1494 
Dece.u'jtv LU, 
know why it is; it is so. Maybe the boy can tel] 
why. 
STANDARD VOLTAGE.—Whatever you do, if 
you can avoid the use of a storage battery, use a 
machine of standard voltage—that is, a machine 
that makes electricity at a pressure of from 110 to 
125 volts. Engineers who have spent their lives at 
the task have found this to be the best all-round 
pressure for domestic uses, and manufacturers who 
make lamps, stoves, irons and toasters have recog¬ 
nized it, by making all their instruments to fit this 
voltage. 
THE WATER WHEEL.—Those who have water 
wheels, or can club together with neighbors to put 
an old water-mill in their neighborhood in commis¬ 
sion, have the question solved. Then it is only a 
question of making sure that the wheel runs steady. 
Connect your dynamo to the wheel by an endless 
belt; bring the dynamo up to the rated speed: turn 
the regulator (supplied with all machines) until the 
indicating needle touches the right voltage (say 
110) ; and go away and forget it. until time comes 
to oil it again. It won’t need to do anything but 
spin until you turn on a light in your house or 
barn. Then automatically, the machine instantly 
generates just enough current to supply that light 
—or lights—whether it be one or one hundred. The 
wires carrying the “juice” from the mill to the 
house should not be less than No. 8, if the run is 
less than 1.000 feet; if over 1.000 feet, a bigger wire 
is better. The wire is of copper, and covered with 
weather-proofed tape. 
SHORT WATER SUPPLIES.—One man says: “I 
have a stream on my place which dries up in Sum¬ 
mer. Otherwise I would put in a plant.” If I had 
a stream on my place that gave me power eight 
months in the year—the dark months, by the way—• 
I certainly would burn lamps and candles four 
months, and enjoy electricity for the other eight. 
Electric lights for eight months is better than oil 
lamps for 12. Another man says: “I could enlarge 
my mill pond so as to have enough water during 
the dry season. Would this be better than to put 
in a storage battery, so as to run the wheel only 
part of the time?” 
It would, most certainly. If he enlarges his pond, 
he won’t have to throw it away at the end of two 
years and buy another pond. But if he buys a 
storage battery, he will have to buy a new one 
at the end of two years. I suppose the manufac¬ 
turers of storage batteries will deny this is a dis¬ 
advantage, but I have talked with engineers who 
know, and they admit it. The whole thing in a nut¬ 
shell. for the poor man, is, if you want light only, 
and have power only part of the time, put in a 
low-voltage batterry to store the “juice*.” But don’t 
think you can enjoy heat and power too. Small 
batteries aren’t built for that, and big ones are 
costly. 
EXCEPTIONAL CONDITIONS.—The conditions 
under which we operate our plant are exceptional, I 
admit. We are on a river on which a steady flow 
is maintained by means of reservoirs, for power 
companies down below. The water goes by our 
house and we put it to work. It earns its keep. It 
does our lighting and cooking, and small power jobs 
—turning separator, grinding axes, pumping water, 
etc. We are planning to go further. The next thing 
I do will be to put in an attachment on the kitchen 
boiler to keep the 40-gallon tank sizzling hot 24 
hours a day. Then I am going to put in a hot-water 
heating plant, with an auxiliary for electric heating 
of the water. I ttrnk about five horse-power will 
keep the house warm all but the coldest days. Then 
I can build a wood fire in the fire-pot. But for six 
months during the Winter, I figure I won’t leed to 
burn wood. That heat won’t cost me a cent, and I 
won’t have to buck wood and split it. and take cure 
of ashes. It may take more than five horse-power, 
or it may take less. Whatever it requires, the aver¬ 
age water wheel ean supply all the power needed, 
especially in Winter when the river is full. 
THAT ELECTRIC P«LANT.—“How can I operate 
my electric plant without storage battery so that the 
voltage will remain constant, no matter what the 
load?" p - B - a. 
Massachusetts. 
By using a “compound-wound” dynamo. This 
type of machine is self-regulating. There are three 
types of direct-current machines in general use: 
First, the seines dynamo, used for street lighting, 
and other purposes where high-voltage is required. 
This is not to be thought of for a farm plant. Sec¬ 
ond, shunt-wound dynamo; this machine requires 
constant attendance, to regulate the voltage to suit 
the varying loads. If the voltage were right when 
all lamps were turned on. it would be too heavy 
when half of them were turned off. would burn them 
out. Tf it were right for half the lamps, it would 
fall too low for all the lamps. A shunt machine is 
THE RURAL NEW-VORKLk 
not satisfactory for a farm plant. Third, the com¬ 
pound-wound dynamo. This machine is a combination 
of the series and the shunt machines, and automatic¬ 
ally adjusts itself to the load, therefore it requires 
no attention as to voltage regulation. A modern 
compound machine will give the same voltage for 
one light or 100. therefore it can be run 24 hours a 
day without attendance. 
