TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL YEATi- BOOK— PART II 63 



Electric farm lighting plants were well aisplayed in many tents and, 

 judging from the interest shown in them, they appeal very strongly to 

 the farmer and especially to his wife, who gave a lot of attention to the 

 accessories that were exhibited in connection with these plants. Thou- 

 sands of women cast longing eyes at washing machines, irons, mangles, 

 vacuum cleaners, etc., that were run by motors operated by electric cur- 

 rent produced by these farm lighting plants. Most electric plants, if 

 used for operating pumps, washing machines, grinders and other ma- 

 chines, actually furnish all the light needed on the farm as a by-product. 

 Different sized plants were exhibited by half a dozen or more manufac- 

 turers, some of which were capable of developing considerable power. 



Several makes of milking machines, which, by the way, are being 

 improved and simplified from year to year, were shown and attracted a 

 great deal of attention from farmers. Mechanical milkers are making a 

 stronger appeal to farmers as help becomes scarcer. Perhaps no labor- 

 saving machines are selling better at this time than mechanical milkers. 

 They rob dairying of one of the most laborious and least-liked tasks con- 

 nected with the industry — milking by hand. Those who have used me- 

 chanical milkers for a year or so, especially in recent years, often de- 

 clare that they would give up dairying if they had to go back to hand 

 milking, which is about as good a recommendation as a manufacturer 

 could ask for a machine of that sort. Up-to-date barn equipment — stalls, 

 stanchions, feed troughs, manure and feed carriers, ventilating outfits, 

 etc., were much in evidence and received a great deal of attention from 

 farmer visitors. 



The usual line of farm machinery, including tractor implements, was 

 in evidence. Silos built of different materials, silage cutters, silage dis- 

 tributors and other machinery used in connection with silos were well 

 displayed, as were also manure spreaders, straw spreaders, threshing 

 outfits and all kinds of harvesting machinery. The whole machinery 

 display emphasized the great progress agriculture has made in the last 

 quarter of a century due to improved machinery. It reminded one of 

 the gloomy pictures many so-called economists often paint when quoting 

 figures to show that rural population is not increasing so rapidly as city 

 population. They often view with great alarm the fact that in some 

 rural sections the number of persons has actually decreased while a 

 great increase in city population has been made in the same territory. 

 It seems strange to us that these economists forget to call attention to 

 the fact that in spite of the great discrepancy in the increase in city 

 as compared with rural population, total agricultural production is in- 

 creasing from year to year. No one need have any fears about the 

 people in this country going hungry for lack of food production during 

 the next 50 or 75 years so long as prices of farm products remain profit- 

 able to the producers, for much of our land can easily be made to yield 

 50 per cent more than it now produces and a great deal of land which 

 now practically produces nothing can be made to yield big crops. 



Self-feeders for hogs, poultry, etc., were much in evidence, as were 

 other labor-saving devices used for both these classes of stock nowadays. 

 Collapsible hog houses that can be shipped in manufactured form direct 



