Windmills as Wealth Producers
Within the last few years the farmers of the prairie States have learned to utilize the energy going to waste in the wind for pumping water for irrigation. In several States the southwest wind blows almost constantly in the summer, and the blasts of heat often seriously damage the growing crops. But from an injury these winds have now been turned into a blessing, since they have been harnessed to pumps, and made to lift the water that is in vast areas at only a short distance below the surface. Many of these wind engines are home-made, and of very curious construction; but the advantage from their use is so great that increasing numbers of well-made windmills are being set up. The windmill is almost as common in some portions of the Central West as in Holland. A new use of this wind power is now being made. Farming is a science in the great corn and wheat country, and electricity is found of great advantage in plowing, and particularly in harvesting; this has usually been produced by steam, and then transmitted to the field where it is to be used. Only on the Pacific Coast is water power available for commercial use. In the Middle West water is scarce in summer; but wind is not. So the farmers are placing dynamos at the bases of their windmill towers, and using electric motors to run their thrashing-machines. Through the hot months the mills keep pumps going to save their crops, and in the fall they run dynamos to harvest the same. This development of wind power works to the advantage of the small farmer. The owner of thousands of acres finds it pays him to have an expensive steam-power plant to furnish him with electricity. This the owner of a few acres could not afford to do; but he has found that a few cheap windmills, each running a two- or three-horsepower dynamo, puts him on an equality in this respect with his richer neighbor.—The Boston Globe.