Text 8 electrification

Mechanization has to be considered in detail separately, but as to electrification we shall consider in short its major applications.

'The first application of electricity to agriculture is electri­cal prime movers. Not unfrequent are at present the instanc­es when from one to two hundred electric motors operate on a collective or state farm. Electric motors as a matter of fact take care of all stationary work. They operate irrigation, pumps, threshing and fanning as well as grain-drying units along with other installations connected with field husband­ry. Electrical machines supply water to the cowhouse and when necessary heat it, cut ensilage, actuate milking ma­chines, prepare provender in the feed-processing building, feed it to the cattle, remove barnyard manure.

Electric incubators hatch chicks and ducklets, while eggs arc electrically gathered, graded and packed "on the line".

Sheep are nowadays being sheared electrically; this is by far quicker and more efficient than the old hand-method while the clip is greater and of higher quality.

The electric drive actuates various machines in farm-work­shops; it is indispensable with saw-frames; it replaces the energy of the wind or falling water at mills. Electricity is likewise operative in warming hotbeds and thus contributes to the forcing of vegetables.

Of late electricity has found a new sphere of application as the source of ultraviolet and infrared rays which contrib­ute to good metabolism and generally to the growth and healthy development of young domestic animals. Ultraviolet irradiation units are effective in preventing and curing rachitis. Ultraviolet units with bactericide lamps help to clean contaminated air in cowhouses and other premises and we can see them again at work sterilizing vessel and water. On the fields — in seed-bed preparation and harvesting — electricity is so far being used to a comparatively small extent, but the day is near when electric ploughing and other field-work will become routine practice.

Text 9 electricity for the farmstead

Manpower costs over one hundred times more than elec­tric power and the farmers should therefore use as little as possible of this expensive power to control the largest pos­sible amount of the cheap electric power. They should do the same in the field with tractors and combines.

The tendency now is for farm machinery to be designed for electrical operation with the motors built in as part of the machine.

Electricity gives us power in its most convenient and easily applied form — the electric motor. This is the simplest and most reliable machine in the world — it takes up littlespace and in many cases is an integral part of the machine it drives. Ease of starting and control are time-saving features and power is provided without fumes, noise or dirt. An elec­tric motor is often cheaper than any other equivalent power unit and will last for many years with very little attention and without the need for spares.

The electric motor is a highly efficient machine since at full load it converts 90 per cent of the electricity it takes into usable mechanical power.

The size of an electric motor is given by its horse-power output at full load. When running at this full load, each horse-power given out will use about 3/4 unit of electricity in one hour. For quick calculation, however, remembering that most farm motors will spend some of their hours running at less than full load, it is simple to say that every horse-power hour will cost the equivalent of one unit of electricity. The question of selecting the right type and size of motor to the conditions is a job for the electrical engineer. However, it is useful for the farmer to know that electric motors come in different housings and most farm operations can best be performed by the enclosed type, which is proof against most of the effect of dirt and weather.