ELECTRICITY:

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume VI, Issue 3, 15 March 1913, Page 276

ELECTRICITY:

ITS POTENTIALITIES IN RURAL ECONOMY.

C. J. Drewitt.

Of the benefits which science and mechanical invention have conferred on the modern farmer, it is now being realized that electricity will be the principal means of revolutionizing country life and work, and thereby bringing about such an amelioration of farming conditions that the rural exodus will cease to be a national danger.

The more the great question of maintenance of soil-fertility is studied is the dominant problem in the world to-daythe more the need is realized of thorough cultivation; not only the constant stirring and aeration of soils long in use, but the repeated working of swamp lands (following drainage) and intractable soils. This implies labour —or, rather, a simplified, effective, and economical power. This electricity promises to provide. In the coming days of intensive farming, when fewer • but more profitable stock will be kept on smaller but betterworked areas, electricity will become a dominant factor in farming operations; and in no country should this truth become better exemplified than in New Zealand, with its many sources of potential water-power.

In the tilling of the soil electricity promises to play its most important part. With a good supply of current passing through a district from harnessed water-power it would be possibleindeed, the principle is already in operation in England have a main line running through farms near the supply route, with every pole (or post) carrying the wire a power-point. With 500 yards of armoured trailing cable attachable with ease between one of these many points and the electrically driven implements, the cheapest and best of all forces for cultivating and other farm operations will be at the farmer’s command.

With power delivered under this system compared with the petroldriven or steam tractor there is a vast difference. In the former case the capacity is very much extended. When the electrically driven implement gets into a soft place, or encounters an obstacle demanding exceptional force to ' overcome it, the series or three-phase motor will proceed, though, of course, at a slower pace, but it will operate ; while with the petrol or steam tractor there is a limit beyond which one

cannot go. In other words, the motor-plough, or implement driven from a wire-conducted current, has a great reserve of force behind it, and is thus capable of work'a self-contained motor can never accomplish. More than this, the farmer would only pay for the power he actually used. In light land, and an easy draught, the cost would be less than where stiff land was being worked and the draught heavy.

. Electricity presents other possibilities in tilling the soil. Though our power of operation has increased, the plough itself has advanced little in design, and practically nothing in principle, since the sower went forth to sow. We still just turn over the soil and leave it in bulk, other operations being necessary to break it up freely and aerate the seed-bed. That this system still maintains is, in the writer’s opinion, solely because of the absence of a power of the required flexibility. This difficulty disappears before the electric motor. If hard steam-coal can be reduced to a fine dust by a rotary-bar electric cutter, it is idle to suggest that tilled land cannot be dealt with in the same manner. The idea is that a rotary disc with transverse blades, set at an angle, should revolve at a high speed, each blade taking a fine cut of soil, which would be elevated and dropped to the side by the setting angle. With a5O to, 70 horse-power motor a sowing of lucerne could be made in one operation, the inoculated soil being spread from the front and thoroughly mixed in the breaking operation, the seed being sown and- rolled in behind, there being no objection to small subsidiary motors for the spreading operations. The effect on weeds of such a system can easily be imagined,, while a green crop ordinarily ploughed under would, be thoroughly disintegrated, and mixed with the soil.

Again, on the dairy farm electricity can be used to supply energy for milking-machines, for separators, for pumping water, and for sterilizing utensils, the passage of a current of electricity being one of the most powerful sterilizing agents known. There would be an entire absence of the taint of kerosene from the engine, and of noise, soot, and dirt inseparable from the boiler which now supplies the hot water.

The poultry-yard would be invaded. The present-day incubator, for instance, is still in its initial stage. The incubator of the future will probably be a slowly revolving wheel in the vertical plane, while electricity will supply a perfectly even heat, which could be increased or decreased by the snapping of a switch. The passage of a small quantity of electricity would evaporate the required amount of moisture, while the eggs, by passing a regulated space, would automatically be cooled in succession. The cost of incubating 1,000 eggs, at Id. per unit, would work out at about 45., which would be saved many times over in labour.

In the orchard the value of an electric spray to control pests has yet to be determined. This suggests a rich field for experiment, while the beneficial effect upon growth would be undoubted. Again, a system of light-resistance wires run at intervals would ensure against frost.

The possibilities in electricity on the farm are, it will be seen, undoubted, and now that the Ruakura Farm of Instruction has a complete electric installation an excellent opportunity is afforded for experimenting' in the directions indicated. The lighting-wires run through a considerable portion of the property. These could be disconnected from their ordinary duty at a pressure of 220 volts and connected to 600-volt wires, and thus be made to supply 30 horse-power from an outside source without difficulty at- any pole. Duplicate the wires and that portion of the farm is already equipped to carry a power-supply of the required 50 to 70 horse-power. The lighting of Ruakura by means of electricity is a matter for congratulation. It was particularly desirable from a safety viewpoint. In valuable buildings, with a number .of youthful inmates candles, oil-lamps, and matches are undesirable. Then, no better place for. the development of electricity as a power as well as a lighting medium could be desired. If all the available power from the Waikato River were utilized, as it one day must be, the district from a productive standpoint would be revolutionized. As one stands on the bridge at Cambridge and attempts to realize the amount of money spent .on coal and petroleum for power, while thousands of horse-power roll down unused to the sea, the potentialities of the district under electricity made available to the farmerconsidering the greater economy of production combined with the increased productivity thereby made possible —-are seen to be almost illimitable.

The establishment of a series of about twelve demonstration farms has been authorized in Kentucky. These will be about 20 acres each. The State University and Agricultural Experiment Station have made arrangements whereby four of these farms, all located in the western part of the State, will be donated to the nation. Spokesman Review.

Food Products from Bananas.—ln a recent issue of the American Consular and Trade Reports, Consul Dreher, of Port Antonio, Jamaica, gives some interesting particulars regarding the manufacture of food products from bananas on that island. Mr. Dreher states that this industry, which has been established for not more than six years, is rapidly assuming importance, and that a number of factories are being erected to supply the increasing demand. So far, most of the product has been shipped to England, • France, Germany, and Austria, and in those countries the demand is steadily increasing, but numerous letters of inquiry recently received indicate a-growing interest in the United States.