Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

ture

AN ELECTRICAL FARM.

By George Ethelbert Walsh.

HE rapid advances in the application of electricity as a mechanical power has revolutionized many industries; but the effect upon agriculhas only been incidentally felt until quite recently. When the substitution of electricity for horses as motive power on street railroads became general a few years ago, the farmer experienced the greatest loss, for it practically closed up the most profitable market for the light horses he had been accustomed to breed for the trade; but otherwise the sudden inauguration of the age of electricity brought comparatively few changes in the quiet life of the farm. It cheapened the lighting of cities, increased the power of machinery, abolished the horse cars, and performed a thousand and one services for the mechanical world at less than half the former cost; and yet the farmer plodded on as before, content to reap his harvests and sow his seed without the aid of this new invisible force that was creating such a revolution all around him.

But science has never known any limit to its field, and it has invaded the province of the farmer with a persistent energy that never acknowledges defeat. It has trained its corps of professors and students in the agricultural colleges until they have become adepts in the science of farming, and then, with a blessing upon their heads, it has bidden them go forth into the field of practical husbandry to coöperate with the weary toilers of the farm. Science has erected barriers in the path of the devastating armies of insect pests, and told them to go so far and no farther; it has studied the relations of the soil

and water to plant life, and laid bare the secret processes of food assimilation and plant growth; it has analyzed the component parts of the soil and fertilizers, and formulated rules for the guidance of the farmer; it has brought seeds from the uttermost parts of the earth, and increased the yield of each acre tenfold; it has lightened the labor of all who would listen to its tale of discovery and invention, and scattered broadcast throughout the land mechanical contrivances to help man in his fight against the forces of nature.

Young men now go forth from the agricultural colleges equipped with all the knowledge necessary to make them masters of the soil, and in the greatest laboratory of nature they study the wonderful problems of life, growth and maturity, while they earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. Under their scientific direction the face of the earth is transformed; the revolution in the trades. and industries of our cities is a mere bagatelle in comparison. The farm teems with life and activity as of yore, but behind it there is a power that guides, directs, measures and analyzes; nothing is haphazard, everything is exact. Primitive methods are no longer tolerated on the farm of the East or West; modern inventions have made such conditions a pecuniary impossibility.

But the age of electricity is more than likely to create as great changes in ten years as plodding science accomplished in fifty. With a full equipment of past knowledge and inventions, the scientific farmer of today finds electricity brought to his door to open up new fields that he never dreamt of before even in the youthful days of his most ardent am

bition. Electricity as a generative and motive force is older than the

hills, but its application to-day on the farm is new, wonderful and mystifying. It promises to bring the agricultural millennium nearer by two centuries; it opens the door to Elysian fields that may attract our youth back to the farms of their forefathers, to re-create and rejuvenate as none ever before prophesied.

Myriads of wonderful agricultural inventions have carried primitive farming from its early conditions up to a state of progress and perfection that worthily entitles it to the dignity of a science; but in view of the present outlook these useful creations of man's brain and hands were merely the preparations for the grand revolution. Without them the application of electricity to the farm would be delayed another quarter of a century. They were the first essential steps in the emancipation of agriculture from the ban of senseless ridicule and opprobrium that had been heaped upon it by a generation of scoffers. While the world laughed in its ignorance, the farmer cast off the shackles that had bound him and emerged from the darkness as the chief representative of useful, practical, applied science. There he stands to-day on his model farm, hampered by inheritances from the past, it is true, but bravely overcoming all difficulties and advancing into the front ranks of the world's pioneer leaders.

The model farm of the future is presaged to-day in a few isolated examples, for it combines many old and new inventions, and includes others that have barely been tested absolutely; but it is so simple and practical in its workings that none can call it a fanciful picture. Electricity is the motive power and the great secret of the whole change. No city has ever been installed with a more complete electrical plant than the model farm. Here the force re-creates and stimulates life as well as drives the machinery and agricultural implements. It

dominates every part of the farm life, and makes the owner of the place a king among men. Old methods have passed away in every sense of the word, and mute, obedient machinery does the work that hired hands formerly performed so clumsily. The horse is no longer a beast of burden; his entire absence on the farm is the most conspicuous evidence that electricity has supplanted him in the humblest walk of life.

