374 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
small stream has been harnessed, and even at a considerable 
cost for electrical equipment, been made to furnish cheaper 
and more convenient power than the engine. 
Improvement in the storage battery has widened the use 
of gasoline-electric systems. A two horse-power engine will 
furnish a horse-power hour for 0.15 gallon of gasoline on 
full load and on 0.2 gallon at half load. As many tasks 
require less than full load, the storage battery has been 
made to economize by taking up the surplus power. On 
the average farm it is seldom necessary to run the engine 
simply to charge the battery, hence the lights may be said 
to cost little or nothing outside of the cost of installation 
and the periodical restoration of the battery electrodes. 
The storage battery is a great convenience. It is a neces- 
sity with the hit-and-miss governed engine if a clear, steady 
light is to be had. Some types of engines with throttling 
governor control have proved very satisfactory when 
coupled direct to generators. This connection requires, 
of course, that the engine be run as long as lights are 
required, and unless some such work as pumping necessitates 
running the engine at night, the outht would probably be use- 
ful only on large farms where a number of buildings are 
to be lighted. 
Low voltage systems are commonly offered to the farmer 
on account of safety, simplicity and low operating cost. 
The improvement of the low voltage tungsten lamps, con- 
suming about one-third the current required to operate the 
ordinary carbon filament lamp, has made it possible to re- 
duce the size and cost of installation, especially in the mat- 
ter of storage batteries. The fifteen-light plant is probably 
the most popular, as more than that number are seldom 
burned at one time. With this outfit it is possible to wire 
for twenty or thirty lights, and burn the entire number by 
running the engine and dynamos and taking current from 
the battery at the same time. The fifteen-light outfit re- 
quires about one-third horse-power and the thirty-light 
about three-fourths horse-power, but less than a two horse- 
power engine is seldom installed. ‘The total cost of engine, 
generator, storage battery, switchboard, wiring, fixtures and 
lamps, for a fifteen-light, thirteen-volt outfit is around $400. 
The light will cost in the neighborhood of one one-hun- 
dredth of a cent per candle-power hour. For installations 
covering considerable area it is advisable to use a higher 
voltage, 1. e., twenty-five or thirty. 
With the development of interurban railways and long- 
distance transmission lines it is frequently possible to 
obtain current from the central station at lower cost than 
from individual plants. Communities are to be found 
where the use of electricity for light and power is prac- 
tically universal, and community central stations are devel- 
oping in the same manner as did farmers’ telephone lines a 
decade ago. The installation of low voltage apparatus for 
individual plants requires radical change in equipment when 
central station power is finally obtained. 
The small electric motor is especially convenient about 
October, 1911 
the farmhouse, attached to a fan, a flat iron, a churn or a 
washing machine, for the housewife has but to turn a 
switch to secure relief from heat and weariness. ‘The elec- 
tric range and chafing dish can hardly be said to be in gen- 
eral use, but the vacuum cleaner is coming into its own. 
For $100 the mistress of the household is equipped to 
clean carpets, floors, upholstery, drapery, etc., by suction 
at a cost of three cents per hour. The blowing attachment 
chases dust from inaccessible places. The outfit may be 
used even for the lady’s massage and drying her hair. A 
motor of one-sixth horse-power furnishes power for all. 
A supply of soft water under pressure, independent of 
the farm supply, can readily be obtained from a cistern, a 
pneumatic tank, a rotary pump and a motor of one-fourth 
horse-power. Convenience rather than cheapness has been 
the means of popularizing the electric motor, and it is only 
natural that it should appear oftener in the home than in 
the producing end of the farm. 
A friend of the writer’s even applied electricity to the 
farm fence. He drove 2-inch x 2-inch sticks about four 
rods apart surrounding a pasture field and strung two No. 
15 wires thereon, properly insulated. As a starter he con- 
nected up a tiny dynamo, driven by water power, with his 
fence wires. By carefully introducing the various animals 
to the fence before turning them into the pasture, he edu- 
cated several to give it a wide berth. The others, however, 
showed a supreme disregard for the fence, and after the 
most carefully educated mule, in a panic, took out several 
panels the inventor quit in disgust. 
This discussion has hardly covered all the farm uses of 
the small internal combustion engine and the electric motor. 
Enough has been said, however, to justify the statement 
that one of the greatest present needs of the farm is a com- 
prehensive inquiry into the subject of power installations. 
These motors are working revolutionary changes in the 
social and economic status of the farm laborer. But there 
are no state or national publications on farm power ques- 
tions to compare with the concise, scientific, helpful series 
on every other topic. 
The writer has long advocated the need of a branch 
devoted to agricultural engineering in the United States 
Department of Agriculture. On account of the breadth of 
the subject the State colleges do not as a rule have the neces- 
sary resources to investigate all phases of agricultural en- 
gineering, and under the present organization the subject 
of farm power can receive but little attention. The in- 
terests of manufacturer and purchaser are identical. It is 
gratifying to note that the National Gas and Gasoline En- 
gine Trades Association, representing the makers of in- 
ternal combustion engines and accessories, has joined hands 
with the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, repre- 
senting the college men and farm machinery manufacturers, 
to urge upon Congress the organization of a Bureau of 
Agricultural Engineering at Washington to cope with the 
situation which is so rapidly assuming great importance. 
