The foregoing summary is based on the results from several years’ investigation of and one year’s operation,¹ under test, of a wind electric plant located at this Station; and from a study² of the performance of 66 wind electric plants on Iowa farms. The objective of these investigations was to determine as far as practicable the possibilities and limitations of the wind electric plant under Iowa farmstead conditions.

The origin of the windmill is obscure. There is some evidence that it was first used in Persia during the early centuries of the Christian era.³ It came into prominent use in Europe during the twelfth century. Murphy⁴ gives a brief sketch of the early history of the windmill in America, and Barbour⁵ gives a good description of a large variety of homemade mills used in the Middlewest just following pioneer days.