Farms of the Future 



switch in hand, watching a score of machines at 

 their various work, replacing a hundred bent- 

 backed peasants. Diseaseswill be grappled, powders, 

 insecticides, washes, and sprays delivered in the 

 same way as water, exactly where wanted, and 

 the primeval curse of weeds at last seriously 

 tackled. Mechanical fingers, working at im- 

 perceptible cost, will make their existence 

 impossible. 



After the first outlay current will be a negligible 

 matter, and the land will be really tilled, as at 

 present is only faintly attempted in French 

 gardens and Belgian small holdings. There is no 

 known limit to the productiveness of well-tilled 

 soil; all that we give it is returned tenfold, as far 

 as we can see, and where there is reasonable depth 

 of soil the yield will be many times greater 

 than to-day. 



This is no vain dream. Already in Bavaria an 

 electrical farm exists, for experimental purposes, 

 power being drawn from a neighbouring waterfall, 

 and all the machinery in the buildings, all the 

 lorries, drays, and vans, the lighting, etc., being 

 electrical. Already the petrol motor is abroad in 

 our fields. In France and Scotland suggestive 

 experiments on the stimulating of plants by 

 current are being carried on, there being no 

 supply, only metal rods planted in the soil, 



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