"What size electric motor would be necessary to 
do the work of a 12 horse-power steam engine? 
IIow many horse-power could an electric line that 
carries 110 volts produce?” c. j. b. 
Pennsylvania. 
A 12 horse-power electric motor would do the 
same work as a 12 horse-power steam engine. Ask¬ 
ing how much power a 110-volt line can produce, is 
like asking how much water a pipe carrying 110 
pounds pressure could produce. To determine how 
much water you could get out of that pipe, you 
would have to know first how much water was be¬ 
hind the pipe, and second, how big the pipe itself 
was. The same with electricity. Electricity is gen¬ 
erated by dynamo, and a wire leading from a dyna¬ 
mo could not carry any more power than the dyna¬ 
mo could develop. Some dynamos generate over 
20,000 horse-power. r. i. a. 
A CURSE OF RABBITS. 
I HAVE read in Titf. R. N.-Y. a good deal about 
rabbits destroying trees and ornamental shrubbery. 
I bad a tree killed by them only a few days ago. 
They are so thick around here that one could count 
up a dozen holes inhabited by them on one line fence. 
There are hunters with dogs around here, but they 
never have the luck to kill any rabbits, for they stay in 
holes da vs. and nights they go out. It is very seldom 
that I catch a rabbit with a trap. What would a per¬ 
son have to do so that the law could be changed so as 
to permit the use of ferrets for a short time in the 
Winter? c. ir. M. 
New York. 
This rabbit question is one of the unfortunate 
points in the New York game law. The only things 
that can be said in favor of the rabbit as a game 
animal are that he is easy to kill and that he can¬ 
not be exterminated. If one or two pairs are left 
alive on each square mile by Spring the supply the 
next Winter will be as great as usual. Such close 
hunting as this is, of course, impossible over any 
extended area even if unlimited use of ferrets is 
permitted. If it is desirable to please those who 
may fear they will not be able to kill all they can 
carry each time they go out it can be done surely 
by shortening the open season and prohibiting the 
sale of wild rabbits. 
I was living in New Hartford at the time the use 
of ferrets in Oneida County was stopped, and well 
remember an article that appeared in a I tica pa¬ 
per at that time. The writer stated that he had 
hunted all over New Hartford and parts of the 
neighboring towns, and had not seen a sign of a 
rabbit. Ilis opinion was that rabbit hunting should 
be stopped for at least two or three years. At that 
time I could get rabbits enough for a meal or two 
every time I went out: that is. on each good track¬ 
ing snow, without the use of dog or ferret, and 
usually in much less than a half day. There was 
then, and I suppose still is. a patch of woods less 
than five miles from the Utica court house where I 
never hunted because the rabbits were too num¬ 
erous. I have seen an area of several square rods 
tramped down by the rabbits in one night so that 
hardly a single separate footprint could he found. 
It was as though a band of sheep had been there. 
Now as to relief in this case. The conservation 
law reads: “The use of ferrets is at all times pro¬ 
hibited. except that the Commission may by resolu¬ 
tion permit ferrets to be used in particular coun¬ 
ties. The owners or occupants of inclosed or occu¬ 
pied f:: rms and lands or a person duly authorized 
in writing by such owner or occupant may take, ex¬ 
cept by nse of ferrets, in any manner at any time 
and in any number varying hares and cottontail rab¬ 
bits which are injuring their property.” Therefore, 
the first thing to do is to apply to the Conservation 
Commission for permission to use ferrets in Oneida 
County. Get all vour neighbors and all your farm¬ 
ers’ organizations to back you, and even then you 
will probably fail. While you are trying to get a 
chance really to fight the rabbits make use of all 
the means you have to keep them down. Get all 
your neighbors to authorize yon to kill rabbits on 
their land. Set steel traps in all the rabbit holes, 
two or three !n each entrance to every hole where 
you feel sure there is a rabbit. Stop up all other 
holes. Set traps or snares in the holes where they 
go through fences or under brush heaps. A rabbit 
almost always uses the same hole in going through 
a fence. Go out every day there is a tracking snow 
and try to find out where each rabbit went and what 
he did. Always have a gun loaded and ready with 
you on these trips. It takes a great deal of time 
to make a worth-while reduction in the number of 
the rabbits on a good feeding ground. I should es¬ 
timate that it would take not less than 10 days of 
seven hours each for two men with a good dog and 
a ferret to kill 50 rabbits in 25 acres of fairly open 
brush land free from especially hard hunting, such 
as ledges of rock or large brush piles, if there were 
only 50 there at the start. a. c. weed. 
