FER THE CHEMICAL NEWS Edited by AND JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE James H. Gardiner, F.C.S. Established ୮ (WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE "CHEMICAL GAZETTE "). in the Year 1859. Published Weekly. Annual Subscription, free by post Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Mail Matter. Transmissible through the Post-United Kingdom, at Newspaper rate; Canada and Newfoundland, at Magazine rate. Friday, January 30, 1920 PAGE 49 52 ........... 52 52 The Estimation of Organic hlorine or Bromine by the Chromic 54 54 ..... ... 56 56 Registered as PRICE 4d. LEWIS'S Circulating Annual Subscription.. from One Guinea. TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC WORKS. READING ROOM OPEN DAILY, H. K. LEWIS & Co. Ltd., LINEN INDUSTRY RESEARCH The Council give notice that they will proceed shortly to appoint the following: A RESEARCH BOTANIST, at commencing salaries of £500 per annum. 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THE following abstracts from a recent important report should show that German agriculturists had faith in the claims they made for electric power and lighting on the farm. (Report to Board of Agriculture and Fishertes, by J. H. Cabell, 1913). The writer states that "the use of electric light and power has spread with striking rapidity in the agricultural districts of Germany in recent years." And he adds the further statement that in "Saxony electricity was used to a far greater extent hy small and medium holders than by large holders." The most striking lesson we can draw, however, from a study of the application of electricity to agriculture in societies sometimes purchase surplus power from private undertakings which manufacture electricity for their own use. In this country, which is comparatively thickly populated, and where the distances to be traversed are not so great, the provision of electricity in rural districts is a much simpler undertaking than its provision in the rural districts of Germany, and the author feels that if steps were taken to promote a co-operative movement in this country for the supply of electricity in these districts considerable progress would be made. There are over 428,000 farms of from 5 to 300 acres each, and averaging 60 acres, in the United Kingdom, and it is estimated that to operate these electrically would consume not less than 4,000,000,000 units per annum, or as much as is generated altogether by the whole of the electricity supply undertakings of England and Wales. This in inself is a striking fact, and indicates to some extent the importance of this load from the point of view of the supply authorities. Apart altogether from the question of electricity supplies, much has been achieved in many districts in Germany by combination among the farmers, and the interests especially of the small and moderate landowners have been substantially advanced by means of the cooperative system. In these countries co-operation might even go further than in Germany, and provide the portable electrical apparatus necessary for use at the farm, this being passed on from farm to farm as the work is completed, as is at present done with threshing machines. A FIG. 13.-ELECTRIC PLOUGHING ON THE SINGLE WINDER SYSTEM, SHOWING CABLE GUIDING CARRIAGE. Germany lies in the manner in which the thinly populated | rural districts secured the advantages of a cheap supply of electricity. This was done in the main through rural co-operative societies, and the growth of these societies in recent years reads almost like a romance. In 1901 there was one such society; in 1909, 82; on January 1, 1910, 257; on January 1, 1911, about 340; and in 1913 the number had increased to between 600 and 700, or more than the total number of public electricity supply undertakings in the United Kingdom. Some of these societies produced electricity themselves; some bought electricity in bulk, and distributed it over their own distribution system; while others still only combined to guarantee a certain consumption, and thus secure cheap current from the supply authority. It is worthy of note that in remote districts where the erection of a central station might not be justified, the Reprinted by permission from the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. considerable future should lie in front of co-operative endeavour of this character. The problem is of interest, too, to the manufacturer of electrical machines, and unless some steps are taken to meet the growing demand for machines designed for the technical conditions of agricultural work, the country will lose a good deal of this type of business abroad. In the Argentine, Australia, Canada, and Russia, not to mention China, there are many millions of acres that will need cultivation and transport facilities in the immediate future, and the provision of the necessary equipment is work one would like to see done here. In this connection we may recall the very considerable assistance the Royal Agricul. tural Society gave in the development of the steam plough, and also in the development of the internal combustion engine, particularly through the trials held at the Society's shows and the valuable prizes offered for the best designs of apparatus. It would not be easy to over-estimate the help similar |