332 Electricity at Greater Felcourt Farm. [July, 



a very useful and necessary application of electric power. The 

 superiority of electricity for this purpose is well shown by the 

 fact that in Denmark (which is a country of windmills) electric 

 pumping is displacing wind pumping : the same thing is also 

 happening in Holland. It is found that the electric motor is 

 much more reliable, and pumps when it is needed to do so. 



In order to show clearly what can be done for the expenditure 

 of one unit* of electricity, in terms of farm work, the following 

 table has been prepared, based upon results actually obtained on 

 the author's farm. One unit of electricity will perform any one 

 of the following operations : — 



Average time 



Operation. 



taken. 



Chaff 1,000 lb. of hay or straw 



10 min. 



Cut 6 tons of mangolds 



60 „ 



Crush 22 bushels of oats 



25 „ 



Grind 3i bushels of corn 



5 „ 



Milk 52 cows 



35 „ 



Separate 260 gal. of milk 





Churn and work 165 lb. of butter 



60 „ 



Drive the fans of a 2240 egg incubator for 15 hours 





Thresh 8 bushels of wheat 



11 „ 



One unit of electricity will do the work stated irrespective of 

 the time taken. Average times are given merely to emphasise 

 the added advantage of rapid working which results from the 

 adoption of electrical methods. 



Apart from the advantages referred to above, the ease with 

 which the electric motor can be started makes it particularly 

 valuable for farm work. By simply closing a switch, without 

 any physical exertion, the motor will start instantly and with 

 certainty under all conditions. 



The author advocates the use of individual electric motors 

 for the more important machines. Where this is not considered 

 possible it will be found that the use of a portable electric motor 

 (for which the author has devised a very cheap and simple 

 arrangement) will be preferable to the use of counter-shafting. 

 It is supposed by many that the use of a single motor and a 

 counter-shaft gives the most economical results. This view, 

 however, is quite mistaken. At Greater Felcourt Farm the food- 

 preparing machinery is at present driven from a counter-shaft 

 (originally installed for an oil engine drive) driven by the electric 



* One unit is 1,000 watts expended for one hour. Watts represent the 

 product of volts by amperes. Thus 10 amps, on a 100-volt circuit gives 

 1,000 watts, and if used for one hour means a consumption of one unit. 

 Similarly, 60 amps, taken for 10 min., from a 100 volt circuit represents 

 1 unit because it is 6,000 watts used for \ of an hour. 



