March, 1928] 



AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS 1927 



11 



ELECTRICITY AND THE FARM 



Seven farms in New Hampshire, representing dairy, poultry, fruit and 

 general farms, were selected in the spring of 1925 in a co-operative project 

 for the New England area with State and National Committees on the 

 relation of electricity to agriculture. The farms were equipped with 

 appliances to determine what Hmits in quantity of electricity can be 

 economically used and to secure data on the efficiency of the different 

 appliances. They were chosen as typical of substantial and successful 

 enterprises operated with modern, well-balanced methods. 



Sixty major and 40 minor pieces of electrical equipment are now in use 

 on these farms covering 36 distinct operations and metered in such a way 

 that detailed records can be secured each month for nearly every appliance. 

 The work is in charge of W, T. Ackerman. 



This is a chore now eliminated where electric dairy cold storage has been 



installed. 



Current consumption on the seven farms averaged 1,683 kilowatt hours 

 for the year 1925 and increased to 4,253 kilowatt hours in 1926. 



Heating equipment, such as refrigeration, ranges, ironers, water heaters, 

 etc., produced the greatest effect on the total consumption and developed 

 a peak load in midsummer. 



Total consumption for the year 1926 was distributed as follows: winter, 

 23 per cent; spring, 16 per cent; summer, 32 per cent; and fall, 28 per cent. 

 Total consumption by farms for 1926 ranged from 432 kilowatt hours for 

 the fruit farm to 7,694 kilowatt hours for one of the dairy farms. 



The records are still too limited to draw many detailed conclusions, and 

 further research, particularly with farmstead appliances, is desirable. 



House lights showed an average monthlj'- consumption of 34.6 kilowatt 

 hours, ranging from 15.2 to 63.3; water pumps of 23.7 kilowatt hours, 

 ranging from 3.7 to 39; kitchen ranges of 167 kilowatt hours, ranging from 

 26 to 282 (combination ranges with wood and coal and straight electric 



