THE IKBIGATION AGE. 



231 



EXPERT IN FARM MECHANICS. 



Prof C J Zintheo, Formerly Professor in Farm Mechanics of the 

 Iowa State College, has been Appointed as Expert in 

 Farm Mechanics in the Office of Experiment Sta- 

 tions, Department of Agriculture. 



In his last report to Congress, Secretary Wilson 

 called attention to the valuable results which had come 

 from including irrigation and drainage in the work 

 of the Department of Agriculture, and recommended 

 that this be extended to include two other branches of 

 agricultural engineering with which this work has a 

 close relation, these being farm buildings and farm 

 machinery. In speaking of the need of the department 

 of an expert to deal with these questions the secretary 

 said: 



"The requests of the colleges and stations for 

 aid in carrying out these investigations and in plan- 

 ning courses of instruction have been supplemented by 



PROF. C. J. Z1NTHEO. 



numerous similar requests from farmers for advice and 

 assistance about the selection and operation of differ- 

 ent kinds of farm motors and other farm machinery. 

 In the absence of any special arrangement for dealing 

 with these problems they have been referred to the 

 office of experiment stations and dealt with by the irri- 

 gation and drainage division of that office; but there 

 are at present no funds which can be utilized for sys- 

 tematic work along these lines. I am of the opinion 

 that results of great value, alike to the farmers and 

 the manufacturers of agricultural machinery, will 

 come from the extension of the department's work 

 in agricultural 'engineering to include studies of this 

 character in cooperation with the agricultural colleges 

 and experiment stations. I have, therefore, asked 

 Congress for an appropriation which will enable us to 

 employ an expert in farm buildings and farm ma- 

 chinery in connection with the irrigation and drainage 

 investigations." 



The agricultural appropriation bill passed by the 

 last Congress made the study of the use of different 

 kinds of power and appliances for agricultural purposes 

 a part of the work of the irrigation and drainage divi- 

 sion of the office of experiment stations. In urging this 

 extension of the department's work the secretary was 

 following the lead of many European governments. 

 Sweden and Denmark have for a number of years main- 

 tained experiment stations for the investigation of the 

 merits of various farm implements. The Agricultural 

 Society of Germany has been conducting field trials with 

 both domestic and foreign agricultural implements and 

 has distributed the information obtained among the 

 farmers in the form of bulletins. Belgium and Italy 

 are carrying on farm machinery investigations and in- 

 structing their agricultural students in the proper use 

 of farm implements. An agricultural experiment sta- 

 tion has recently been established in Spain for testing 

 agricultural implements. At the Agricultural College 

 of Eussia the students are judging the merits of farm 

 machinery very much after the plan in vogue in our 

 American agricultural colleges of judging cattle. 



In Moscow and St. Petersburg are established per- 

 manent expositions, where all styles of ancient as well 

 as modern farm implements are on exhibition and 

 where buyers come to study the various implements and 

 to learn which will best meet their needs. 



Prof. C. J. Zintheo, professor of farm mechanics 

 in the Iowa State College at Ames, Iowa, has just been 

 appointed as expert in charge of this work and will re- 

 move to Washington, July 1st. Professor Zintheo is 

 well fitted by education and practical training to take 

 charge of this position. He began his mechanical train- 

 ing by learning the blacksmith's trade and by being em- 

 ployed in the railroad shops of the Northern Pacific 

 Eailway as a machinist and locomotive repair man. He 

 graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1897, 

 having studied in the scientific and electrical engineer- 

 ing courses. During vacations he worked for the Mc- 

 Cormick and Deering harvester companies as field ex- 

 pert on their machines. After graduation he took a 

 course of practical training in the Deering Harvester 

 Company's factory in Chicago, and was afterward sent 

 by them to all parts of the United States where special 

 difficulties existed with the company's machines. 



In 1900 he went to Paris, France, to put up the 

 Deering Company's extensive exhibit at the exposition. 

 From there he was sent to Siberia to introduce the Deer- 

 ing machines in that far-off country. He spent two 

 summers in Siberia, traveling constantly along the 

 Trans-Siberian Railroad, by steamers on the large rivers 

 and by wagon for thousands of miles from the railroad, 

 introducing the Deering goods to the Siberian natives, 

 convicts and Russian peasants, where now the sales ex- 

 ceed 10.000 machines annually. During the interven- 

 ing winters Professor Zintheo went to South America, 

 visiting Brazil, Uruguay and Argentine Republic, the 

 Deering Company doing a large business in the latter 

 country. During his two years' trip abroad he visited 

 thirteen countries, and his ability to speak the language 

 of most of these countries gave him an excellent oppor- 

 tunity to inform himself on the agricultural conditions 

 and requirements of these countries. 



On his return to the United States he accepted a 

 position at the North Dakota Agricultural College, 

 where he organized the first farm mechanics depart- 

 ment in any agricultural college of this country. In 



