: AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
July, 1912 
Here one sees pictured a water-tank, well placed, the lower portion of which is screened by judicious planting 
The Isolated 
Power Plant 
By Jonathan A. Rawson, Jr. 
S TO the advantages to be derived from the 
f ]| presence of an individual power plant on 
ry {| the farm or country estate, there can be no 
“Qi<id) argument. If the place is located where it 
can easily obtain a supply of electricity from 
the central power station, there are many 
arguments for securing power in this way rather than by 
equipping and operating one’s own isolated plant. But it 
is not given to all country residents to enjoy such an op- 
portunity, and even though it were, assuming that the estate 
is large enough, there would still be the usual contentions 
in favor of the individual plant such as complete independ- 
ence, and a saving in expense. In the matter of expense, 
the place would naturally have to be of sufficient extent in 
order to consume enough electrical power to make it worth 
the owner’s while to buy and install a plant and provide 
for its operation. 
As as matter of fact, there can be no general rule as to 
the desirability or undesirability of isolated power plants on 
country estates. [here are so many things on which it 
depends. First of all, there is the size of the estate and 
the extent to’ which it is “farmed.” ‘Then there is the cost 
of fuel, the expense of installation and operation, and the 
general condition of the labor market. If hand labor is 
cheap, abundant and efficient, as it rarely is, the necessity 
for the power plant is diminished. If on the other hand, 
manual labor is hard to get, fickle in its allegiance, unin- 
telligent and high priced, then the demand for the power 
plant becomes irresistible, unless operations are confined 
to a small scale and their potential profits thus greatly 
diminished. 
The .serious question involved does not bear upon the 
kind of power to be employed so much as upon the greater 
puzzle as to whether there shall be a power plant or not; 
Le 
TWN 
and to determine this point each owner must do his own 
figuring, studying not only the cost of the plant under con- 
sideration and the expense of running it, but also his past 
expenses for labor, the average annual value of his farm 
products and the possibility for increasing their value by 
the employment of mechanical means. Labor-saving ma- 
chinery is the same on the farm as everywhere else. It is 
profitable always if the operations warrant it. After it is 
once in place, it is sure to save money and to add to the 
peacefulness and pleasures derived from country living. 
Few high-grade country residences are built nowadays 
without their own power plants to provide the illumination 
and water supply, unless they are served by public service 
companies. It was in the house that electricity first came 
into use on the country place, for illumination and for the 
lighter tasks of housekeeping; but there are so many things 
to be done about the country place that always used to be 
done by sheer force of muscle, and that are so much more 
easily done by electricity, that it was the most natural thing 
in the world to run the wires out to the barn and the dairy, 
even though the actual farming operations were not exten- 
sive. So in recent years the machinery manufacturers have 
arisen to the opportunities that confronted them and made it 
possible for the amateur or professional farmer to get very 
smuch more out of his property, and not at a heavily in- 
creased expense at that. 
The windmill was perhaps the first isolated power plant 
for use on the farm, and the evolution of the windmill from 
its first crude forms into its present mechanical perfection 
is but typical of the general progress that has been achieved 
through the entire machinery world. The windmill had one 
serious disadvantage, which was, that it would work only 
when the wind blew. So plans had to be devised to store 
up the power while it was working, for use when it is idle. 