FIGURING LUMBER IN STANDING TREES. 
I HAVE 350 White oak and 115 Black oak, second 
growth. I wish to sell these trees as they stand. 
I have measured them in the tree waist high. I 
wish to know how many feet of lumber, board meas¬ 
ure they contain? The trees aie tall, will average two 
12-foot logs to the tree. Here is the number of inches: 
White oak, -7808 inches; Black oak, 7200 inches. 
Would like it figured separate. r ' e White oak is 
worth $50 per 1000. Black not so much. F. M. B. 
Indiana. 
The contents of trees, in board feet, is usually 
figured by Doyle’s rule. This rule is to deduct four 
inches from the small diameter of the log for slab, 
squaring one quarter of the remainder and multi¬ 
plying the result by the length of the log in feet. 
For example, to find the contents of a 12-foot log, 24 
inches in diameter (inside the bark) at the small 
end. 
24 in.—4 in. equals 20 inches. 
20 in. by 14 equals 5 inches. 
5x5x12 equals 300 board feet. 
Perhaps an easier way to get at the same result 
is to the state the rule as follows: From a IG-foot 
log deduct four inches for slab and square the re¬ 
mainder. For longer or shorter logs the contents 
would be proportioned to the length. In the above 
case it would be worked out as follows: 24—1 equals 
20. 20x20 equals 400, for a 16-foot log. But a 12- 
foot log is twelve-sixteenths or three-quarters as 
long as a 16-foot log, therefore this log contains 
three-quarters of 400 board feet, or 300 board feet. 
If the log were 20 feet long it would contain 1*4 
times 400 feet, or 500 feet. 
Not knowing the top diameter of these trees I 
cannot apply this rule to the case in question. A 
common way of estimating standing timber is to 
estimate the length and the top and bottom diam¬ 
eters, and apply Doyle’s rule, using the average of 
both diameters and the whole length of the tree. I 
have no tallies at hand for estimating oak less than 
60 feet in height. It seems probable to me that the 
correspondent has underestimated the height of his 
trees. 
A very useful little book is the “Woodsman’s 
Handbook.” Bulletin No. 36 of the Forest Service, 
U. S. Department of Agriculture. I believe it is 
free, or at any rate the price would be nominal, 
and it may he had by addressing the Secretary of 
Agriculture. Washington, 1). C. Of course, timber 
buyers will not buy timber on the basis of the log 
scale and the price of first class lumber. There is 
always some loss through defects that are not visi¬ 
ble from the exterior. However, if one knows about 
how much timber he has, and also the market price 
for such timber, he will be in a position to talk busi¬ 
ness. It is a good thing, if possible, to get an ex¬ 
perienced person to estimate the timber, for it is 
difficult for an amateur to estimate heights correct¬ 
ly and diameters without instruments. 
CHESTER L. MELS. 
A SENSIBLE BACK-TO-THE-LANDER. 
I WORK in a factory, but would like to start on my 
own account. My idea was to rent a small place 
close to the town, starting with poultry and maybe 
a hog. and a few beehives, and continue to work 
in the factory, so as to feel my way along a while with 
a view to start farming later on. provided I have the 
energv and intelligence. I would like your opinion of 
White Wvandottes, and what kind of an egg they lay. 
white or 'tinted? What color would bring the best 
price around here? w - T - 
Rhode Island. 
This is a very sensible suggestion, and it is to be 
regretted that more of the back-to-the-landers do 
not have the same idea about starting. This plan 
will enable you to find out whether you like living in 
the country or not. You could figure from what you 
get out of your rented place whether it would pay 
you to give up your town job entirely and put your 
entire time upon the farm. This sensible way of 
studying the question is to be commended to hun¬ 
dreds who write us about going into the country. 
What you say about finding out whether you possess 
the energy and intelligence required to make a 
living on a farm is excellent and good evidence of 
the last named quality at least. The White Wyan¬ 
dotte is an excellent breed. If you can get a start 
with the utility strain and obtain eggs or pullets 
out of a family noted for egg production, you will 
be well pleased with the Wyandottes. They lay a 
tinted egg, but this would not be an objection in 
your locality. While the New York market prefers 
the white egg, Boston and the New England cities 
generally prefer a brown or tinted egg, and will usu¬ 
ally pay well for it. 
