45 



out his wife and children and form a ' rain-party,' 

 and be invigorated and strengthened by the 

 'wonder-working arm of the thunder-cloud.' 



" Our electric farmer, besides using electricity 

 to assist in maturing his crops, has learned how to 

 apply it to the destruction of one of his greatest 

 enemies weeds. With a dynamo furnishing a cur- 

 rent stepping up from 2000 to 24,000 volts, as 

 needed, he sends the current through the weeds by 

 means Of brushes of fine wire passing among their 

 tops as his generator moves over the field, the 

 other pole of the circuit being connected with the 

 ground through the wheels of the machine carrying 

 the dynamo. This strong current breaks up the 

 cellular tissues of the weeds and thus destroys them 

 just as, on a larger scale, a stroke of lightning 

 destroys a tree. ... In picturing the electric 

 farm one has a very large range of probabilities to 

 draw upon, but there is ever the danger of his let- 

 ting his fancy run riot and of making the electric 

 farm of the future appear a very Utopia; there will 

 ever be plenty of hard work for the farmer, even on 

 the model electric farm, but he will have more 

 pleasure and satisfaction in his work, and, it is to 

 be hoped, more profit from it." 



