ELECTRICITY ON NEW ENGLAND FARMS— II 



By W. T. ACKERMAN 



Under date of March, 1927, a progress report was issued on the 

 results obtained in 1925 and 1926 from seven experimental farms com- 

 prising a New England project to test the practicability of using 

 electricity for light, heat and power in farm operations. This report cov- 

 ered but two years of operation, and a continued check of the experi- 

 mental group was deemed advisable to verify the results of electrical 

 usage over a greater period of time. The present report covers the 

 six year period extending from 1925 to 1930. 



The principal questions confronting the first two years' work were 

 "Would electricity be practical power on a farm?", and, "Could eco- 

 nomic volume of use be built up sufficiently to support the required in- 

 vestment?" This and previous reports, together with general experi- 

 ence to date, answer the first question in the affirmative. A similar 

 answer to the second question may be discerned in the data presented 

 in the following pages, which show that over a period of time the use of 

 electricity increases, rather than decreases, and that the limitation to 

 further expansion of use is the availability of equipment, especially de- 

 signed to meet farm requirements and the ability of farms to finance 

 the necessary investment. 



Another question supplanting previous ones is, "Will the electric 

 load on the farm fall off with time or due to financial or other reverses ? ' ' 

 The past few years have provided excellent conditions for acquiring 

 data on this characteristic, and to make the experimental conditions as 

 impartial as possible these farms have been left to their own devices 

 for the years 1929 and 1930, when contacts were reduced to two or 

 three per year for the collection of records. 



The test groups, comprising dairy, fruit, and poultry farms were 

 selected and equipped with appliances metered in such a way that de- 

 tailed records could be secured each month for each piece of equipment. 

 In some cases comparative tests with other forms of power were made. 

 Sixty major and 40 minor pieces of equipment were in use on the 

 farms, covering 36 or more distinct operations and involving 50 or 

 more different makes. 



Note: This is a progress report of the New Hampshire experiment on 

 rural electrification for the New England territory carried on by the Univer- 

 sity of New Hampshire Experiment Station in co-operation with the National 

 and New England Committees on the Relation of Electricity to Agriculture 

 for the six year period ending December 31, 1930. Reports, covering some 

 groups of appliances and their operating characteristics in greater detail, are 

 available; and others are planned. 



Appreciation is here expressed to the manufacturers of equipment, co- 

 operating farmers, agricultural organizations, electrical interests and others 

 who have generously given of their support, financial and otherwise, to make 

 this work possible. Co-operating farmers are: D. T. Atwood, Franklin; 

 R. T. Gould, Contoocook; J. R. Graham, Boscawen; R. E. Holmes, Stratham; 

 S. D. Sterling, Dover; N. F. Stearns, West Lebanon; and G. E. Townsend, 

 Salem. 



