Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-06-22
IS
HELPER IN WORK
FARMER OF FINE LAND REDUCES
HIS LABORs BY O1SER-
VATlON.

McGregor, June 21.--By merely CIV
ing forethought to the relative loca-
ton of residence, outbuildings and
, we'll. John Bernhard, who Is farming
fifty acres Of fine land near McGregor,
has reduced the work Of feeding and
watering stock and caring for milk
and poultry so per cent.
The highest place on the farm was
selected as building site. The house
and well were placed on top of this
high ground and the barns and
stables on the slope below. BY this
side hill arrangement gravity Is made
to do much of the work. The ten
roomed modern house protected from
the winds by dense cedar grove
stands on the crest Of the knoll With
in few feet of the back door Of the
house stands big tank. A pipe ex-
tends from the cistern to 1t and out
Of the tank run some dozen other
pipes down hill to the barns. stables,
hog pens. poultry yard and out into
the pastures.
Plenty Of Water Tanks.
A watering tank is at the end OF
every pipe and in every tank float
valve bobs up and down. AS 1t hobs
it alternately opens and shuts the
valve in the inflow pipe by pulling
the lever which Is attached to 1t. thus
regulating the height of the water in
each tank
Wind, gravity and the animals do
the rest, the wind pumping, gravity
distributing and the stock keeping
the water running The water is
pumped out of the we'll and into the
cistern by the windmill. From the
cistern 1t flows to the tank in the
basement of the house and thence to
pastures.
Kerosene oil heaters, Mr. Bernhard's
own invention, are kept burning i1s
the tanks during the winter maintain
ing the water at comfortable tenn
perature. so that the year round, win
ter as we'll as summer. the several
hundred horses, COWS and hogs on the
big farm are watered without 1.-The
lifting of hand"
Has Iceiess Refrigerator.
As they consume an enormous
amount of water, the supply in tho
tank in the basement Of the house is
constantly changing, thereby accom-
second big labor saving.
The running water is cold at all
times, so the tank serves as a con- J
venient cooling receptacle for the milk |
and cream. Beside the tank Is gas |
oline engine which pumps the water |
from the tank through pipes to every |
part Of the house.
The same engine. by the way, does
the family washing. operates the
cream separator, furnishes gas lights
for house and barns and fills the tank |
IN the attic from the rain water els
we'll as hard water.
Feed Pigs From Kitchen.
Because of the relative position Of
he buildings gravity does another i'm
3ortant work
In the kitchen is a cement trap for
vet garbage. A big pipe runs down
I'LL from it to the hog pens, terminal
ng there in cement troughs. The
'armer's wife at feeding times lifts
Up the cover of the trap and pours in !
he food. Gravity does the rest and
he pigs( though denied the luxury of
being kept in the parlor as in former
lays, are literally fed in the kitchen.
They get their corn by way of grav-
ty, too. The corn crib is the second
story of the hog pens. Several chutes
extend down from the floor of the
rib to the pens below. They are
fashioned in the shape Of perpendicu-
ar boxes with a sort of platform at |
he lower end.
The pressure of the column holds
he corn packed in the chutes except !
when the column is started moving by |
cushing a shovel under it.