AND ELECTICITY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14053, 25 July 1916, Page 4

AND ELECTICITY.

THE MOTIVE POWER OF THE FUTURE. (Special 1o tlie Herald.) WELLINGTON, ihis day. In the course of. . his address' to the Farmers' Union-to-day, Sir ..lames Wilson (the President) said : How arc we going to .make- the most out of the crops we grow"' One way is m connection with, agriculture — to increase the use oi" machinery, and also the motive powei/. The, inventive faculties of the implement maker have during the .past,., been at the service, of ■the .farmer. '.My first ploughing was with a single- tuiTOAv plough made m .Scotland and drawn by bullocks. .My ii rst sheaves were hand-tied with strips of flax. **- . Thinly of what , a change, although .we _ have not reached the stage which the Australians and United States farmers have, favoured by .their .climate, where they use a header .which strips the grain and threshes it. in one machine.. A New Zealand" farmer wa.s watching this process of heading the grain m California and asked what they did when it rained ? In reply he was asked, another question : "What sort "of country do you come from that- it rains duiling. harvest time?". The - motive power .of the future is going to be electricity. Mr. Clifton, m an. address given v at the Council of Agriculture meeting, said lie had seen a farm m California where everything was driven by electricity generated' by water m the hills. The only thing hot done thus was the tilling of the soil.. '"-,'The farmer told him that it would not be long before he was able, to do this, too.. What a chance for the . chief electrical engineer to be allowed by his Minister to give a demonstration of. how, much can .be done oii a Canterbury farm by' the generated at Lake Coleridge! By , the use of the cheapest form ot motive power, and the increase of machinery, even with. -high wages j we 'may -be able 'to cheapen the cost of :crops. , Dairyjnen are all, now impressed' that machinery must replace handlabour, and the number of milking machines are being doubled. One-l ocal firm who makes oil engines wliich liave stood the test which experience of their ; u ?« gi.YOs, told me that one man alone had given them an order for five hundred. Motor ploughs have not yet been perfected;- but 7 I "have no doiibt Vthat' m a few years we shall see them sue-' 'cessf ully doing work on farms, v though on hills our old friend the. horse.is,likely^ to remain. If draining is required, we must, if necessary^ import machinery foi* the pUrpose7 They have machines driven by petrol m Canada and the United Stages Of Ameriqa which digs drains expeditiously to the depth re quired. One is, I. understand, made m New Zealand, and an account of it was given m the Journal of Agriculture; but I have not seen the machine myself. Much help can be given to us by the trained men .who .are . now connected with the Department.- 'Indeed we often gam inu<?h advantage from them now* but we. might gain more.