1922.] Electricity at Greater Felcoirt Farm. 



331 



It must not be supposed, however, that the mere provis : on of 

 artificial light will give satisfactory results. What is required 

 is " illumination." The same specialised experience and techni- 

 cal knowledge, which is required for the satisfactory illumination 

 of a works, is required to obtain a satisfactory result even in th 5 

 lighting of a poultry house. 



Electric Power. — The advantages of electricity for power 

 purposes have been found to be equally great. One of the most 

 successful adaptations of electric power, on the author's farm, 

 is for driving the liquid manure pump. By its aid, liquid 

 manure carts are now quickly and cleanly filled, with the result 

 that labour is better employed, and the land better treated. In 

 the farm buildings electric power is used for driving the food- 

 preparing machinery, as well as for milking. A special feature 

 of the electric motor is its practically constant speed under vary- 

 ing loads, and its ability to deal with heavy overloads. It is, 

 therefore, the ideal method of driving food-preparing machines 

 such as chaff-cutters, cake-breakers, root-slicers, and crushing 

 and grinding machines, all of which require a steady 

 speed, irrespective of the wide fluctuations in the power which 

 take place from second to second during operation. 



The author's experience with electrically driven Hinman 

 milking machines shows that by running the pumps at 42 pulsa- 

 tions per minute, instead of the higher speeds usually employed, 

 the necessity for hand stripping is reduced (although some nand 

 stripping is done in all cases-. It should be noted thab the 

 milking machine does not milk quicker than by hand. As, how- 

 ever, one man can supervise six or more milking machines, the 

 milking time is greatly reduced, so that both time and labour are 

 saved. The cream separator, and a bottle-washing machine, are 

 also driven by electric motors. The cardboard covers used to 

 seal the bottles of Grade A (Certified) Milk, are hermetically 

 attached by means of a specially designed electric heater, which 

 enables 25 to 30 bottles to be sealed per minute. 



Milk is delivered to the railway station, two miles distant, by 

 an electric van. The cost of running has been found 

 to be about one-halfpenny per mile, which compares most 

 favourably with that of petrol lorries or horse vans. 



Electric power is also used for driving the incubator fans, for 

 the threshing, cleaning and grading of cereals, and for sluvp- 

 shearing and horse-clipping. Owing to the adequate supply of 

 water under pressure which already exists, electric water pump- 

 ing is not employed. On many farms, however, this would prove 



