FOR BETTER CROPS 113 



straight and the flame dies out. This is an instance where a 

 Httle is good, and where more is not so good, and too much is 

 worse than none. The second charge did not explode because 

 there was too much gasoline in the jar to unite with the air 

 in a proportion which would make an explosion. It only made 

 an inflammable gas, which is entirely too slow for a gasohne 

 engine. 



Apply the above principle to a gasoline engine and you will 

 have the cause of tifty per cent of the troubles of the amateur, 

 lie unconsciously floods his engine, and after working over it for 

 an hour or so trying to start it, goes away in disgust. Perhaps 

 in an hour or so, some one comes along who gives it a try and it 

 starts right off. The reason for this is that the first man flooded 

 the engine with gasoline, and as it would not start, he kept on 

 flooding it. But when he left the engine the vapors within the 

 cylinder deteriorated or passed off in some way, so when the next 

 man came along the mixture of gasoline and air was of such 

 consistency that the engine started at once. 



It is always better to have the needle valve open too small a 

 distance than too large a distance, then if the engine does not 

 start the first time the wheel is thrown over, close the needle 

 valve, hold open the inlet valve, and turn the W'heels around a 

 time or two. This will clear the cylinder of the previous un- 

 burnt charge so that the try can be made again without danger 

 of flooding. 



Ignition— The ignitor of a gasoline engine is a simple affair 

 when one understands its principle. Batteries will generate 

 current only when there is a complete circuit. Set a cell out by 

 itself and nothing goes on within it until some metallic substance 

 is placed across the binding posts. If you hold one end of a wire 

 on the zinc binding post and then snap the other end across the 

 carbon, a few sparks and smoke will be thrown off. This shows 

 that a circuit has been made and that a current was set up in the 

 system. A series of cells connected together, zinc to carbon, 

 zinc to carbon, and so on until the last cell is connected to the 

 first, form one big cell, or as it is commonly called, a battery. 

 Instead of connecting the last cell to the first, connect it to 

 some bright spot in the engine, and from another bright spot 

 on the engine connect a wire to the first cell. It will be noticed 

 that a circuit is again made, the engine acting as a part of the 

 wire. Now cut one of the wires leading from the battery to the 

 engine and connect the ends of the severed wire to the binding 

 posts of the spark coil and again snap the wire across the cell. 

 A much more brilliant spark is made than before. The coil 

 acts as a booster, and is essential in all igniting systems. Take 

 one of the wires connected to the engine and connect it to the 

 binding post of the ignitor, then snap the wire in the battery 



