INLAND DRAINAGE 123 



burner may sometimes be used to advantage, although this 

 method is some more costly than doing it by hand. 



THE WEED -BURNER 



The weed-burner consists of a steel tank (large enough to hold 

 15 gallons of kerosene and to leave a good-sized air-space above 

 it) equipped with a double-acting, long-stroke pump, which has 

 automatic valves and a pressure gage, and two burners, each 

 connected by a long rubber hose to metal pipes reaching to the 

 bottom of the tank. The burner is a short length of straight 

 pipe with a coil at the end. The oil passes down the straight 

 pipe, through the coil and back to the base of the coil, where it is 

 atomized through a nozzle. To begin operations, the supply 

 valves are closed, the burner coils heated until red and the air 

 pressure brought to 40 pounds. Upon opening the supply 

 valves, the oil is forced through the hot coils and readily ignites, 

 producing a bluish flame about 30 inches long and 4 inches in 

 diameter. If the coil is not heated sufficiently, the flame will be 

 of a reddish color and of low heat value. 



Three men are considered necessary for the operation of this 

 device — one at each burner and a third pumping to keep the 

 pressure up to 40 pounds. 



Shaw 1 reports that the cost of burning out with this device a 

 ditch overgrown with weeds and grass amounted to 1.4 cents a 

 lineal foot as against a cost of 0.35 cent by hand. Lenert 1 

 reports that a similar burning cost 1.5 cents a lineal foot. 



Several commercial arsenical preparations designed to kill 

 weeds are also on the market and may be used in anti-mosquito 

 work, where they will not endanger stock. 



In periods of drought, a ditch may become a series of stagnant 

 pools. A small temporary channel may then be made to concen- 

 trate and drain off this water, or, if the holes are not too numer- 

 ous, they may be filled with stone or earth. Otherwise, they 

 may be oiled or stocked with fish. 



In cases where the banks of ditches in pasture lands are flat 

 and soft, both above and below the flow-line, deep impressions, 

 which hold water, are sometimes made by the hoofs of cattle and 

 horses. Where practicable, such soft areas should be protected 

 by fences, and a barrel without a bottom should be installed at a 



1 Transactions of Second Annual Anti-Malaria Conference of Sanitary- 

 Engineers, U. S. Public Health Service, 1921. 



