98 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[March, 
any accidental strain or bending, which makes a 
great difference in the ease and rapidity with which 
work is done. I noticed scoops in use which had 
been altered from the common ones, by placing the 
Fig. 1.— THE ECLIPSE WINDMILL AT WORK. 
handle attachment in the middle, and others which 
were made of old saw-blades bent into the suitable 
form, and handled as described. The blade is pre¬ 
ferably about 13 inches long, and the length of the 
handle, for all ordinary uses, only five feet instead 
of seven or eight, as they are commonly made. 
There were some 20 men, I suppose, at work at 
this job of draining, and I certainly never saw such 
work go on more smoothly and rapidly, and at the 
same time so thoroughly well. It seems quite worth 
while to present the matter with some detail to the 
readers of the American Agriculturist. In ordinary 
underdraining, as done with boning rods on the 
usual plan, it is rare that the levelling is so accurate 
that there will not be a variation of more than half 
the diameter of tile, producing tendencies to fill 
up with silt, and frequently stoppages, after the 
drains have been in use only a few months. 
When laid on Doct. Miles’ plan, the superintend¬ 
ent has only to see that the lines are at the proper 
hight, and well stretched, then the workmen will do 
all the rest, with hardly a chance of an error in the 
level or fall of more than the thickness of the wall 
of the tile itself, if even so much. 
This is only one subject of many, with which I 
came away from Houghton Farm, well charged, and 
feeling as if I could say a considerable that would 
be of advantage to many of my fellow farmers. 
Improvement in Wind Engines. 
The power of the wind is much greater than is 
generally suspected. If the air were visible it 
would be seen in motion very much like water, 
the current smoothly flowing when no obstructions 
interfered, but whirling, eddying, and irregular in 
Its force, as obstacles to a free movement deflect 
Fig. 2.—THE ECLIPSE OUT OF THE WIND. 
the current into many directions. In making use 
of the wind as the cheapest available mechanical 
force the peculiarities of its motion must be taken 
into account. Air possesses weight, and in mov¬ 
ing against a fixed object its momentum exerts a 
force just as much as if it was a solid body that 
moved. The force exerted by the wind upon any sta¬ 
tionary object is found by multiplying the square 
feet of surface opposed to the wind by the number 
of feet through which the 
wind moves in a second 
multiplied by itself, or 
squared and divided by 
.002288 or 22SS /ioooooo; thus 
one of the 10-foot wind en¬ 
gines having 68 square feet 
of surface, in a wind mov¬ 
ing 30 feet per second, or 
about 20 miles in an hour, 
which is what may be called 
a pleasant, brisk breeze, will 
receive a propelling force of 
136 pounds, or more than 
equal to the amount of 
tractive force exerted by a 
horse moving at the rate of 
3 miles in an hour. It is 
evident that the full utiliza¬ 
tion of this power of the 
wind depends very much 
upon the excellence of the 
machinery to which it is har¬ 
nessed to do our work, so to speak; the more 
effective this may be, the greater amount of the 
force of the wind is turned to useful account. It 
is quite as important to investigate this point in 
choosing a wind-engine as it is in selecting a water¬ 
wheel. In calling attention to several excellent 
wind-engines we merely remark that for most of 
the work of the farm, dairy, and household, and 
for many mechanical works, a wind-engine is the 
most useful, economical, simple, and safe power 
that can be employed. With proper self-regulating 
devices it will work steadily night and day, without 
feeding, without watching or other attention, need¬ 
ing only occasional oiling, to work on, while the 
owner sleeps, eats, or labors elsewhere. The engine 
is able to regulate itself, instinctively, as it were, to 
all the changes of the wind; turning out of the 
wind and stopping when it blows with excessive 
force, and turning in again and resuming work 
when the gale moderates. No other mechanical 
power can thus be left to regulate itself, except 
perhaps a water-wheel, and even this, in floods— 
which may be parallel in their effects to a gale— 
suspends its working. The Eclipse Windmill, 
made at Beloit, Wis., is the first that occurs to us. 
This made a wide reputation at the Centennial as the 
only mill there that was not damaged by the great 
storm of June 27th of that year. It is shown at 
work in figure 1, and out of the wind at figure 2. 
A side vane (shown at fig. 1) receives the force of a 
storm and turns the mill edgewise to the wind. 
When the force abates a weighted arm brings the 
front to the wind again. A remarkable mechanical 
device, shown at figure 3, is attached to this mill. 
It is one that changes an up and down movement 
to a rotary one. As the rod, A, moves up and 
down, the buttons, C. press on the inner rim of the 
gear wheel and carry it round, one button working 
on the up stroke and the other on the down stroke, 
so that the wheel turns regularly and continuously. 
It is claimed that 120 revolutions per minute may 
be made in a 12-mile (an hour) wind. This enables 
the mill to churn, saw wood, run a lathe, cut and 
grind feed, etc., as easily as to pump water. The 
Challenge Windmill, made at Batavia, Ill., is a 
popular mill, and is both single and double. A 
double-headed mill, erected on the barn of the well 
known breeder of Hereford cattle, T. L. Miller, of 
Beecher, Ill., is shown in figure 4. This is a 30-foot 
mill, aud cuts hay, shells and grinds corn, and 
pumps water for 300 cattle, 200 sheep, and 200 hogs; 
besides doing the grinding for the neighbors. The 
fine barn here shown is worthy of notice. 
Figure 5 is the Myers’ Windmill, a rosette wheel 
with rudder, made at Salem, Ohio. The self-regu¬ 
lating device of this wheel is peculiar. The vane is 
parallel with the wheel, and lies flat when the mill 
is in gear. When the force of the wind overbalances 
the weight, this throws up the vane, and the wind 
striking it, turns the wheel out of gear. When the 
wind abates, the vane is turned, and the wheel is 
brought into work again, as seen in the engraving. 
At figure 6 is shown the Perkins’ Mill, made at 
Mishawaka, Ind. This mill has been made since 
1869, and is of the solid or rosette form ; it is also 
a self-governor. Another solid or “rosette” mill 
is the “ 1. X. L.,” made at Kalamazoo, Mich. (fig. 7). 
This is a self-governor, the wheel and rudder fold¬ 
ing together in a wind too heavy to be safe. It is 
able to turn partly out of the wind and still run 
when the blow is not too heavy. Figure 8 is the 
Victor Mill, made at New London, Ohio, which is 
moved by broad sails, so fitted as to turn on pivots 
and regulate and equalize the motion as the wind 
Fig. 5.—THE MYERS’ WINDMILL. 
may change. The regulating apparatus consists 
of the balls or weights seen in the engraving, which 
govern the position of the sails according to their 
velocity. The Stover Wind Engine, figure 9, made 
at Freeport, HI., is a “ rosette ” mill with but three 
