ate without any difficulty and very satisfactory results were obtained from the new motor.

Adrice. In purchasing a tractor and in the operation of the same, be very careful that you note any defects or improper action in the motor at once. Many times, especially with a new tractor, some little fault which should be detected is easily overlooked and as a consequence the motor is badly damaged. The case in hand is such a one. Perhaps this operator overlooked a loosened connecting rod bushing or something of the sort, which caused his motor to be badly smashed up. By all means, carefully watch any new machine which you are operating, especially in the gas tractor; keep your eye on the main bearings and the connecting rod bearings, as the cause of damage is frequently due to the breaking or burning out of these bearings.

CASE 298. A LITTLE CARELESSNESS. Condition. The operator of a big tractor was demonstrating it at a fair when the engine suddenly began to miss shots and soon stopped.

Discussion. The operator carefully and quickly examined the ignition, the valve timing, etc., and discovered that he had neglected to turn on the fuel. Consequently the motor had burned out that which was in the carburetor and then stopped. Of course no damage was done but the crowd was rather amused at the stopping of the motor and various remarks were passed about the unreliability of gas tractors in general.

Advice. It is wise to have a regular schedule for starting the engine. For example: remember, perhaps, that there are five things to do: turn on the switch, the fuel, retard the ignition, adjust the carburetor and note that all gearing is set for belt operation. If one has such a schedule as this and checks it through mentally each time he starts the engine, he will avoid any such awkward position as this operator experienced.

CASE 299. BROKEN GEAR.

loosened parts. Thus he would Late discovered the bolt before it was loose enough to do any damage. Had the tractor been going forward, no damage would have resulted as the belt would have fallen to the ground or possibly have been thrown by the gears to one side, or the other.

Advice. By all means, carefully lock your tractor over at least once a day, so that all nuts, bolts and cap-screws are properly tightened Make sure that the timing is proper, that battery connections are snug and that any other thing on the tractor which might possibly loosen, is carefully fitted. If this course is pursued for a month or more, especially with a new machine, the various parts which loosen will be gradually located and tightened. It will be but a short job to look the machine over each morning and if this course is followed it will prevent accidents such as we have described.

CASE 300. LOSS OF POWER.

Condition. The owner of a tractor ecmplained that he had not the same power in his tractor (which was comparatively new) as he bad when he purchased it.

Discussion.-Careful investigation showed that the tractor was being operated in a very dusty section of the West. It was also found that the dust consisted of a very fine granite or sharp cutting sand. Consequently, whenever the tractor worked in this dust, fine particles of dust were ground into the cylinders and acted almost as emery might, cutting the rings and pistons and cylinders very rapidly. Conditions were so severe that one could scarcely expect any machine to operate without more or less difficulty. The owner seemed not to appreciate this fact and insisted that there must be some defect in the manufacture of the machine. He could not realize that the dust in that particular section was almost as sharp as emery and that it had great cutting power. On days when the dust blew around the machine it would have been better

Discussion.-The cause of breakage was easily located. A bolt fell down from parts above the gear in such a manner as to come between the teeth of the spur gear and the pinion that was driving it. Consequently the strain upon the gear was a very unusual one and so heavy that it could not withstand it and a large piece was broken out of the gear. It was necessary to get an outfit together to pull off the gear and put a new one in place, an operation which required twelve to fifteen hours of time. Fortunately, repairs were quite accessible and the gear was replaced without any difficulty. In a case of this sort, one scarcely knows who is at fault, perhaps the man who first built the engine should have tightened the bolt more securely; then, too, the operator should have watched more carefully for

out the parts as he did.

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Adrice. There are some conditions under which a machine can not work satisfactorily; nɔ tractor can do good work where it must run in a continual cloud of sharp, cutting dust. We have seen machines working in the Dakotas where the dust raises from the soft loam and 13 not particularly hurtful; on the contrary, dust which is full of sand and abrasive material will soon ruin the compression and cut all parts very rapidly. Under no consideration should one use a tractor on days when the dust is hanging over the machine instead of being blown away from it: it is a loss of time and money to do so. Or, if the machine is used under such conditions, one must not expect that it will last indefinitely; it can not do so because of the nature of the dust in which it is working.

