268 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Do Not Keep Scrub Stock. It is always in 

 order to advise farmers and stockmen not to keep 

 inferior stock. It is well known that the cost of 

 feeding and care of scrub stock is fully equal to that 

 of the best grades, and it is always the poorest econ- 

 omy to keep such stock of any kind. A careful study 

 of market reports by farmers, orchardists or stock- 

 raisers will be found to yield valuable results if the 

 lessons there to be learned are put to proper use. Re- 

 cently sales of prime steers were made in Chicago at 

 $6.25 to $6.30 per hundred pounds for animals weigh- 

 ing from 1,400 to 1,700 pounds. This means 887.50 to 

 $107.10 for single animals, and must be convincing 

 evidence that good breeds of cattle properly fed and 

 handled give the farmer heavy profits. As a matter 

 of fact it costs but a trifle, if any, more to produce 

 stock bringing such prices than that which commands 

 but one-half or one-third as much in the market. 

 There is always room for such stock in all large mar- 

 kets, and a hundred animals of the best quality and 

 size can be more readily marketed anywhere than a 

 dozen scrubs. Irrigation farmers especially cannot 

 afford to keep anything but the best stock, and they 

 will always find that kind to be profitable. With the 

 reasonable prices at which shorthorns and other good 

 breeding stock can now be bought, little excuse is 

 left for the scrawny, ill-conditioned animals so often 

 seen on our farms and ranges. 



Fifty Chickens versus One Cow. An inter- 

 esting discussion has been going on regarding the 

 relative profit to be derived from a given number.of 

 chickens and a given number of cows. While one 

 fancier declares that fifteen hens are more valuable 

 than the average cow, a stout vaccine partisan swears 

 by the beard of the prophet that he can make more 

 money from one cow than any man can from 100 

 hens. The results of experiments made under vary- 

 ing conditions are now useful. One. farmer made a 

 test with fifty chickens and one cow, and gives the 

 result as follows: Value of milk sold from one cow, 

 $144.10; income from the fifty hens, mostly for eggs 

 sold, $150.81. The cost of keeping the cow was given 

 at $52, while the maintenance of the hens cost $50, 

 and it was estimated that the value of the manure 

 was equal for both. The farmer was greatly in favor 

 of the hens in the matter of lessened labor, of care 

 and attention, the cow requiring more time and far 

 less agreeable labor. Numerous other experiments 

 reported if summarized would probably result in fa- 

 vor of the hen if taken in the ratio of fifty to one. 

 The chief value of the controversy has been to show 

 that no dairy farmer should be without a fair ratio of 

 poultry, and no poultry raiser should fail in maintain- 

 ing a proper number of cows. For small, irrigated 

 farms intensively cultivated, nothing is better able to 

 contribute to the family needs than cows and poultry. 

 As many of each only should be kept, however, as may 

 receive the best care and attention, and pains should 

 be taken to have only those of best blood and lineage. 

 Right here is where the small, well watered and well 

 tilled land holding becomes so potent a factor in the 

 upbuilding of a higher and better civilization and 

 citizenship. Everything on such a farm must be of 

 the best; and the man who tills his few home acres as 

 a chemist uses his laboratory, to achieve the best re- 

 sults which skill and science can evoke, must neces- 

 sarily climb to loftier heights and take his family 

 with him, than he who plods on, in the fruitless en- 

 deavor to cover a large area with any approach to 

 scientific skill either in cultivation or management. 



CHEAP ELECTRICITY IN CALIFORNIA. 



THE plan of generating electric power by utilizing 

 natural water-courses is no longer an unproved 

 theory, yet the instances of its successful oper- 

 ation are not so numerous as to rob the accomplished 

 fact of its novelty. 



At Pacific Grove, California, a company has recently 

 been formed to convey power from the Little Sur 

 river to an electric railroad connecting Pacific Grove 

 and Monterey.and also to furnish heat, power and light 

 to the citizens of these towns at an expense less than 

 the cost of fuel where steam is used. 



In the projection of this plan a serious obstacle was 

 met with in the great expense of the fuel needed for 

 the production of the necessary steam. It was while 

 considering this fact and reviewing their calculations 

 that the idea was conceived of utilizing the waters of 

 the Little Sur, a stream some miles down the coast, 

 for the necessary power. The proposition of long- 

 distance transmission was no longer a question. The 

 electric works at Frankfort, where an electric current 

 has been transmitted a distance of 110 miles with a 

 loss of less than 20 per cent of effective energy, has 

 been in successful operation since 1891. Similar 

 plants are in full and perfect operation on the coast, 

 notably that at Redlands, and that of the Standard 

 mine at Bodie, both of which have successfully over- 

 come obstacles to which the Little Sur proposition 

 was but child's play. 



An examination immediately followed, and when 

 the experts, engineers and motor companies made 

 their reports, the gentlemen interested were not only 

 delighted, but were amazed to find that between 

 1,000 and 1,500 horse power was and has been for 

 ages running to waste in this stream. 



Estimates from reliable water wheel and electrical 

 companies show that a plant capable of delivering a 

 current equal to 450 horse-power in Monterey and 

 Pacific Grove can be installed and put in operation for 

 $60,000, which is $40,000 less than the capitalization of 

 the company. 



Careful calculation shows that this company can af- 

 ford to deliver and sell in Pacific Grove and Monterey 

 electric currents at $5 per horse-power per month, 

 which is less than the bare cost of fuel when the elec- 

 tricity is generated. 



Before commencing work the company has guar- 

 anteed applications for power for more than 200 

 horse-power. With the advent of cheap electricity 

 will come many new avenues of use, such as sewing 

 machines, pumps for irrigating purposes, heating and 

 cooking. The new works will run day and night 

 without any additional cost for the fuel consumed 

 each hour, as where steam is used. The little moun- 

 tain stream that is to be the source of power is run- 

 ning perpetually. 6a Francisco Examiner, 



Heating Plates. A new application of elec- 

 tricity to manufacturing purposes is reported from 

 Germany in connection with the use of metal plates 

 for pressing and finishing woolen goods. Such 

 plates, which require to be heated, have hitherto 

 usually been warmed in an oven or by means of 

 steam, but both these processes are troublesome and 

 involve loss of time, besides leading to uncertainty 

 as to the temperature obtained. It is now proposed 

 to heat the plates by electricity. 



