4 New Hampshire Experiment Station [Bulletin 22S 



The territory covered by the experimental group now extends from the south- 

 eastern side of the state at Salem, north to Dover, west to Concord, Penacook 

 and Franklin, and then to Lebanon on the western boundary of the state, about 

 midway in a north and south direction. 



The cooperators are not obligated 1o keep all of the equipment tried out on 

 their farms. It is estimated that at least 80% of the household equipment in- 

 stalled at present on the experimental farms will be permanently retained, 

 though just what percent of the farmstead equipment will be kept is less evident, 

 due to the experimental nature of much of it. Later reports will be issued, 

 giving in more detail the cost of operating each appliance separately and in 

 groups, amount of use made of them, character of service rendered and returns 

 on the investment. 



For the present, inventories with cost figures and partial deductions for various 

 appliances are given herewith for each farm. 



Few figures are available for comparing the investment between the usual 

 standard and electrical eqiupment for the farm; and so far as farm home equip- 

 ment is concerned there are even fewer figures. 



The 1925 census gives $420.00 as the average investment in implements and 

 machinery on New Hampshire farms, but this classification probably covers very 

 little of the type of equipment being used in the project, and, of course, includes 

 & great many small and run-down farms. 



From figures on investment in farmstead and field machinery, other than elec- 

 trically operated, on file at the University, it is estimated that the larger, more 

 active, farms in New Hampshire, have approximately $2,000.00, more or less, 

 invested, and that medium-sized farms, in the active class, would have $750.00 

 to $1500.00 invested in such equipment. These figures are not likely to include 

 such fixed equipment as water supply systems, dairy cooling rooms and other 

 built-in equipment which would be considered as a part of the real estate. 



Some electrically operated equipment is very efficient and has such a close 

 relation to the labor problem that its practical value would be arrived at by a 

 different analysis than a mere comparison of inventories. For example: the 

 soundness of an investment of $750.00 to $800.00 in a dairy cooling room would 

 have been immediately questioned a few years ago. Results thus far obtained 

 in the experiment indicate promising possibilities of this equipment paying for 

 itself on retail dairy farms in less than five years and then paying a dividend for 

 several years if well built and sturdy equipment is used. Probably a greater 

 number of factors enter into the arrival at this conclusion than with the older 

 types of equipment being considered. 



On the other hand, another type of equipment of nominal cost may meet with 

 quick disapproval because of one of these same factors. This, then, is not an 

 attempt to justify large investments in equipment, but rather to point out the 

 necessity of measuring the practical value of electrically operated devices by a 

 somewhat different standard. 



It will also serve to explain what may at first appear to be large investments 

 in equipment on the experimental farms. 



Material Contained in Tables. The tables of current consumption for each 

 farm are based on monthly readings by circuits or similar divisions. These are 

 substantiated by compan3' readings against whose records the monthly costs were 

 also checked. Individual test meters, placed on each appliance, furnish more de- 

 tailed information.. 



The reader's attention is particularly directed to the section of each table 

 printed in bold-face type, following the tabulation by months, which summarizes 

 such important facts as monthly average, daily average for the year, percent of 

 the total consumption used by each circuit, the average rate per kilowatt hour 

 for each of the three circuits and the combined average rate of all circuits for the 

 year. 



Current consumption on farmstead equipment on practically all of the farms 

 did not reach a well established limit, during the past year due to the experimen- 

 tal nature of many of the operations, but can be expected to increase as success- 

 ful applications are completed. 



