March, 1927] Electricity on New England Farms 39 



little ironing is found that the machine will not handle. Initial cost is consid- 

 ered somewhat high. 



FARMSTEAD EQUIPMENT 



Barn Lighting. The fire hazard of flame lights for barns is so great that 

 practically all farmers arc glad to remove this possible danger with electric lights. 

 The additional advantages need no discussion. 



All barns in the group are wired for this service, and the tendency is to in- 

 crease the number of outlets and. therefore, the quality of illumination. Forty 

 watt lamps are most commonly used. 



Records are given in Table 17. 



Shop Equipment. Probably the most useful articles in a farm shop arc an 

 emery wheel, grindstone, drill press and combination rip and cross-cut table saw. 

 Two such shops are in operation and are found to be of great value in repair 

 and upkeep of equipment and properly. Especially when break-downs occur 

 in rush season is the quick electric power appreciated. The cost of operation is 



very low — 1 kilowatt hour being the maximum during the past season. This 

 is considered lower than could be regularly expected due to the small amount of 

 work done. 



Wood Sawing. Sawing wood with a 5 H. P. portable motor, using a 24- 

 inch saw, showed, by a demand meter, that 3 H. P. was utilized. The usual run 

 of farm woodlot growth was can, ranging from 2" to 7" in diameter. Some 7" 

 frozen maple was included and was easily handled by the motor which pro- 

 vided steady, even power at all time-. 



Fertilizer Grinding. Commercial fertilizers are frequently received in such a 

 hard lumpy condition that they cannot be mixed or fed through the distrib- 

 uting machines. Pulverizing by pounding is usually resorted to. 



A discarded feed grinder was adapted and found to quickly and easily do the 

 work. A portable utility motor was used as power. 



Portable Motors. Two portable motors of 1V-± and 5 H. P. respectively are 

 being used, the former on a. dairy farm (1) and the latter on a poultry farm (6). 

 The past season's work has been largely concerned with finding as many suit- 

 able operations as possible. The question in this cast- is to determine whether 

 there is sufficient work for them to do to justify their cost. Short term opera- 

 tions have so far offered the most practical openings, and during the past sea- 

 son they have been successfully used for hay hoisting, fertilizer grinding and 

 sawing wood. An attempt to cut and elevate ensilage with the 7!i> H. P. was 

 unsuccessful, though there are indications that it may be accomplished by a 

 new method of operation just being introduced. Until this method is proven 

 practical in the field, not less than 10 H. P. should be considered for ensilage 

 cutting with the prevailing practice of high-cutter speeds and forced feeding 

 that is common on our farms today. 



Due to the interruptions in testing the adaptability of the equipment, cur- 

 rent consumption readings for the past season are not accurate in all cases and, 

 therefore, omitted. 



FRUIT EQUIPMENT 



An Apple Sorter and Grader. The use of such a machine is fast becoming a 

 necessity if New England apple growers are successfully to meet competition 

 from Western and Southern growers. Such machines may be privately owned 

 or operated by a commercial packing house. 



The test here reported was made in cooperation with the Horticultural De- 

 partment of the University, using the crop from the college orchards. The 

 maximum capacity of the grader is close to 200 packed boxes a day (9 hours) 

 with experienced help. The grading and packing occupied 13 days or a total 

 of 93 hours, during which time the equipment was operated intermittently, 

 The help used consisted of 4 to 5 packers, 2 receivers and graders, 1 nailing and 

 general. Only two of these eight were experienced workers. 



A total of 2100 bushels of apples were put through the machine, producing 

 1750 boxes. Sixty per cent of these were A grade, and 40 percent were B grade. 

 Twenty-five kilowatt hours of electricity were consumed by the % h. p. motor 

 for the entire operation. The failure of current for approximately two hours 

 was the only interruption that occurred. Seven 75-watt electric lights were 



