328 The Farmstead 



real barn and actual lightning. All the dis- 

 charge followed the wire frame, and did not 

 ignite a dummy of gun-cotton which was placed 

 inside. The instant that the metal barn frame 

 was removed the dummy was struck and burned 

 violently. One can draw his own conclusions 

 from an experiment of this sort. 



A barn properly fitted with lightning rods is 

 shown in Fig. 134. The location of the points 

 is such that there is not more than forty feet 

 between two adjacent ones. The rod projects 

 about six feet above the roof, and these projec- 

 tions are all connected by means of rod of the 

 same form as the vertical conductors. Sharp 

 turns are avoided in erecting the conductor, for 

 an electric discharge would prefer to go straight 

 through the air rather than turn a corner. 



It will now be necessary to go into some 

 practical details of the construction of lightning 

 rods, and the suggestions that will be made 

 have been included here because good points or 

 rods may not always be readily obtainable. 

 Their manufacture is easy and can be performed 

 with the limited facilities of a small village. If 

 the raw materials have to be bought at a dis- 

 tance, this can be easily done by correspondence. 



Parts of the system: The equipment will con- 

 sist of three parts — the conductor and its sup- 

 port, the points, and the ground connection. 



