Country Life
ELECTRIC FARMS.
Farmers, including the National Farmers' Union (not this time exclusively interested in politics) have been deeply interested in some views on rural electricity expressed by the director of agricultural engineering at Oxford. Though " the Grid " is now nearly completed, not 10 per cent, of the farms in England are equipped or likely to be equipped with electrical light or power ; and in village after village clustered about the pylons the cottages remain in darkness. There is a real danger that the country may miss the benefit of an agent of reconstruction, though it stands visible at their doors. Country people, both farmers and cottagers, are gradually waking up to the situation. It is easy to exaggerate the use of electrical power in the mechanics of farming. As Mr. Denham pointed out, the tractor is an admirable mobile unit, that fulfils many of the requisites. It is, however, impossible to exaggerate the influence of electric light and heat on life in the cottages ; and the unpleasant fact must be faced that some of the bigger distributing agents say bluntly that it does not pay them to supply cottages.
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