134 THE BANANA 



liquid fuel for motor carriages and gas engines, alcohol 

 for denaturing came rapidly to the front as one of the 

 most important of agricultural products, as one of the 

 most valuable crops which a farmer could raise." The 

 potatoes are manufactured into alcohol in individual 

 farm distilleries and in co-operation distilleries. "A 

 recent exhibition in Germany gave a good illustration of 

 the broad field in which denatured alcohol may be used. 

 Here were shown alcohol engines, alcohol boat motors, 

 and motors for threshing, grinding, wood-cutting, and other 

 agricultural purposes. The department of lighting ap- 

 paratus included a large and varied display of lamps, 

 chandeliers, and street and corridor lights, in which 

 alcohol vapour is burnt like gas in a hooded flame covered 

 by a Welsbach mantle. Under such conditions alcohol 

 vapour burns with an incandescent flame which rivals the 

 arc light in brilliancy and requires to be shaded to adapt 

 it to the endurance of the human eye. . . . Similarly 

 attractive and interesting was the large display of alcohol 

 heating stoves, which for warming corridors, sleeping 

 rooms, and certain other locations are highly esteemed. . . . 

 Cooking stoves of all sizes, forms, and capacities, from the 

 complete range, with baking and roasting ovens, broilers, 

 &c., to the simple tea and coffee lamp, were also displayed." 



Much importance is being attached in English engineer- 

 ing circles to the proposals for superseding petrol by alcohol 

 produced within the country. It is contended that by the 

 systematic cultivation of potatoes and other root crops, 

 and the remission of the Government duty, alcohol could 

 be retailed to the consumer at Is. per gallon. The retail 

 price of petrol to-day is about \s. 7d. per gallon. 



The Pall Mall Gazette gives the views of an expert on the 

 advisability of substituting alcohol for petrol as a fuel, 

 %t In the first place he points out that the two great oil 

 fields of the world, the Russian and the Pennsylvanian, 

 have practically become exhausted, though there may be 

 reserves of heavy oil ' held up ' on the fields themselves 

 in view of a coming shortage. In that case, the fractional 



