484 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



relating to individual projects. The reKulatioiis for the carrying out of these 

 laws are also given. 



Excavating' machinery used for digging ditches and building levees, J. O. 

 Wright {U. S. Bept. Agr. Office Expt. aS/o.s. Bui. 191, pp. SO, pl.'i. 20, figs. 13.— 

 various types of excavating machinery used for digging ditches aud building 

 levees are described, and the conditions to which each is adapted are discussed, 

 together with some general observations on ditqhing operations. 



The only feasible way in which large areas of swamp laud can be drained 

 is stated to be by the use of a dredge. The cost ranges from 3 cts. per cubic yard 

 up, according to the kind of dredge, the character of the work, aud the efficiency 

 of the management. 



" Where there is much water on the surface or many trees and stumps to be 

 removed, a floating dipper dredge is the best for work," while " for small 

 ditches on firm ground some kind of traction machine is preferable. ... A 

 1-yd. or li-yd. dredge seems to be best suited for ordinary drainage work. 



"A floating dredge should commence at the upper end of the ditch and work 

 down stream, and a traction dredge at the lower end and work up stream. 

 When constructing large ditches having water flowing in them the greater part 

 of the year, the slope of the bank is not of much importance, as nature will soon 

 make the slope best suited to the soil. In small ditches, with water flowing 

 only a part of the time, smooth, sloping banks and a true grade are very 

 essential. . . . 



"If a dredge is properly designed, well built, and suited to the work to be 

 done, it is an efficient and cheap appliance for digging ditches or building 

 levees." A clam-shell dredge with a long boom is well suited for the latter 

 purpose. 



"A machine can now be had which will dig from 70 to tOO rods of tile ditch 

 30 to 36 in. deep in a day of 10 hours at a cost of operation not exceeding .$10 

 per day." 



Tests of internal-combustion engines on alcohol fuel, C. E. Lucke and S. M. 

 Woodward ( U. ,S. Dc'iit. Agi:, Office Expt. t^tas. Hal. I'.il, pp. 89. pis. 20, figs. 13).— 

 This is a technical report giving the results of tests carried out for the Oflice 

 of Experiment Stations in the mechanical engineering laboi'atories of Columbia 

 University. 



Eight different kinds of gasoline and kerosene engines of American manu- 

 facture were run on alcohol fuel as well as upon the fuels for which they were 

 oi'iginally constructed, and careful observations were made of fuel ctmsumptiou, 

 power developed, and general behavior of the engines under different conditions 

 of operation, of these five were different slow-speed engines varying from (> to 

 15 horsepower, and three high-speed engines, of which two were automobile en- 

 gines and one a 2-cycle marine engine. The results of 192 consiimption tests 

 are given in detail, as well as many observations of a qualitative nature, and 

 full discussions of the results are included. 



The following general conclusions are drawn : 



"(1) Any gasoline engine of the ordinary type can be run on alcohol fuel 

 without any material change in the construction of the engine. The only dif- 

 ficulties likely to be encountered are in starting and in supplying a sufficient 

 quantity of fuel, a quantity which must be considerably greater than the 

 quantity of gasoline required. 



"(2) When an engine is run on alcohol its operation is more noiseless than 

 when run on gasoline, its maximum power is usually materially higher than it is 

 on gasoline, and there is no danger of any injurious hammering with alcohol 

 such as may occur with gasoline. 



