176 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1922 



encourage the young beekeepers, he offers 

 to give to any one of his readers a bee- 

 smoker free of charge if said beekeeper will 

 sign a pledge, printed in his bee journal, 

 to use no more tobacco." 



This item was put in as a joke, but it 

 helped the sale of 20,000 smokers. After I 

 had written the above up in our journal I 

 gave it as a swift answer to prayer; but 

 somebody suggested, "Why, Mr. Root, you 

 are making a big mistake. Your good 

 friend Corey mailed that smoker, by your 

 own statement, before you uttered that rash 

 promise to Mr. Bingham." 



But, dear friends, I had been reading my 

 Bible pretty thoroly from beginning to end, 

 and I was thus enabled to point my critic 

 to our first text— "Before they call I will 

 answer." With the great Father above 

 there is no past, present, nor future, and he 

 is able to set the vast machinery of the uni- 

 verse in motion so as to answer the prayers 

 of a poor humble follower like myself Avhen 

 he gets into trouble or thinks he has. 



"WIND ELECTKICITY." 



Making the Cold North Wind Warm up 



Homes in Denmark, Holland, and 



Germany. 



Learning from the "Our Homes" Department 

 that Mr. A. I. Root is very much interested in the 

 development of electricity by wind power, I copy 

 a couple of short news items from "Concrete, a 

 monthly magazine published in Detroit, feeling sure 

 that Mr. Root will be glad to read it. 



EL*ECTRIC POWER FROM WINDMILLS. 



Denmark is building windmills to produce 

 electric power, owing to the high cost of fuel. 

 At the Oersted Congress in Copenhagen, in 

 1920, Professor Dr. Phil Erik Schou read a 

 paper on "The Modern Basis for the Construc- 

 tion of Windmills," published in Ingenioren, 

 April 16, 1921. o ^ , M 



Owing to the scarcity of coal and fuel oil. 

 an engineer, R. Johannes Jensen, was engaged 

 to construct electric generators capable of 

 transforming the cycle and voltage. The con- 

 struction was successful, and seven windmills 

 have been completed, transforming the energy 

 of wind to commercial electrical power. The 

 windmills have a concrete structure, with a su- 

 perstructure of structural steel supporting the 

 wings. 



The calculations of the windmills were ac- 

 cording to the "Drzewinski" theory, founded 

 upon Professor La Cour's Methods. — "Con- 

 crete," July, 1921. 



WIND REPLACING COAL. 



In our last number we mentioned the Danfsh 

 wind power — electric power stations — and now 

 find that Holland and Germany also eagerly 

 try to benefit by thi.s nature's auxiliary to coal. 

 Denmark, Holland, and Germany already have 

 more than ,500 power stations utilizing wind 

 power as a mafri or auxiliary motor. The last 

 issue of Current Opinion states that the Per- 

 kins Corporation in conjunction with the 

 Westinghouse Electric Co., has erected in In- 

 diana the first perfected outfit in the United 

 States for generating electricity from the air 

 in violent motion. A 50-foot steel tower, topped 

 by a large windwheel, a generator, a, switch- 

 board, and a battery are included in the opera- 

 tion. 



Tliis method of generating electricity is ex- 

 pected to bring in a new era to a farm power 

 and light field, putting electricity within reach 



of many who live where it is not now to be 

 had. — "Concrete," August, 1921. 



Geo. J. Gri&senauer. 

 5006 Catalpa Ave., Chicago, 111., Sept. 29, 1921. 



It would seem from the last quotation 

 that the manager of Concrete has no knowl- 

 edge of the work that has been done for 

 years by the Wind Electric Corporation of 

 ■ Wyndmere, N. D., now located at Minneap- 

 olis, Minn. And while we are discussing 

 this subject, below is a clipping from the 

 Christian Herald indicating the rapid de- 

 velopment of electric energy in the United 

 States: 



Between 1910 and 1920 the population of the 

 United States increased less than 15 per cent, while 

 the number of customers of electric light and power 

 companies increased over 250 per cent, and the 

 amount of electrical energy sold increased over 3S0 

 per cent. 



Wind Electricity in 1922. 



On page 170, Gleanings for March, 1921, 

 I suggested some other power was rather 

 needed when the wind didn't happen to 

 blow, especially if one wanted the wind to 

 furnish current for running an electric auto, 

 besides lighting the premises. At that date 

 I didn't know of any such outfit, to be used 

 only in an emergency. For two winters we 

 got along very well, by using the auto, for 

 about 5 or 6 miles a day; but the third win- 

 ter there were several times when a little 

 more "juice" would have been a help. This 

 present winter (the fourth) since the "trop- 

 ical hurricane (see Gleanings for December, 

 page 780), Nature to make amends has given 

 a winter up to present time, Jan. 9, some- 

 times a whole week with almost no wind 

 at all. 



Our readers, of course, know of the re- 

 cent reduced prices on farm lighting outfits. 

 I recently paid Sears, Roebuck & Co. $185 

 for a combined engine and generator, and 

 when the wind doesn't blow, we use this. 

 We get gulf kerosene here at only 14c when 

 we buy 50 gallons at a time, and so far it 

 stores all our batteries beautifully. As 

 near as I have been able to figure, a gallon 

 of kerosene will store the auto batteries 

 sufficient to run, with one passenger, 15 or 

 20 miles. Call it only 14 miles, and we have 

 only 1 cent a mile for fuel for an electric 

 auto. Now the windmill costs nothing foi 

 fuel, but the long rubber belt costs about 

 .$16.00 and runs on an average two years. 

 If we run the auto 1000 miles each winter 

 and light the premises, it will cost as much 

 more; so we have $20.00 for kerosene against 

 $16.00 for belt. But we must remember the 

 windmill is much more expensive than the 

 generator I have mentioned which cost $185. 

 On the other side, we must take into ac- 

 count the many more and much stro))(jrr 

 winds in the Dakotas and other adjoining 

 states. Now while I like the little cheap 

 engine very much, at the same time I enjoy 

 seeing the two windmills when there is a 

 fair wind, in the saving of kerosene, blowing 

 not only "shillings," but dollars right into 



