The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-05-19

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From The Journal Bureau, Colorado Building,
Washington.
Washington. May 19-In his last re-
port 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,
namely, farm buildings and farm ma
chinery.
Congress accordingly made the study
of power and appliances for agrlcul-
tural purposes part of the work Of the
irrigation and drainage division OF the
office of experiment stations.
In this extension Of the department 8
work, the secretary is. following the lead
of European governments. Sweden and
Denmark maintain stations for the in
vestigation of farm Implements The
Agricultural Society of Germany has
been conducting field trials with both
domestic and foreign agricultural i'm
plements and has distributed the in
formation obtained among the farmers
Belgium and Italy are carrying on farm
machinery Investigations and instruct
ing their agricultural students in the
proper use of farm implements. An
! agricultural experiment station has re-
Gently been established in Spain for
testing agricultural implements. At the
agricultural college Of Russia the stu
dents are Judging the merits of farm
machinery very much after the plan IN
vogue in our American agricultural col
leges of judging cattle.
Zintheo in Charge Of Work.
Professor G. J. Zintheo, professor of
Go, opioc in Tho IOw9 state col
| lege at Ames, Iowa, has just been APP
pointed as expert in charge of this work
| and will remove to Washington July l.
Professor Zintheo is well fitted by edu-
cation and practical training to take
charge Of this position. He began his
mechanical training by learning the
ployed in the railroad shops of the
Northern Pacific railway as mach1nlst
and locomotive repair man. 90 -
He was graduated from the. Univer-
sity of Minnesota in 1897, having stud
led in the scientific and electrical en-
cheering courses. During vacations he
expert. After graduation he took
course Of practical training in the Deer
ing Harvester company's factory in Chi
cago and was afterward sent by them
to all parts of the United States, where
special difficulties existed with the COM
pany'S machines.
In 1900 he went to Paris, France,
sive exhibit at the exposition. From
there he went to Siberia to introduce
the Deering machines. He spent two
summers in Siberia. During the in
tervening winters he went to South
America, visiting Brazil, Uruguay and
company. During his two years trip
abroad he visited thirteen countries,
and his ability to speak the languages
of most Of these countries gave him
excellent opportunity to inform himself
on the agricultural conditions and re-
quirements 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 de-
parrtment in any agricultural college Of
this country. In 1908 he was elected
to be the head of the farm mechanics
department at the Iowa State college
at Ames.
The Experiments to Be Made.
Under Professor zintheo the agri-
cultural department will take up ex-
periments with farm motors to deter
mine the cheapest motive power for
farm purposes. Tests will be made with
the new gas-producer gas engines to
determine how cheaply power may be
produced from Ignite coal in the lig-
mite fields of North Dakota, and thus
obtain a substitute for gasolene.
Experiments will also be conducted
with denaturized' alcohol, produced
from potatoes and waste products Of
the western farms, to be used as fuel
for farm motors in Colorado and else
where.
Cement and concrete for farm build
ing purposes will be experimental with
to determine their efficiency and cost
| as compared with lumber, which is con-
stantly increasing in price.
A bulletin on harvesting ma
chinery will be issued in the near fu-
| ture.