The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1898-01-04
"ELECTRIC FARMING"
THIS sUBTlLE AGENT MAY REyOLU-
TOME FARM WORK.

1t is reported that there has beeA
recently invented in San Francisco an
electric storage battery which promises
a revolution in the methods of using
electrical power, says the Irrigu;iOn
Age. Hitherto the storage battery
has not proven an unqualified success,
and the prophcsies of its early uni
vcrsal use have not been fulfilled. The
great weight and expense of those
heretofore generally in use have pre-
their use except under favorable
conditions, hence the dreams of stor-
age battery enthusiasts, have thus far
proven i;lusory. Now, however, if
what Is alleged to be "insldG informa.
ton" can be relied upon, there is
already IN existence the appliance that
will astonish the world by its leafs in
the field of applied electricity.
For various business reasons the per-
fecting process whereby the new appli-
ancc has been ut last fully evolved have
been kept secret, and even the name
OF the inventor is not yet to be spoken
i'll the public prints. "A w~e.l-informcd
correspondent of the Irrigation Age,
however, has seen enough of the
workings of tho wonderful device to
convince him that the claims made for
it are not impossible of fulliilment.
The actual cost of the battery is said
to be less than So and the weight less
than thirty pounds, and the apparently
impossible claim is made that in such a
battery electricity enough can be stored
tn run a twenty-horse power engine
ten hours. The writer IS not able to
state of his W knowledge that this
is true, but he has been so informed by
a reputable gentleman who has wit.
messed its performance. If we assume
that this remarkable invention can nc.
complish even a small part OF what is
positively asserted of it by cyc-wit.
ncsscs of its work, then there lies
herein much encouragement for tho
farmer. In short, it po:tends II marked
change in farm appliances and farm
methods.
Whenever a farmer may store cleo
trlcal power as he stores water in b;
tank or wheat in a bin, the time is no
far away when thousands of items O
farm drudgcry will disappear and III
entire new set Of easier condition.
will take their place. Whenever cleo
tricity shall have taken the place of tn,
farmers son as "churc boy" Their,
will be abundant occasion TO eioicc
" hen the churning, the wood splitting
the hay lifting, the corn Smelling an,
grinding, the water pumping, the post
hole digging, the stable cleaning, tn,
dinner cooking, the house lighting an,
disl-washin2 become mainly the mel,
matter of pressing n button, farmers
farmers wives, and even the hired MAJ
may properly believe the millennium Ia
come. But all this now appears to b
possible within a short time, and Their
arc highly intelligent men who asser
that i: is not only possible in the nca
future, but is already a practical fact
No doubt many months will be &c
CURED to put the plans OF the invento
in operation, even supposing that hi
invention will accomplish all hu pro
claims regarding it but if the farme
is al last to be put within easy rang
of a cheap and convenient power fo
the manifold uses TO which il may b
applied, agriculture will acquire a ncy
dignity and those devoted TO the oldcs
OF human occupations will have rcasoI
to bless the patent Office. 1t is allcge,
that the new invention has been sub
Jccted to the sGyerest tests, and tina
the marvellous results 1t has show
have caused a stampede of capitalist
III the direc ion of the humble lnvcn
tors works hop.