AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 433 



the western prairies it will be impossible to keep cattle upon im- 

 mense tracts of unwatered land without some cheap power like 

 these mills to pump water from wells. Some of the most enter- 

 prising farmers of the west, who are now using them, state as 

 their opinion, that this invention will increase the value of the 

 great western prairies some millions of dollars, as many hundred 

 thousand acres can now be profitably used as stock farms, which 

 could not be before this invention was introduced., 



A large joint stock company is to be formed in the spring, in 

 Illinois, by some of the wealthy leading men of the State, who 

 have fully tested the mills and are now enlisted in the enterprise. 

 The manufacturers say : 



" We have found that two or three horse power mills made on 

 this principle work admirably, and Mr. Halloday is now engaged 

 in making patterns for a large size designed for saw and grist 

 mills, which we shall introduce the coming season. 



This will he good news for farmers, particularly on the prai- 

 ries, where there are but few days in the year that a mill would 

 not be able to do part of a day's work. 



Parties in this city who are desirous of having something more 

 definite about the work of a self-regulating windmill would do 

 well to call upon J. H. Prentiss & Co., No. 166 Water street, who 

 have one at work that discharges 30,000 gallons of water a day. 

 Think of that, ye drouth-parched or frozen up farmers. How 

 easy it would be for you to have a tank in your barn, surrounded 

 by hay, so that it would not freeze, constantly full of water 

 drawn from a well, and ready for your stock this terrible win- 

 ter, in which stock upon many farms have suffered more for wa- 

 ter than for hay. Do farmers need any more evidence of the 

 value of these windmills for their use beside what is here given? 

 If they do, they can have it from H. D.Whitcomb, chief engineer 

 of Virginia Central railroad, or J. M. Davison, superintendent 

 of Saratoga and Whitehall road, upon which they have these mills 

 in use. The manufacturers say in a very recent letter : 



" We find that by a cheap and simple device' recently attached 

 to the mill, when the well is exhausted, or the tank is full, the 

 mill will stop itself with the edge of the fans to the wind. We 

 think this adds much to the value of the mill.'' 



Undoubtedly; and undoubtedly other valuable improvements 

 will be made until we shall have a perfect wind-engine. Farm- 

 ers, however, should not wait for perfection, but when an arti- 



[Am. Inst.] 28 