CASE 301. PUMP TROUBLE. Condition. The tractor was being used for pumping water with a centrifugal pump. The owner complained that he could not run the pump up to speed.

Discussion. Careful investigation of conditions showed that the owner was trying to run the pump up to speed with the engine working at reduced speed. In other words, the pulley on the pump was entirely too small. It was suggested to the owner that he replace the pump pulley, putting on one at least two inches greater in diameter. This would allow the engine to run up somewhere near its proper speed and at the same time keep the pump running at its proper speed. The owner could not understand that this would make any difference. He seemed to think that as long as the pump was running at speed the engine should handle it properly. Those who have worked a centrifugal pump know that they are very peculiar and that there is a critical speed at which they operate best. Consequently, this man was not getting the proper results because his engine, running at low speed, had not the power to handle the pump properly. A larger pulley on the pump would allow the engine to work much faster and thus develop more power. The pump might not increase very many revolutions per minute and yet pump a great deal more water because while the pump might not run any faster with a change of pulleys it would pump just as much water and the engine would handle the load very easily. 'Or, possibly, the pump would increase a few revolutions per minute with the increased speed of the engine and thus give more water without the engine's laboring so hard.

Advice. If you are attempting to drive a centrifugal irrigation pump with a tractor, be sure that your pulley ratios are proper; that is, be sure that your tractor can run up to speed and that you are running at about the proper speed. You will be surprised to note what a load the pump will be if you put too small a pulley on it. On the contrary, you will be very much disappointed in results if the pump pulley is so large that it does not run up to speed. It sometimes requires considerable time and patience to get the proper pulley ratios for driving centrifugal pumps.

CASE 302. BROKEN VALVES.

Condition. One cylinder of the tractor missed steadily and the operator (somewhat inexperienced) could not locate the difficulty.

Discussion. After searching for some time he sent for the owner of the tractor, who was not present at the time the cylinder commenced to miss. When this man arrived he carefully examined the operation of the tractor and at once located the trouble. The valve head had broken

from the stem, consequently there was no compression in this cylinder. This head had been battered back and forth in the cylinder but had done no particular harm. The owner put in a new valve in place of the old one and the tractor operated as well as ever. An accident of this sort would, of course, have been quickly noticed by an experienced man. In this case, however, the man had run a tractor of this make but very little and was not thoroughly acquainted with it. The valve did not make a great deal of noise in the cylinder and did not attract his attention. The engine was of the two-cylinder opposed type and the valve head was broken in the head cylinder. It evidently stayed in the combustion chamber and did not keep in the line of piston travel, hence there was no particular racket made by it. and it was, indeed, difficult for the man without much experience to locate the trouble.

Advice. The breakage of valves is one of the things which tractor and other gas engine manufacturers have found it impossible to entirely prevent. At the present time tungsten steel valves companies, but the chances are that even these are furnished by some automobile and tractor will break occasionally. The best that one can do is to carefully watch the tractor and shut down the moment the valve breaks. Apparently, valve breakage is one of the necessary evils of gas engine operation and can not be overcome en

tirely. Be careful to shut your engine down as scon as possible as the valve, pounding back and the piston head and thus somewhat expand it and forth in the cylinder, may come in contact with possibly mark the walls of the cylinder as it bounds back and forth while the engine is running. It should not be difficult to detect a broken valve since there would be no suction in the cylinder with the valve broken, or at least the suction would be comparatively slight.

The use of pumps is almost universal among the farmers in the Basel consular district. They are not used, however, for lifting water from wells as is sometimes the custom in the United States. Water for general use is supplied by gravity through pipes from the mountain springs and streams.

Pumps are used for lifting water from reservoirs underneath manure piles. As farming in Switzerland is generally intensive, all manure is carefully collected and stacked over an open, cemented excavation or reservoir. Water is reguthrough to the reservoir below. It is afterwards larly poured over these manure stacks and seeps lifted by means of pumps into horizontal hogsheads on wheels and distributed as a fertilizer, by means of attached sprinklers, over the growing crops. In this way the farmer is able to force the rotting of the manure and at the same time to conserve all fertilizing chemicals in the

manure.