480 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 222. 



AGRICULTURAL ELECTROTECHNICS. 



M. Paul Eenaud has recently contrib- 

 uted an extensive and valuable paper on 

 applications, effected in Germany, of elec- 

 trical engineering in the processes of agricul- 

 ture, and remarks upon its future in France 

 and her colonies.* 



An earlier paper had been contributed by 

 the same writer on the subject of agricul- 

 tural electrical engineering, in which he 

 had endeavored to exhibit the possibilities 

 of siich applications, and the present publi- 

 cation has permitted the review of progi'ess 

 to date in realizing earlier dreams and 

 hopes. He proposes, later, to study the 

 progress of this new art and applied science 

 in the United States. In Germany the 

 government has placed its own domains at 

 the disposition of investigators and exper- 

 imentalists, and the German Society of 

 Agriculture has established exhibitions and 

 competitions resulting in the general dis- 

 semination of knowledge thus acquired 

 among its members and agriculturists gen- 

 erally. 



In the production of this form of energy 

 the wind has been availed of; the system of 

 M. La Cour permitting the use of wind- 

 mills by insuring a satisfactory system of 

 regulation of mill and dynamo. Water- 



ery of the fact that the oysters native to the north- 

 west coast of the United States are hermaphrodite 

 and viviparous. Specimens from tlie coast of Oregon 

 and AVashington show that the same conditions exist 

 in the reproductive follicles as in those of Ostrea eduUs 

 of Europe. The presence of eggs and of spermato- 

 blasts and spermatozoa in the same follicle is the in- 

 variable rule. The ova, like those of 0. edulis, are 

 much larger than those of 0. Virginka, though per- 

 haps not quite so large as the former. The embryos 

 are fertilized in the gill and mantle cavities, where 

 they undergo development." — Ed. Science. 



''L'Eleotrotechnique agricole en Allemague, son 

 avenir en France and dans nos colonies ; par M. Paul 

 Eenaud, ingenieur, ancieu fleve de I'Ecole de Phy- 

 sique et Chemie industrielles de Paris ; Bulletin de 

 la Sooit'te d'Encouragement pour Industrie Nationale; 

 Paris, Jan., 1899 ; p. 15. 



power has become the principal source of 

 power in this work in many sections of the 

 country, and its regulation has also been 

 made effective, in some cases, by Reiter's 

 electric brake and governor, as constructed 

 by the Reiter Co., at Winterthur (Switzer- 

 land) . Like all hydraulic regulators, how- 

 ever, it is costly, its price being about $400. 



Recently the gas and petroleum motors 

 are coming into use as prime motors for 

 agricultural work of this character. Thej' 

 are considered to exhibit great advantages 

 over the preceding forms. The use of pro- 

 ducer gas (' gaz pauvre ') is said to give the 

 horse-power at about one-half the cost, in 

 fuel, of the power of the steam-engine, and 

 it requires far less careful or continuous 

 supervision than the latter. Korting, of 

 Kortingsdorf, has taken the lead in the in- 

 troduction of this system. A double-cylin- 

 der gas-engine and direct-coupled gener- 

 ators are usually found most satisfactoiy. 

 Costs decrease with increase in the propor- 

 tion of time of operation, and the mean 

 given corresponds to pretty nearly a varia- 

 tion as the fourth root of the annual time 

 of working in hours. 



The costs of transmission of the electric 

 energy and of its application in ploughing, 

 in the transportation of merchandise and in 

 other farm operations, are stated as resulting 

 from experience of the character indicated, 

 and it is finally concluded : 



1 . The electric installation may be em- 

 ployed where a prime motor is alreadj^ in 

 place, as a steam-engine or a water-wheel, 

 for the purpose of transmitting that energy 

 to the point at which it is proposed, for a 

 time, to perform work, as of operating the 

 plough, centrifugal pumps, etc., in the field, 

 and the various apparatus of the farm, 

 within and without the buildings. 



2. The electric plant may be installed at 

 any point found convenient or desirable, as 

 it can be arranged to supply the required 

 power at any point, near or far, over a small 



