The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-11-08
LONG ISLAND FARM
HAS NOVEL HELP
Farmer Employees Electricity to
Do the Chores
1T LIGHTS THE HOUSE
And AccompIishes All the Hard Work
About the Place-sweeps the
Floor and cools the
House.
1T LIGHTS THE HOUSE

Contrary to most opinions, the methods
of farming in this country have been i'm
| proved and revolutionized until agricul-
ture is little short of an exact science.
Each year sees new and successful ma
chimes invented to take the place OF the
old hand drudgery on the farm; each
year farming becomes more human, with
less backache and hard work for the
men and women on the farm; each year
the conditions Of the rural inhabitants OF
the country are improved with new and
better farming machinery, telephones, ru-
raj free delivery and better prices for
farm produce.
| For years the most perplexing problem
of farm life has been the employment Or
suitable labor Farm hands are very
scarce, and they must be paid good wages
or they will not stay. Modern Invention
has produced a machine for nearly every
agreeable chore on the farm, out THESE
diverse machines require power-n there
is no engine handy, then the wheels OF
these machines must be turned by hand.
And it is right here that science, remem-
bering this eternal worry of the Iarmer'
has stepped in and solved the power
question with electrical apparatus ana
motors Just suited for farm work. This
new "hired man" never kicks at getting
I'D at $40 a. m. never objects to scrub
bling the milk cans, and never gets mad
and quits the very morning that five acres
of hay are ready for the barn. And he
will even do the chores at the barn ana
help about the house at the same time.
An idea of the extent to which cleo
trictly is being used in agriculture may
be gained from a description of SO-acre
electrically operated farm on Long Island.
This farm, a portion of which is salt
marsh land not cultivated, was for years
allowed TO grow wild. 1t was about three
years ago that the present owner, New
Yorker, purchased the property and pro-
ceeded to farm it along modern lines
The first thing the new owned did was
to wire the house and barns for electricity
for light and power. One hundred and
sixty electric incandescent lamps were III.
stalled about the premises. All the ma
chimes about the barns were old, but were
easily cleaned up, and, by supplying
few missing parts, were arranged Tor
belt drive from a counter shaft The feed
cutter, root cutter, fodder cutter, tanning
mill, grindstone, circular saw, corn shell
Ter, a small drill press and a horse CHIP
per were grouped SO as to be driven by
one three horsepower moter. The fact
that no two of the large machines were
needed at the same time made 1t possible
to use such a small motor.
1t Gosh $500 to install the private plant,
consisting of 10-horse-power gas engine
driving q five-kilo-wat generator But the
yearly cost figured out as low as $3.50
less than two-thirds of what the owner
must have paid to rent electrical power
That 500 was made up of, first interest
on investment and depreciation of plant
at Il per cent, $420; and, second, of run
ming expenses for fuel, lubricating oil and
minor repairs, $3.50. There was no cost
for labor, because the plant required no
expert attention after the daily starting
of the engine and generator. One could
do a full days work and give the electric
hired man. between times, all the atten-
ton requisite.
The power plant was installed in an I'M
used one-story carriage shed, located at
the westerly end of the L formed by the
linked group Of farm buildings. That was
about $50 feet from the building contain
ing the farm machinery and the cream
cry, but it permitted of utilization of a
structure otherwise idle.
1t was found to be most economical to
install storage battery to provide con-
tinuous supply of current so the engine
need not run all the time or in case any
thing happened to the plant.
The new farmer turned loose this cur
rent on a churn, electrically driven, and
| made it grind out, regularly every day,
| from 10 to u pounds of butter inside of
| 10 minutes.
| A serious mistake was made by erecting
| en- 1S,0OO-gallon water tank, with a wind
| mill, when, for 5000 a ne-horse-power
| electric pump could have been installed
| which would have been far more simple,
| reliable and suitable.
| An automatic regriferating plant, work
| ed by electricity, was installed that is
| free from dampness, free from the waste
| of a single pound of energy, Immediately
clean and perfect in It's regulation OF
| temperature. With such refrigerating
| plant not only in the labor of harvesting
| and daily hauling of ice eliminated, but
| the farmer achieves the ideal means OF
| preserving many of his products through
| periods of low prices until such time as
| the advance in the market enables him to
| sell at the highest rates, often double
| what he would have received without 1t.
A small motor drives the bottle-Washine
machine and the pasteurzing apparatus
and twice day it works the milking ma
| chine on two cows at time and enable;
| one man to attend to two or three ma
chimes at once With a milking machine
| properly cared for as to the details OF
| cleanliness, not single germ can posi-.
| bly, invade the milk supply, because from
| the time it starts from the udder until il
| is all In the Theoretically sealed pail not
a breath of air comes in contact with it
| The incubator and brooder are also heated
| by electricity.
| Electricity sweeps the floors pneumat-
ically and makes light of that weekly
| back-breaking job with the broom. II
turns the interior of the farmhouse from
( an oven at 2 o'clock of a summer after
| noon into cool paradise by means Of
the electric fans, and warns the house il
| winter by means of electric radiators. II
| washes the clothes as well, but a good
| deal more mercifully than the wet wasf
| laundry. 1t also does the cooking, iron
ing, sewing and most of the disagreeablt
| tasks of the kitchen.
|