June, 1932] Electricity on New England Farms 37 



the farmstead group, strictly electrical breakdowns of machines have 

 been practically nil. Renewal of belts and secondary drive gearings 

 have been necessary occasionally. 



Failure of line service has continued to grow less and less. Storms, 

 ice, snow and wind still present the greatest hazard, and this farm has 

 suffered two losses of baby chicks in the incubators, 1,000 and 3,000 

 respectively, due to this cause. In one case the loss could have been 

 partly avoided by proper management of the incubator at time of 

 current failure, and steps are being taken to provide auxiliary means 

 to overcome any other such occurrence. 



While this farm has found work for electricity to do in very liberal 

 amount and diversity of application, the possibilities are by no means 

 exhausted. In 1931 an additional 16,000 egg electric incubator was 

 installed operating with 1-10 h. p. motor and 3,600 watts heat. 



THE ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT 



TTie electrical appliances on these farms have proven satisfactory, 

 economical and desirable in practically every instance. Sufficiently so 

 that to those who may have a question as to what equipment is suit- 

 able for farm use, the foregoing pages may serve at least as a guide. 



Applications of outstanding success are lights, water supply, house- 

 hold and dairy refrigeration, range, washing machines, flat irons, radio, 

 shop equipment, milking machines, bottle brushes, cream separators 

 (little used in this section, however), poultry lighting, incubators and 

 fountain heaters. In addition to the above major operations, small 

 equipment such as toasters, percolators, vacuum cleaners, sewing ma- 

 chines and the like have proven equally satisfactory. The above list 

 is not intended to be complete, but comprises equipment with which 

 this Station has experimented. It should also be pointed out that the 

 type of appliance used was chosen with knowledge of the requirements 

 to be met, rather than by indiscriminate purchase. 



Following the above group there exists a number of applications 

 which, carefully and properly selected and installed, can be depended 

 upon to give satisfaction and practical results. The conditions sur- 

 rounding this class of equipment require a higher degree of skill and 

 experience than the first group, and they should, therefore, be handled 

 by individuals well informed in this field. Among these are hot water 

 heaters, portable motors for wood sawing, silo filling and hay hoisting, 

 electric brooders and fruit sorters and graders. 



Following the above is a large list of equipment which is more or 

 less in the experimental or development stage. At intervals some one 

 application becomes perfected and after a reasonable period is placed 

 in the ranks of practical equipment. Appliances of this nature should 

 be recognized as such, and where used to fill a given request the con- 

 ditions surrounding them should be thoroughly explained. Any use 

 of this class of equipment, more than in either of the two groups given 

 above, requires, without exception, the most experienced personnel, if it 

 is to be placed on farms by power companies while it is still in the 

 experimental stage. The indiscriminate use of new material is of 

 doubtful value to any of the parties concerned ; a much more desirable 



