Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1907-03-15
THIRTY YEARS HENCE
PEN PICTURE OF FARM LIFE or
THE FUTURE.
orud9ery Done Away With by Labor
Saving Machines Operated by
Alcohol Made at Horne From
Waste Products.

In an article in Appleton's Magazine
Day Allen Wiley thus pictures the
farm of 20 or 80 years hence.
We look in vain for the wood lot
That disappeared long ago TO make
way for the more profitable field and
orchard. The wood pile by the kitchen
door and the big fireplace have like,
wise passed away. Nor Is there any |
ash heap anywhere about To this /
farmer coal is too expensive. espe- |
cially when he knows that he uses less
than 10 per cent of the heat II gener.
ates and that for every ton he buys |
he pays for 30 per cent waste. How
about kerosene or coal oil or whatever
You choose to call 1t? What Is the
use OF paying freight from the oil
refinery and helping the trust TO make
profit when can get something bet.
ter for my purpose right at home
This reply may not convince, be-
cause as yet we have not had chance
to see for ourselves, but now we will
start, beginning at the farmhouse. The
reason why no smoke comes from the
chimney Is because the housewife IL
getting dinner on stove burning alco-
hol-merely a turn of a valve con.
trolling the supply and the contact
of the match flame, that's all. Here
and there are lamps which, when
lighted at dusk. give out such brill.
| liant yet even illumination that the
ordinary gas Jet is mere glimmer in
contrast Spirit furnishes the light.
| Over in the barn stands the familiar
tanning mill for cleaning grain, but
| no one turns the crank that revolves
its blades. The farmer simply throws
! over the handle of AN electric switch
and the mill begins humming merry
tune in unison with the clicking of the
feed cutter, which is also actuated
by the same Invisible force Nor does
the farmer depend on the breeze to
pump his water. The motor-driven
pump keeps Ii flowing In steady
stream from the we'll into the tank
on the roof of his home, where II Is
ever ready to extinguish fires and lets
him save on his insurance premiums
In the orchard the press Is squeezing
the juice out of the apples without Q
touch of the hand The hay press
does its work mechanically with JUS
boy to feed Il.
IF we happen to be on the placs
at butter-making time We see thu
cream separators and churns dofni
their duty independently of the house
wife, who only looks into the cream
cry now and then to see how thing
are getting on. This farmer may hav
horses, but not for field work, becaus
he finds he can do much more wit
, motor driven machinery at the sam
expense Even his plows and cultivs
tors are pulled by the traction engin
with which he runs his harvester an
! thrasher. Here the engine must con
i municate its power directly TO tn
, farm mechanism: but II he desires b
) can operate the tanning mill, the sept
| rator and the other appliances in tn
D house and barn from one source {
! power, using the electric currer
which he can readily generate wit
g his little alcohol engine.
n rs this smokeless. ashless. coaiesc'
. woodless agriculture such a Utopia
scheme as 1t reads"
In the course of his article, NJ
Wiley goes on to show how practic
es BILE the scheme Is through the use |
te homemade alcohol made from vas
r. farm products. This alcohol was r
., Gently released from It's exhorbital
!. duty of 20 times Its cost and ID no
very cheap.