Miscellaneous. 



262 



[March, 1910] 



in the provinces produces a distillate 

 containing about 50 per cent, of alcohol. 

 By redistilling a sufficient number of 

 times 95 per cent, alcohol might be pro- 

 duced, but the process would be very 

 expensive ; therefore, the crude alcohol 

 is shipped to the large distilleries in 

 Manila, where it can be refined more 

 economically. In the latter, the process 

 is continuous ; the vapours pass through 

 several stills and are cooled just suffi- 

 ciently to condense them in each one 

 until the proper purity is reached. It 

 will, therefore, be seen that after an 

 alcohol once passes the crude 50 per cent, 

 stage a purity of 95 per cent, can be 

 produced with very little more expense 

 per proof liter than one of lower grade. 

 The economy of the purer form is 

 obvious. 



The manufacture of alcohol from tuba 

 is rather expensive, and it is doubtf ul if 

 the process could be greatly cheapened. 

 Denatured alcohol (95 per cent.) from 

 this source is sold wholesale at P2'40, 

 Philippine currency ($1'20, United States 

 currency) per 15 liters, while the above 

 estimated price for the product from 

 corn would be P2'30 per 15 liters. If a 

 market for alcohol as a fuel were opened 

 it could undoubtedly be produced from 

 tuba for P2 per 15 liters, but with the 

 present spasmodic usage it cannot be 

 sold at that figure. 



Cassava is sold in the United States 

 over a large area of the South Atlantic 

 and Gulf States, and numerous analyses 

 made by the division of chemistry, 

 United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture have shown that the roots contain 

 about 30 per cent, of starch. With the 

 exception of cereals it contains the 

 largest amount of fermentable matter. 



" An average crop of cassava in the 

 United States may be placed at 5 tons of 

 roots per acre on the ordinary lands of 

 Florida, with proper preparation and 

 cultivation a yield of from 4 to 7 or 

 perhaps 8 tons per acre may be reason- 

 ably expected." At present there are no 

 reliable figures on the amount that can 

 be produced on a given area of land in 

 the Philippines, R. F. Bacon thinks 

 that it is perfectly safe to figure on a 

 production of 22£ metric tons per hectare 

 (10 tons per acre), "With this yield," 

 he says, " there is only one other sub- 

 stance which seems able to compete with 

 it as a source of alcohol, namely, the 

 molasses residue from the crystallization 

 of cane sugar." E. B. Copeland esti- 

 mates that when starch made from 

 cassava sells at its present local price 

 (15 centavos per kilo), alcohol from the 

 same source would be worth about 17h 

 centavos per liter or P2'60 per 15 liters". 



At present prices, it would be more 

 profitable to produce starch than alcohol 

 at a price below the latter figure. If at 

 any time the production of cassava be 

 comes more abundant and the utilization 

 for other purposes less remunerative, 

 alcohol from this source may be placed 

 on the market very cheaply. 



Some experiments with alcohol were 

 carried out iir Manila a few months ago 

 with the 25-horsepower motor road roller 

 purchased by the city of Manila. In all 

 cases the machine was operated on a 

 level road and at a standard speed. A 

 crude alcohol such as is shipped to 

 Manila by provincial distillers was used. 

 The motor was first heated to a slight 

 extent by being run for about ten 

 minutes with gasoline ; it ran for 

 twelve minutes on the alcohol and then 

 stopped. An examination showed that 

 the explosiou of the alcohol did not 

 furnish enough heat to evaporate all of 

 the water pi esent, and that a quantity 

 had collected in the combustion chamber. 

 When 90 and 94'5 per cent alcohol were 

 employed the motor ran smoothly, with 

 a consumption of 1'8 and 1'6 times, res- 

 pectively, the quantity of gasoline used 

 for the same time. Duke and Woodward 

 say that a small engine required 18 

 times as much alcohol (probably 85 per 

 cent.) as gasoline per horsepower per 

 hour. 



The utilization of alcohol as a fuel is 

 an established fact. The economy is the 

 only open question. Gasoline (73°) is 

 now sold in Manila at P2'38 per 15 liters 

 (about 16 centavos per liter). On the 

 basis of an engine consuming 1*5 times 

 as much 95 per cent, alcohol as gasoline, 

 the former would need to be sold at Pl*60 

 per 15 liters in order to compete with 

 the latter. In localities where alcohol 

 can be produced cheaply, and which are 

 remote from gasoline supply, alcohol 

 may immediately compete with gasoline 

 as a power fuel, otherwise it is not prob- 

 able that it will be as economical a fuel 

 as gasoline in these islands for some time 

 to come, and I do not anticipate an 

 immediate change in our motor fuel. 



TILLED AND UNTILLED SOIL. 

 By J. J. Willis, Harpendenden. 



(From the Gardeners' Chronicle, No. 1195, 

 Vol. XLVI., Nov. 1909.) 

 The operation of tillage has, for its 

 primary object, the stirring and loosen- 

 ing of the soil. When soil-particles are 

 massed loosely, as in a tilled field 

 or garden, spaces exist between them, 

 and these spaces permit of free 

 movement of air. If the particles are 



