THE WIND-MILL IN IRRIGATION. 



BY W. C. FITZSIMMONS. 



"VYTATER may be scarce in many places 

 *^ but wind is nearly always abund- 

 ant everywhere and should be utilized 

 more as a motive power in this country. 

 Other countries are ahead of us in this 

 respect. Holland has long been noted 

 for the number of its w r ind-mills. With 

 proper appliances, wind power is nearly 

 always available and effective; it is also 

 cheap. It is the part of wisdom for 

 farmers and especially for irrigators to 

 make use of the wind for raising water 

 and doing odd jobs about the farm. A 

 windy country is often an unpleasant 

 one, but when this disagreeable climatic 

 feature can be utilized in pumping water 

 for irrigation or for stock, for grinding 

 corn, for making butter and for a num- 

 ber of other necessary purposes on the 

 farm, it may be easily endured if not 

 enjoyed. 



In the treeless and arid regions there 

 is seldom any lack of wind and enor- 

 mous possibilities in the way of wind 

 power are continually neglected. But 

 in these days when good wind-mills (we 

 prefer the old-fashioned name, rather 

 than " wind engines," '' air motors," etc.) 

 are to be had at comparatively small 

 cost almost everywhere, much greater 

 advantage should be taken of this ever- 

 present, ever active force which is capa- 

 ble of doing wonders in the way of 

 lightening the farm labors. 



While we may be ready to accord to 

 science and scientific achievement the 

 highest enconiums in the realm of steam 

 and electrical appliances for the genera- 

 tion and utilization of the mighty forces 

 so controlled, yet the wind-mill of the 

 most modern manufacture is not neces- 

 sarily a more effective machine than 

 those made in the years long gone by. 

 It is very apt to a better looking affair, 

 if indeed there can be such a thing as 

 a line of beauty connected with a wind- 

 mill, but it is doubtful if any of the fin 

 (h siecle air machines will pump more 

 water or churn more butter than those 

 of simpler type upon which that 

 doughty knight, Don Quixote de la 

 Mancha, charged so gallantly 100 years 

 ago. 



An up-to-date wind motor, as it is 

 called, may cost $150 and be well worth 

 that sum to any farmer who buys it; but 

 it is comparatively easy for a man with 

 a little " gumption " to organize a home- 

 made wind-mill that will surprise him 

 and especially his neighbors by the 

 amount of hard work it will do for him 

 both by day and by night. The same 

 breeze that fans the farmer's cheek 

 grinds his corn and saws his firewood; 

 and the gale that may scatter his fence 

 rails also fills the water tank and irrigates 

 the orchard. We are also nearing the 

 time when all sorts of wind motors will 

 be used to generate electrical power to 

 be stored for use in heating and lighting 

 country households and without a doubt 

 to propel farm machinery and vehicles. 



It is alleged that the New Jersey In- 

 sane Asylum is lighted by electricity 

 generated from a dynamo moved by a 

 wind-mill of the most simple construc- 

 tion and very moderate cost. 



A farmer near Geyserville, Sonoma 

 county, California, has a queer looking 

 affair which, at a distance, looks like 

 anything but what it really is a wind- 

 mill which does yeoman service in filling 

 the water tank. The machine is of 

 simple construction but is somewhat 

 unique. A box without top and also 

 open at the bottom, is made of upright 

 boards 9 feet long, the inside dimensions 

 of the box being 4 by 17 feet, and 9 feet 

 in height. This is merely placed on the 

 ground and across the top, mid-way of 

 the length, is placed a shaft to which the 

 arms carrying the sails are fastened. As 

 the sails revolve, those above the box of 

 course catch the force of the wind while 

 those below, within the box, are pro- 

 tected so that the wheel is always in a 

 condition of unstable equilibrium, hence 

 moves on and on, under the force of 

 even a slight breeze and does good work 

 at the pump. 



The main object in calling attention 

 here to home-made appliances to utilize 

 wind power is merely to point out to 

 the man who would not or could not 

 buy a complete machine of modern type 

 composed largely or wholly of metal, 