Experiments with electricity for forcing the growth of plant life were made more than ten years ago. Spechneff applied the electric current to the seeds of plants, and afterward to the soil, and caused ordinary radishes to attain a length of seventeen inches and a diameter of over five. Lemstrom, pursuing independent investigations in the same field, demonstrated that the wheat plants on a given tract of land could be made to double their yield by judiciously applying the electric current to the seeds and soil. Following these discoveries, the directors of Cornell University installed a forcing house with electricity, and carried the experiments one step further. They applied the electric light to the plants at night, and endeavored to ascertain the effect upon the flowers, fruits and vegetables. The forcing house was divided. into two compartments, one-half being subjected to the ordinary conditions of light and darkness, and the other half receiving the sunlight by day and the electric light at night. It took several years to arrive at any definite conclusions. But these important results were obtained and verified by repeated experiments at Cornell and other places: that the electric light greatly accelerated the growth of plants, and deepened and intensified the colors of some flowers, and faded others. In the case of some plants, such as spinach, radishes and lettuce, the light placed within five feet of them stimulated their growth. so that they ran to seed even before edible leaves were formed. Others

within a short distance of the light were blasted and killed. But on the other hand, when the electric light was placed at a reasonable distance from the plants and enclosed in a globe of white "opal" glass, most of the vegetables were stimulated in their growth without any material injury to their quality. Many of the plants would have such an attraction for the arc light that they would incline at an angle of forty-five degrees, toward it at night, and straighten up again in the daytime. The effect upon the growth and color of flowers was equally remarkable. The colors of the tulips were made deeper and richer for a few days, and violets were made to blossom in three weeks.

Flowers placed too near the arc lights were invariably injured, but if kept at a proper distance no harm followed. The intensified colors, however, faded quicker than those produced by the ordinary methods of growth, and scarlet, dark red, blue and pink flowers invariably turned to a grayish white after being exposed to the sunlight for a few days. The effect of the light on the development of the plants was unquestioned, and the only unsolved problem was: What degree of light could they stand, and how could it best be applied?

While the arc light was being applied to the plants in this country, the French scientists were investigating and experimenting with another system of electroculture. The value of atmospheric electricity to our growing plants has long been recognized, and tests to distribute and collect this electricity in the atmosphere have been made for the ulterior purpose of applying it more directly to field and garden crops. This is Nature's method of stimulating the growth of the plants, and it was thought that better results could be obtained by following her lead than by attempting to introduce the powerful current artificially. It is now announced positively that the French scientists.

have succeeded in utilizing atmospheric electricity for stimulating plant growth. The new invention is called the geomagnetifere, and its object is to collect the electricity from the air and then distribute it evenly among the growing crops. An electrically installed field according to this system is so inexpensive that the farmer can afford to adopt it.

In the centre of the garden a pole forty to fifty feet high is erected, and on the top is placed a chevaux de frise of copper spikes. These copper

spikes act as a collector of the electricity in the air, and being insulated from the pole by porcelain knobs and connected with the ground below by insulated copper wires they distribute the electricity among the growing crops. Under the soil of the garden a network of wires is permanently laid. The wires are made of galvanized iron, so that the cost is small, and they are buried to a depth of six feet, so that the electricity does not come into too direct contact with the seeds and plants. They do not interfere with the ordinary cultivation of the field, and yet they stimulate the plants in their growth, so that maturity is hastened and the yield on experimental grounds has been increased fifty per cent.

Lemstrom obtained his remarkable growth of wheat by exposing the plants to electricity diffused by a network of wires; but later tests seemed to show that as a rule the current generated from a battery was too harsh upon the average garden vegetable. The utilization of the atmospheric electricity, however, solves the problem better than any experiments so far made. The action of the atmospheric electricity is not so powerful as that generated from a dynamo, and it is distributed more evenly over the garden. The development of the plants in a garden thus installed is very uniform and satisfactory. The value of the arc light in forcing houses in the winter season may be of great value for certain varieties of vegeta

bles, and even the dynamo will find its special use in the gardens and fields; but the French method of employing atmospheric electricity for stimulating plant growth appears the most serviceable. The comparative The comparative cost of the two systems is also an important consideration. The expense of installing a field with electricity generated by a dynamo, and the constant outlay of time and money to keep the machine running, make it unprofitable for the average farmer to adopt. The French system, however, is very inexpensive, as well as the most effective in operation.

The model farm of to-day and of the future must avail itself of the most economical systems of plant propagation, and the geomagnetifere must play an important part in its workings. Beneath the rich soil of the gardens where the delicate vegetables are growing, networks of invisible wires are laid, collecting and distributing the atmospheric electricity to all the plants. In the forcing houses similar arrangements are made for stimulating the winter vegetables and flowers for the market, while overhead powerful arc lights make the night as brilliant as day, and help to mature the plant growths in half the regular time required by nature. In the fields of wheat and corn the more powerful currents from a storage house work out similar results, lessening the season of growth and doubling the yield per acre. Excessive droughts and the danger from late and early frosts are thus partly avoided on the electric. farm, while if necessary two crops can be raised in one season where formerly only one could be grown. The electric power that the farmer has at his command enables him to regulate the growth of his plants to suit the seasons or the markets. One portion of the garden can be forced, while the other half is kept back several weeks. There is no limit to the use of the new invisible power which he gathers from the atmosphere around him or generates from the wasted

force of the neighboring stream of water.

