400 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 36 



Other papers included that on C'ollege Instruction in Concrete Construction, 

 by A. J. R. Curtis, prepared from the standpoint of the teacher; Short-course 

 Instruction in Gas Engines and Tractors, by L. F. Seaton, in which the 

 practice in this connection of about twelve agricultural and mechanical col- 

 leges in the Central West was outlined ; . Standardization of Sprocket Wheel 

 Design, by W. F. MacGregor, discussing a paper on the same subject presented 

 by F. N. G. Kranich at the 1915 meeting; Cotton Machinery, by E. C. Gee, 

 based on experience at the Texas College; Use of the Tractor on Eastern 

 Farms, by H. R. Burr, based on work conducted at the Williamson School of 

 Delaware County, Pa, ; The Arrangement and Planning of the Farmstead, 

 by L. W. Chase and M. C. Betts, who covered in a semi-popular way the 

 arrangement of farm buildings, lots, etc., with reference to practically every 

 ordinary type of farm activity; What Should the Farmhouse Cost, by W. A. 

 Etherton, who presented data collected showing the relation of house rent to 

 the weekly income of 7,570 families in 29 cities and the rehitiou of the incomes 

 of 1,363 farms in nine States to the cost of the tenant houses thereon ; Electric 

 Equipment for the Farm by W. K. Frudenberger ; and Agricultural Engineer- 

 ing Bibliogi-aphy, by H. E. Horton, proposing to add to the generally accepted 

 classification of agricultural engineering three more divisions, namely cul- 

 tural, statistical, and economic. 



E. M. Merwine presented the report of the farm power machinery committee. 

 This consisted of a report of tests on the power requirements of two corn 

 grinders, three alfalfa grinders, two silage cutters, and a corn husker and 

 shredder. 



The committee on farm pov/er, L. F. Seaton chairman, reported tests on 

 the compaction of soils due to the use of tractors, made by the agricultural 

 engineering and agronomy departments of the University of Nebraska. The 

 tests were conducted on stubble and freshly plowed land of fine sandy loam soil, 

 which at the time was in very dry and compact condition. Four types of 

 tractor were used, namely, the light-weight four wheel, the drum drive, the 

 caterpillar, and the heavy-weight four-wheel types. Samples of soil were 

 taken to a depth of 6 in. and sometimes to a depth of 12 in. to determine the 

 weight of the soil in a given volume of space in places where the tractor 

 had passed over. The results showed that very little packing of the soil 

 occurred in stubble ground, and in several cases the ground was looser after 

 the tractor had passed over it than before. This is tentatively attributed to 

 the grouters and the slipping action of the wheels. There was considerably 

 more packing when the moistui'e content of the soil was higher. 



W. F. MacGregor reported the progress of the activities of the committee on 

 tractor ratings. 



I. W. Dickerson presented the tentative recommendations of the standards 

 committee on the standardization of the ratings and specifications of low 

 voltage farm electric lighting plants. These consisted essentially of sugges- 

 tions as to the information which manufacturers of farm electric lighting 

 plants should give in their ratings and specifications. 



The report of the committee on sanitation included among other matters 

 a review of about 95 reports on the purification and disposal of rural and farm 

 sewage and on farm and rural water supplies, obtained during the past year 

 from various soiirces. 



Other conunittees reporting were those on farm structures, tractor demonstra- 

 tions, tractor ratings, irrigation, and drainage. 



E. B. McC'ormick of the O.^ce of Public Roads and Rural Engineering of this 

 Department, was elected president for the ensuing year. C. K. Shedd of the 

 Iowa College continues as secretary-treasurer. 



