Egyptian cotton in Arizona is planted in rows with a two-horse planter. On new desert land, or land upon which only grain has been grown, the rows are spaced three and one-half feet apart. Cotton picking time extends from October until far into the winter. tion is practiced until the plants cannot be cultivated by machine. After this time and until the plants are matured, light irrigations every ten days to three weeks are applied. The total cost for all farming operations up to the time of picking, including the cost of the standard seed, is only sixteen dollars an acre. The The industry has already become estabginning cost for a seven-hundred-pound lished sufficiently to insure a permanency yield averages just about twelve dollars. of the crop in the Salt River Valley. TEACHING THE FARMER TO CARE FOR HIS MOTOR W By FRANK G. MOORHEAD ITH ninety million dollars worth of automobiles owned by the farmers of ten States of the Middle West-Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and Oklahoma-it stands to reason that the repair and maintenance problem is a big one to the men who, up to a few years ago, were merely tillers of the land, without mechanical ability or knack. To enable the farmers of the State who own automobiles to keep them in good repair, at a minimum of expense, the Iowa State College of Agriculture has inaugurated an automobile repair course in its regular extension department. An automobile expert is spending his time holding Farmers' Institutes throughout the State, at which the instruction is not how to grow bigger crops but how to repair farmers' motor cars. Iowa is the first State in the Union to take up such a work. That it is needed and appreciated is evidenced by the large number of farmers who attend these institutes and by the eager way they devour the information given. Up to the first of July, automobile institutes had been held in twenty-seven cities and towns, the total number of people attending aggregating seven thousand. Though the institutes were designed primarily for farmers, they were open to the general public. The instruction was given either in some central garage, the local theater, town hall, or public school grounds, wherever the crowds and cars could best be accommodated. Some of the institutes were of three days' duration, some of five. In both cases, lectures and demonstrations were given both in the afternoon and evening and the intervening time spent in answering personal questions and in personal talks and instruction. not uncommon to find a farmer getting only from eight to nine miles from a gallon of gasoline, when he should be getting fourteen or fifteen. We must study his car and give him personal instruction, thus supplementing our general demonstration on the care of a machine and all its parts." Up to two or three years ago the work of the Extension Department of the various state agricultural colleges was primarily and almost exclusively along agricultural lines, but now that the farmer is using machinery so extensively and is buying automobiles in such quantities the engineering phase of the work has become fully as important. In the last year the number of automobiles in the ten States of the so-called grain belt, named above, has increased by almost one hundred and twenty-five thousand. Tables furnished by the Secretaries of State of the ten commonwealths show that in 1912, there were 254,216 cars owned; in 1913, there were 368,839. Of this increase it is estimated that fully three-fourths is for cars bought by farmers. Inquiry among three hundred dealers in the various States fixes the average of cars sold by them to farmers at seventy-seven per cent. There remain enough farmers in these ten States whose annual incomes are four thousand dollars or over, to warrant the prediction that inside of a few years there will be four hundred thousand farm-owned automobiles in the Middle West. Small wonder, then, that the state agricultural colleges find nothing more important than to educate the automobile-owning farmer in the care and maintenance of his car. LOWER By FREDERICK STANTON N mid-ocean no one is ever eager to launch a small boat unless compelled to do so by some dire emergency and in such cases it usually happens that the archaic davits do not work. Even in a dead calm, if the ship is heeled over a little, the davits on the upper side are useless and the boats on that side cannot be removed to the lower side; thus, in a ship presumably equipped for such emergencies, it frequently happens that the passengers and crew go down to Davy Jones' locker together. THE Imperator's LAUNCHING APPARATUS It required the tragedy of the Titanic, followed by a number of other terrible disasters at sea, to bring home to shipbuilders and shipowners the need of something more effective than inverted fishhooks to serve as davits in time of need. A concern in Long Island City that had produced something comparatively modern and had been trying for years to find a purchaser was able to dispose of several sets of davits on the strength of the Titanic horror. Now comes the Britannic fully equipped with davits that are In the first place there will be boats enough for all hands. There will be forty-eight of these lifeboats, of which two very large ones will be equipped with motors so as to be able to tow other boats if necessary. All are to be standard wood lifeboats, LIFEBOATS THAT WILL LOWER instead of the collapsible type which has been adopted by some lines. What is very much more to the purpose, an equipment of davits has been provided that will insure the launching of all the boats, no matter what the weather or other conditions may be. The new style davits are arranged in pairs in the usual manner, three sets on each side of the ship. They are spaced wide enough apart to enable the boats to pass between them without the clumsy expedient of slewing. They are of lattice-girder construction of abundant strength to handle the great weight of a loaded lifeboat, with swannecked tops turned in towards each other. Thus the boats can swing free under any conditions. These davits are attached to the deck by pivots so that they may swing freely through a considerable arc-far enough inboard to reach a boat in the middle of the ship, and far enough out to extend almost horizontally or nearly at right angles to the side of the ship. In this position they can lower a boat vertically into the sea forty-five feet away from the side of the vessel. Therefore, unless unless the ship should be so far over on her beam ends that no one could stand on her decks, boats could be lowered from the 363 upper side and swung free of the vessel. Also, no matter how rough the sea, the boat will be launched far enough away to avoid smashing against the ship's side, unless those on board are extremely careless or awkward. This big reach of the davits permits a grouping of the boats so that a few officers and men can attend to the launch FAR OUTBOARD ing. Instead of obstructing the boat deck for the passengers in their promenades, the boats are stacked up three tiers deep in groups of eight. The one set of davits can launch the entire lot and, if for any reason it is not deemed desirable to launch a One of the great dangers in launching lifeboats is that they may be smashed before reaching the water. These davits prevent that possible accident. group from one side, the boats can be traversed across the deck to the opposite davits, which are capable of handling them all. Automatic stops are provided so that a clumsy or excited man cannot damage either the davits or the boats. The two falls are wound on separate drums mounted on the same shaft and normally rotate together when a boat is being raised or lowered; but if the ship should be down by the head or by the stern, as a sinking ship might be, the two drums can be disconnected and worked independently, so that under any circumstances the loaded boats can be lowered on an even keel. Electric lights are placed at the top of each davit which not only facilitate the operation of lowering the boats at night, but also illuminate the surrounding decks and companion ways. The lights are operated by the emergency generators or the storage batteries, which also work the davits, operate the wireless apparatus and whistle controls, and light the ship as long as she floats. Should disaster ever overtake the Britannic the captain from his post on the bridge can close passages between compartments by touching a few buttons, telephone to the Marconi operator, be informed by telephone and electric indicators of conditions in all parts of the vessel, and direct operations for abandoning the ship. The passengers. will not be left to grope in darkness, no matter what may have happened to the machinery away down in the hold. While enormous expense has been incurred in providing really modern methods of launching lifeboats and taking all hands off the Britannic, her owners, doubtless, fervently hope that they never will get the worth of their money out of those davits. |