124 FARM MECHANICS 



what overtaxed by talkative salesmen representing 

 some of the pioneer manufacturers of electric lighting 

 plants, but the business has steadied down. Real elec- 

 tric generating machinery is being manufactured and 

 sold on its merits in small units. 



Not many miles from Chicago there is an electric 

 lighting plant on a dairy farm that is giving satisfac- 

 tion. The stables are large and they are managed on 

 the plan of milking early in the morning and again in 

 the middle of the afternoon. The morning work re- 

 quires a great deal of light in the different stables, 

 more light than ordinary, because the milking is done 

 by machinery. The milking machine air-pump is 

 driven by electricity generated on the farm, the power 

 being supplied by a kerosene engine. 



Electricity on this farm is used in units, separate 

 lines extending to the different buildings. The light- 

 ing plant is operated on what is known as the 32-volt 

 system ; the rating costs less to install than some others 

 and the maintenance is less than when a higher volt- 

 age is used. I noticed also that there are fewer parts 

 in connection with the plant than in other electric light 

 works that I have examined. 



Technical knowledge of electricity and its behavior 

 under different circumstances is hardly necessary to a 

 farmer, because the manufacturers have simplified the 

 mechanics of electric power and lighting to such an ex- 

 tent that it is only necessary to use ordinary precau- 

 tion to run the plant to its capacity. 



At the same time it is just as well to know something 

 about generators, switchboards and the meanings of 

 such terms and names as volt, ampere, battery poles, 

 voltmeter, ammeter, rheostat, discharge switch, under- 



