882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



November, iQn 



of our issue for September, to do our bid- 

 ding. 



Let us go back a little. Several weeks 

 ago somebody asked in the Question De- 

 partment of the Scientific American &f 

 windmills had ever been made to furnish 

 current for an electric lighting-outfit. The 

 editor replied that it had been done several 

 3'ears ago, and referred the querist to their 

 journal for September 16, 1912. I at once 

 sent for that issue, and read over and over 

 the article entitled " Farm Electric Light- 

 ing by Wind Power. A complete lighting 

 plant installed for $250." It was not until 

 I read it a second and third time, however, 

 that I noticed w'hat I have put in italics in 

 the following from the Scientific American: 



The economy of such a piece of apparatus will be 

 understood when I state that, besides running the 

 electric dynamo for which it was primarily installed, 

 it takes its turn at operating a drill-press, grind- 

 stone, corn-sheller, heehivesaw, washing-machine, 

 grain-elevator, and a feed-grinder. 



I read it aloud, and announced to the 

 younger Roots gathered about me that if 

 this man had a " beehive-saw " he certainly 

 was or had been a beekeeper ; and wherever 

 in my travels I find a man who has ever 

 taken and read Gleanings or the ABC 

 book, I almost invariably find him and his 

 place to be an "open sesame," at least to 

 your humble sei'X'ant. So I promptly for- 

 warded him a letter, and below is liis 

 answer to it : 



THE ELECTRIC FARM 



UTILIZES THE WIND FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER 

 .T. F. FORREST, PROI'RIETOR. 



Dear Friend: — I feel that I am quite well ac- 

 quainted with you, as I was a subscriber of Glean- 

 ings IN Bee Culture for a short time, and also 

 have your A B C of Bee Culture. We have had 

 some supplies from you. This was quite a number 

 of years ago. I still keep bees, but they are sadly 

 neglected. 



I am still at work on my electrical outfit, and I 

 shall be delighted to have you come and look things 

 over. It is much better to see things in operation, 

 and be prepared to spend a day or two, so we can 

 go over every part in detail. I enclose you a clip- 

 ping. 



We live two miles south of Poynette, 25 miles 

 north of Madison, and 12 miles south of Portage, 

 on the Madison and Portage division of the C, M. & 

 St. Paul R. R. If you can let us know what train 

 you will be on we will meet you at the depot. I am 

 sure wo shall enjoy your visit very much, and I be- 

 lieve you will consider the time well spent. 



Poynette, Wis., Sept. 23. J. F. Forrest. 



With the above letter he inclosed a clip- 

 ping from the Iowa Homestead; and this 

 clipping, after enumerating the different 

 uses that Mr. Forrest makes of the electrici- 

 ty generated by wind power, r3ads as 

 follows : 



None is more useful or unique than the duty of 

 charging the Forrest family automobile, enabling the 

 owner to run the car an average of about twenty- 

 three miles without recharging. 



It was the part about the automobile that 

 started me off in such a hurry. 



Well, this morning, September 28, I have 

 just returned from a visit to Poynette, 

 Wis. ; and I can say, as did the queen of 

 Sheba, " Behold, the half was not told me." 

 First, there was an electric automobile that 

 would hold comfortably four or five per- 

 sons. Second, it climbed with three people 

 up about the highest and steepest hills in 

 Wisconsin. Third, the morning on which I 

 made the trip was after quite a little rain 

 the night before, and the roads were more 

 or less slippery. Fourth, and most wonder- 

 ful of all, Mrs. Forrest ran the machine 

 while her husband and I looked on. Mr. 

 Forrest explained by saying that she ran it 

 rather more than he did, and he thought that 

 perhaps she did it a little more successfully 

 than he did. Noav, Mrs. Forrest is just a 

 plain farmer's wife — that is, to all ap- 

 pearances; but when you come to know her 

 better I am sure you would be reminded of 

 what fridnd CoUing-wood said on page 725, 

 September ; and you might think of what 7 

 said too, in that Home paper some time ago 

 where I had for my text, " Her price is far 

 above iiibies." While I was in their pretty 

 and comfortable home looking over various 

 inventions for making electricity help the 

 bnsj- mother, his sister brought me some- 

 thing that convinced me that genius seemed 

 to run in that whole family away off on 

 those Wisconsin hills, for she Avas not only 

 skillful in the home, skillful in running an 

 electric automobile over slippery roads and 

 up long steep hills but she was also a poet 

 and artist of wonderful and ingenious skill. 

 Read the poem at the end of this Home 

 paper and see if you do not agree with me. 



Now listen while I try to tell you what 

 friend Forrest has done in the way of har- 

 nessing the wind. Perhaps you have al- 

 ready gathered that his locality on one of 

 the tallest hills, perhaps, in Wisconsin, is 

 unusuallj^ favorable for wind power. His 

 first windmill was only 12 feet in diameter, 

 and only a little higher up than the roof of 

 his barn; and this 12-foot mill successfully 

 charged the batteries of a forty-cell storage 

 battery, altho I believe he had to charge 24 

 cells at a time. Of course, 23 miles is not 

 a very big run for an electric automobile; 

 but when you take into account the Wiscon- 

 sin hills, some of them pretty rough and 

 gravelly at that, you may think it is a pretty 

 big feat after all.* Mrs. Forrest said she 

 had already made 23 miles on one charge, 

 and the batteries would probably have held 



* To get back to that home, away up on the hills, 

 of course takes quite a little " juice," and this 

 " ho;ne stretch " must be taken into consideration 

 on every trip. 



