178 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



the yield of cereals and other crops on a definitely practical and com- 

 mercial basis, for the present it is in the application of power to the farm 

 and the provision of better and more convenient lighting of the farmstead 

 to which we must look for affording immediate assistance to the farmer. 

 It is doubtful whether electricity will be used to any marked degree in 

 this country for field operations such as ploughing or reaping, partly owing 

 to the small area of the average holdings and to the prevalence of hedges 

 and comparatively small fields which are so essentially an English institu- 

 tion. In some of the larger holdings, however, as in the eastern counties 

 of England or in southern Scotland, it is probable that electricity will be 

 used in field operations, as is the case in other countries, more especially 

 in Scandinavia and some parts of Germany and Canada. In Sweden, 

 for instance, there are 52,000 farms, representing 40 per cent, of the arable 

 land, which have the advantages arising from an electrical service. It is 

 interesting to note that the average consumption is 53 units per acre, 

 and the individual load factor is only about 15 per cent. It is stated that 

 the consumption by these farms is one-twentieth of the total electricity 

 supplied, and is equal in amount to the aggregate consumption for lighting 

 and domestic purposes in the Swedish towns. 



In Norway and Canada considerable progress has been made in the 

 supply to the rural communities, there being no less than 350 out of the 

 645 rural districts in toto in the former country which possess an electrical 

 service. 



In parts of Canada great progress has been made- in this direction, due 

 mainly to the utilisation of water-power and the consequent large trans- 

 mission systems which enable rural districts readily to be served by 

 secondary distributing systems. 



Though the conditions are very different in this country, it is quite as 

 feasible to afford supplies to rural districts if the people desire to use 

 electricity and will support it locally. The conditions should be better 

 here than in Canada, owing to the greater density of population even in the 

 rural districts. 



Apart from work in the field or the application of electricity for inten- 

 sive culture, the immediate applications wliich are already being made 

 successfully include the curing of ensilage by electrically served silos, an 

 operation which can be carried out at night ; hay-drying ; threshing ; 

 chaff-cutting ; oat-crushing ; root-cutting ; wood-sawing ; milking ; 

 cream separation and churning ; water-pumping ; sheep-shearing ; 

 clipping and grooming ; incubator heating ; besides electrical cooking and 

 heating and the lighting of the farmhouse, byres, and yards. Altogether 

 quite a useful list of mecham'cal appliances can be compiled through 

 which electricity can help the farmer. In Great Britain the useful pioneer 

 work of Mr. Borlase Matthews is steadily making progress. The problem 

 to be solved is the reduction of the cost of distribution to these generally 

 somewhat isolated farms. Where it can be made commercially possible 

 any increase in the extent of the high-pressure transmission systems con- 

 structed in this comitry must gradually envelop more and more of the 

 rural districts. 



On the Continent considerable development has taken place in the 

 provision of an electrical service to rural communities. It is true that 



