm or country home, are
not so generally understood.
Electric current may be generated by means of a dynamo, or generator,
with any kind of a power-producing plant. All that the dynamo requires
to enable it to produce electric current is power of some kind that
may be applied in such manner and quantity as will cause the armature,
or “interior core,” of the machine to rotate at a sufficiently high
and uniform rate of speed. There are various kinds of power generators
which will perform this work satisfactorily for isolated plants. Within
the last few years the small internal combustion engine, supplemented
by the electric storage battery, for stationary service, have been so
much improved and simplified as to cause them to compare very favorably
with the better-known types of power-producing apparatus in first cost
and in reliability of operation. The extreme simplicity of both this
type of engine and of the storage battery, together with the great
economy in fuel consumption of these engines, the low price of fuel,
and the efficiency of the battery as a device for storing the energy
and delivering it in the form of electric current when needed and in
the quantity required, result in a low operating cost. The advent of
tax-free alcohol into the field of available fuels for use in internal
combustion engines, and the growing demand for this class of fuel,
indicate that it will become, in time, a strong competitor of kerosene
and gasolene. At present, gasolene is the fuel most generally used for
engines of this type and small-size gas engines are now manufactured by
many firms.
Steam power is probably the best understood of all classes of power. In
many cases, especially where the fuel is very cheap, this is the best
power for a farmer to have. Steam-power plants, as well as gasolene,
kerosene and alcohol plants, all require personal attendance during
operation and necessitate more or less frequent applications of fuel.
Wind power is also a source of energy which may well be considered by
the farmer who needs a small amount of power.
Perhaps the most promising source of power for farmers in New York
State is the power that may be developed from falling water. This kind
of a power plant requires comparatively little personal attention
while in operation, and needs no replenishing of fuel except such as
Nature herself provides in the flowing brook. Not only are there many
of these powers that are undeveloped as yet, but there are many others
which have been developed at some previous time and have recently been
allowed to fall into disuse for various reasons. Many old sawmills were
abandoned when the surrounding hills were all lumbered off. A small
investment would enable many such old powers to be revived and applied
to some useful purpose. Such a water-power plant could frequently be
made to serve the owner or a group of users of electric current at very
small first cost for each individual, and at an operating cost which
would be inconsiderable.
It should be borne in mind, however, that much depends on the choice of
the best power for any particular purpose, and a careful consideration
of what is needed, and the conditions under which the power must be
supplied, is essential to insure satisfaction with a power plant.
In any particular instance a manufacturer of small waterwheels will
cheerfully submit an estimate for a water-power plant, while the
makers of steam and gasolene engines will quite as readily furnish any
information to be based on data furnished by the intending purchaser.
[Illustration: Motor-driven Ice Cream Freezer]
The extent of the applications of power to practical purposes on the
farm is very broad. While perhaps electric lighting is the use most
frequently thought of, it is, however, in the application of electric
current or power to the operation of labor-saving devices that the
greatest gain is to be derived on the large farm or country place. Feed
grinders, root cutters, fodder cutters, fanning mills, grindstones,
circular saws, corn shellers, drill presses, ensilage cutters and
elevators, horse clippers, milking machines, grain separators,
threshing machines, cream separators, churns, vacuum cleaners,
ice cream freezers, dough mixers, feed mixers, chicken hatchers,
and numerous other machines and implements operated by power, are
obtainable in these days of labor-saving devices. The amount of power
required to operate many of these is small. The presence of a plant of
sufficient capacity to operate one or two particular machines often
makes it possible to use the power for many of the other purposes.
The amount of work that a small power will do may be judged from the
following brief statements of what is actually being done:
[Illustration: Motor-driven Cream Separator