June, 1932] Electricity on New England Farms 29 



poor installation of a hot water heater which was placed in use and re- 

 moved on these dates. 



From the standpoint of bulk use the 500 to 800 per cent, increases 

 of 1926-27 do not represent economical use of current as explained 

 above. The greatest importance of these two years is to observe the 

 effect on the net rate paid and its relation to volume of use. It will be 

 seen that the rate dropped sharply from 8 4-5 cents per kw.-hr. to 4 1-8 

 cents, and then 3 7-10 cents, bringing the price down to a point where 

 cost of operation registers for greater freedom of use. 



The true volume for this farm, loaded as it is, is in the neighborhood 

 of 4,000 kw.-hrs. per year as shown in Fig; 8, or an average of 335 to 

 362 kw.-hrs. per month. (See Table 6.) 



During these last three years the reflex action of the rates as a re- 

 sult of decreased volume of use will be seen in the swing back to the 5 

 cents per kw.-hr. mark. Since there has been no change in rate sched- 

 ule by the utility during this period, the record is an accurate and true 

 index of the greater economy resulting from quantity use on rate 

 schedules having sliding scales. 



Sturdy Resistance of Farms to Adversities Indicated. 



The history of Farm No. 6 presents quite a different experience than 

 occurred on any of the experimental group, with the exception of Farm 

 No. 1 — namely, an unexpected business collapse which it was impos- 

 sible for the operator to foresee or prevent. Such happenings are not 

 uncommon to farms in general, but since this was the only case among 

 The seven under test, the effect of such a situation becomes of particular 

 interest. 



Hand in hand with the discarding of the hot water heater, an epi- 

 demic of chicken-pox was discovered in the flocks. The owner had one 

 of two options : either to attempt to eradicate the disease (which spreads 

 rapidly) while making an effort to carry on, or to clean out the entire 

 stock of birds and then clean, fumigate and disinfect the entire layout. 

 The latter course was decided upon as being the most effective and least 

 disastrous, and by November of that year not a bird remained in the 

 commercial pens. 



While this collapse was in the business end of the farm, in which 

 there were few electrical applications, it would be expected that sharp 

 declines and irregularities would appear in the annual load curves, 

 since production was at a standstill until the winter of 1928-29 — over a 

 year. 



The heavy broken curve of 1928, covering this inactive period, shows, 

 instead, only a gradual tapering off' up to the low point in April, fol- 

 lowed almost immediately with tendencies to recover which continued 

 with still greater consumption in 1929. 1930 would undoubtedly have 

 shown equally good progress had the record been completed. 



During the non-productive year of 1928 a new four-story brooder 

 house with central heating plant was completed and placed in opera- 

 tion with the fresh stocking of chicks the following winter. This ad- 

 ditional capacity has been in use each year since. 



