Department of Farm Mechanics cxxxv 



4. At the suggestion of the Department of Soil Technology Air. Robb 

 was requested by the Fiscal Supervisor of the State Board of Charities to 

 conduct some special engineering investigations which that board had in 

 mind, for the purpose of determining whether or not drain tile could be 

 made from materials available on the state farm at Sonyea, New York, 

 and if so what machinery equipment would be required for commercial 

 manufacture and what would be the probable cost of the same. Four 

 samples of clay and shale were studied and mixtures of a number of 

 different proportions were tested at several different temperatures and 

 periods of burning. The existing commercial brick plant was carefully 

 studied, modern methods were fully investigated, and a complete report 

 was submitted. 



5. Investigations were begun to determine the durability of cement 

 tiles for drainage and the possibilities of their economical home manu- 

 facture by farmers. 



EXTENSION 



Owing to the very limited departmental funds and lack of properly 

 trained persons available for the purpose, very little extension work on 

 the subject of mechanical matters was undertaken. Two exhibitions of 

 the Cornell sprayograph in use in testing spray nozzles were made at 

 fruit-growers' meetings, and apparatus was installed at those meetings 

 for use by the Department of Plant Pathology in demonstrating the 

 proper method of spraying in the wind. At the State Fair at Syracuse 

 an exhibit of small domestic sewage-disposal plants was given. In 

 addition, inquiries by correspondence and from visitors were answered. 

 These included many questions on sewage disposal, the answers to many 

 of which necessitated special drawings whose preparation drew heavily 

 on the time of the writer. 



In farm engineering considerable extension work was done by assist- 

 ing farmers in the engineering difficulties connected with their drain- 

 age problems. Sixteen farms were visited, seven in cooperation with the 

 Department of Soil Tech^olog}^ five in cooperation with the New York 

 State Department of Agriculture, and four independently by this Depart- 

 ment. There is opportunity for a great deal of engineering assistance 

 of this kind, and it is a pleasure to report that work done by the College 

 in surveying farms for drainage does not reduce the amount of the 

 work of professional drainage engineers but rather increases it by stimu- 

 lating interest in the subject. Arrangements have been perfected so that 

 students taking advanced work in farm engineering may work on these 

 extension problems, thus making it possible to greatly increase the 

 capacity of the existing staff for extension work. 



