WIND POWER. 1 



By James Carlill. 



There used to be windmills; why have they gone? Those who 

 watched their gradual disappearance probably looked upon it as a 

 sign that the age of steam had superseded the age of wind. But 

 the explanation is inadequate. There were a great many factors 

 involved in the decay of the old windmills. They were, in the first 

 place, costly to build, involving the erection of a lofty tower stand- 

 ing on a considerable area of land; then they were difficult to 

 manage, the process of reefing in bad weather being attended with 

 many accidents and not seldom with loss of life; again, they were 

 uneconomical in working, utilizing but a small fraction of the avail- 

 able wind energy ; they were seldom erected in the most favorable 

 positions, and were most numerous in those parts of the country 

 in which our wind power is least exhibited. But the most potent 

 cause of the decay was a growing preference on the part of the 

 public for a white loaf made of blended flour; this it was which 

 finally gave an overwhelming advantage to the steam mills situate 

 near the ports of entry for foreign grain. 



Still, the windmill never quite ceased to exist; it continued to 

 do pumping work in the Cornish mines and in the Lincolnshire 

 fens; and its great utility as a pumping agent led to its revival in 

 an altered form for this particular purpose. Small mills on steel 

 frames, of what is known as the American type, began to appear 

 in our nursery gardens, in private estates, in farmsteads, and even 

 in public undertakings, until, at the present day, there are more 

 windmills working in England than there were 60 years ago. No 

 doubt their use for public water works would have been more exten- 

 sive but for the regulation of the local government board which 

 practically forbade district councils to use them unless accompanied 

 by auxiliary steam power. The regulation seems a little difficult 

 to justify, except on the principle that it is better to have no water 

 at all rather than to have it for six days out of seven. Those 

 councils who have complied with the stipulation of the board have 

 usually found that the auxiliary plant has not been required. 



Two instances will suffice to show the very substantial nature of 

 the work accomplished by these pumping engines. One windmill, 



1 Reprinted by permission from The Edinburgh Review, October, 191S. 



147 