This leads to the examination of the source of the new power that propels the machinery on the farm. A small stream of water that formerly flowed across the farms in an irregular course, fertilizing the lower meadows and irrigating the upland districts, has been widened and deepened near its source, forming a large storage reservoir. This artificial pond has been dammed in at its lower end, and as the water tumbles over the open watergates it turns several large turbine wheels. These wheels do not move the machinery of a flour mill, but constantly manufacture electricity for use on the farm. By means of the huge storage reservoir the work of making electricity can go on through the driest season, for the water power never gives out and the electric power is always ready to do its work. From this storage house the motive power is conducted to all parts of the farm. The forcing houses for winter plants are connected with the power house by overhead wires similar to those which disfigure the city streets for trolley lines. The great barn and living house are lighted by electric lights that get their source of energy in the same place. Movable cables radiate from the storage house to every part of the fields, and to these electric motors are attached for performing the various labors assigned to them by the inventive genius of man.

The electric machinery worked by the motors is full of interest. Here are huge plows that turn over six furrows of fresh soil at once, hay-rakes and reapers which perform their duties automatically; electric weedkillers and fertilizers, corn-huskers and shellers, hay-choppers and gigantic threshing and fanning mills. Electric vehicles rush across the extensive fields with loads of grain, hay or vegetables, moving with their broad tires without difficulty over the rough, uneven surface, and behind the plows and harrows the automatic seeders fol

low in close succession, dropping the corn, wheat or other seeds at regular intervals in the freshly turned furrows. Everything is performed by machinery, guided by disciplined hands, and propelled by the new motive power that has caused all the revolution.

An examination of these new farm implements in detail may give one a better idea of their value. As far back as 1892 an electric plow was patented in this country by an inventor in Minnesota, but prior to that time several electric machines had been in practical use in Europe. Threshing machines and hay presses especially had been run by electric motive power in the various European countries; and Congress, taking note of the attempts to introduce electricity on the farms abroad, favored the passage of a bill to provide for experiments with electricity as a motive power for agricultural machinery. This was regarded as the signal for general activity in this direction, and a great number of inventors started in to help solve the problem. The Patent Office at Washington was bombarded with applications for patents on all sorts of electrical farm machinery, many of them being worthy and others almost worthless. An electric plow was soon operated in western Kansas and proved successful.

But it required a cheaper production of electricity to make the new farm machinery of general value to the agricultural community. The electric motors were too expensive, and for a time the inventors waited for further developments. Then came the successful harnessing of Niagara, and the general cheapening of the process of manufacturing electricity and distributing it from a central power house. The trolley cars appeared in the land like mushrooms on a summer's day. Great projects were talked of, and the railroad problem and cheap, clean transportation questions were attacked vigorously by the advocates of the electric lines. One dis

covery after another followed, until all sorts of wild schemes were set afloat, and people talked of harnessing the waves and tides of the ocean and rivers and making even the winds and tornadoes manufacture electricity to turn the wheels and machinery of

commerce.

Out of all this smoke and flame a great deal of solid, substantial progress emerged, and the world was the richer for the inventions that succeeded, if not wiser for those that failed. The farm machinery was not forgotten in the general scramble to invent new electric cars, new transportation lines, and rapid transit schemes. It is true that a great deal of the electrical agricultural machinery comes to this country via Europe, where, strange to say, more persistent efforts have been made to introduce the new power upon the farms. The rapid transit problem absorbed most of the best talent in this country, leaving often only second-rate inventors to take up the less profitable field of agricultural machinery. While the electric plow has been invented in this country, the most serviceable and practical machine is said to come from Vienna. However, as merits belong to several of the lately invented plows, it may be beyond the province of any writer to say which will prove the successful competitor upon our farms.

There are two general types of these electric plows which will serve to illustrate the general principle of operation in each class. The first type is propelled by a fixed motor. The field selected for plowing is divided into sections of exactly the width of the cable used for pulling the plows. A heavy, powerful electric motor on wheels is stationed at either side of the field, and a strong cable connects them. This cable winds and unwinds upon a spool as the machinery is set in motion. To this cable the plow, which is capable of turning from three to six furrows of soil at once, is firmly attached. When the electric motor on one side of the field is set in mo

« AnteriorContinuar »