Electric Power for the Farmer 



^|H LECTRIC power, generated from California's mountaip 



[iLe streams, offers a most attractive invitation to the man who 



l \jEjS ) is engaged or is about to engage in agriculture in California. 



It invites him to look into the possibilities of having work 



done cheaply, economically and cleanly. If the agriculturist 



is located along one of the great electric transmission line* 



he can, doubtless, arrange to have power delivered to him 



at a low price. If he is located near a mountain stream it may pay him 



to have a small electric power plant installed. 



Besides bringing the farmer and his products nearer to the railroade 

 by means of electric transportation lines operating under steam road con- 

 ditions the value of electricity in farming has been demonstrated. It has 

 been found in Kane County, III., that electric motors can do farm work 

 at a saving of 50 per cent on the present cost. California farmers in 

 following the example of the Kane County farmers will doubtless have 

 a great advantage over them in that this State possesses better facilities 

 for the generation of electric power. 



In view of the benefits to be derived from thus using electricity, it is 

 well to consider what has been done in Kane County. There electric 

 motors have supplanted nearly all human and horse labor on the farms. 

 The saving has been at the rate of $420 out of every $960 formerly ex- 

 pended. The work done by the fifteen horse-power motors installed in- 

 cludes sawing wood, pumping water, separating cream from milk, thresh- 

 ing corn, cutting fodder, plowing the fields, grinding apples, pulping po- 

 tatoes, loading and unloading wagons and a score of other things ordi- 

 narily done by horse or man on the farm. The expense under this new 

 method of farm work is: 



Cost for installation of electric motor $500 



Cost of power for one year 30 



Cost of repairs for one year 10 



Total $540 



The expense for one farmhand and a team of horses required by the 

 old method is: 



Hire for one farm hand for one year $300 



His board and lodging 185 



Cost of a team of horses, at $1 25 each 250 



Feed for a team of horses, five acres of land production for 



one year, valued at 200 



Cost of shoeing, veterinary, repairs to harness, etc., for one 



year 25 



Total $960 



After the first year, where electric motors are used, this expense wiH 

 be cut down, as of course, no new motor need be installed. 



Besides such use of electricity in the running of machinery upon a 

 farm, it is interesting to note that electric energy may be applied to culti- 

 vation itself. One investigator maintains that the influence of sunlight 

 upon growing plants is evidence of an electric phenomenon. Though 

 as yet no apparatus has been devised which makes the application of 

 electricity to young plants practical, the truth of this principle has been 

 borne out by the experiments of Professor Selim Leinstroem. The result of 

 his researches has shown that by electrifying plants at night one may get the 

 same effects as are gotten from sunlight. Furthermore, germination in 

 seeds may be accelerated by electrifying them. It was found that peas, 



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