Doctor KNIGHT. The figures given are based on the farm fire loss for 1930. In regard to the $63,000,000 hay crop loss, that is due to spoilage of hay by spontaneous heating in many cases where fire does not actually occur. We have been carrying on investigations at the Beltsville farm to determine the cause of heating and also other factors in connection with the problem. Thus far we have reached the following conclusions:

(1) As a safety measure, the moisture content of loose hay placed in barns should not be over 30 per cent. It is unlikely that hay of this moisture content will heat spontaneously much beyond the nor-. mal sweating stage.

(2) Mows of hay of 10 tons or under are not apt to heat spontaneously to any dangerous degree.

(3) The addition of salt to moistened hay will inhibit bacterial growth and may prevent subsequent spontaneous ignition. The use of salt, however, should not be considered a substitute for adequate curing.

(4) Hay too wet and too densely packed will not ignite spontaneously; such hay, however, will undergo fermentation with the development of mold to the extent that it will be unfit for feeding

purposes.

Here is a photograph showing some of the hay at Beltsville in the

mow.

Mr. HART. Every farmer knows the condition of his hay when he puts it in.

Doctor BROWNE. The farmer is fighting against time and he wants to get his hay crop in early. And there is another thing, he is afraid if it gets too dry the hay will shatter and he will suffer a loss there. The tendency is for the farmer to get it in wet, and with 35 per cent moisture it is too wet.

Mr. HART. He has no way of testing it for moisture.

Doctor BROWNE. We have worked out a method of determining within 15 minutes the moisture content of hay.

Mr. HART. You have worked out an apparatus?

Doctor BROWNE. Yes.

Mr. HART. Is it expensive?

Doctor BROWNE. Not very expensive. The trouble is we have not developed it to the point where it would be safe for the average farmer to use. What we do is to take a sample of hay, heat it with a high-boiling liquid, and measure the water that distills over. Mr. HART. That is the same method we use for grain. Doctor BROWNE. Yes, sir; it is similar in principle.

Doctor KNIGHT. Here is an interesting case that occurred on a large dairy farm in southern Wisconsin. Here spontaneous heating developed in each of three 100-ton lots of chopped, artificially dried rye hay stored in three large barns. Smoldering was discovered in the hay two weeks after it had been blown into the barns. Temperatures ranging from 178° F. to 300° F. were recorded in the hay. A near-by fire department was called in and assisted in the successful removal of all the hay from the barns, which was accomplished by the liberal application of water over a period of three days. Seventy tons of hay burned shortly after it had been

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placed outside where the air had a chance to filter in to the hot spots. The total damage to barns and hay amounted to about $2,000. This appears to be a clear case of spontaneous heating and ignition, although it is the first record we have of this phenomenon being associated with rye hay. Although a moisture content of 10 per cent to 12 per cent was strived for in the drying process, it was found by examination of records that drying of the hay was not uniform, one batch of the finished product showing a moisture content of 51.7 per cent and many others running far above 12 per cent. It is evident that although the hay for the most part was well cured or dried, spontaneous heating occurred in localized areas of hay in which the moisture content was high.

I have a number of reports here from county agents which are very interesting. We have 23 reported cases from county agents, showing aggregate losses in 18 cases was $63,850; the average loss was $3,547; the minimum loss was $100 and the maximum loss was $10,000. There were 2 cases of spontaneous heating without subsequent ignition, 19 cases of spontaneous ignition of hay, and 2 cases of spontaneous ignition of straw. No one hay predominated, although clover or alfalfa, either alone or mixed with other hays was involved in most cases. There were 3 fires in baled hay, 1 in timothy hay and clover mixed, 1 in timothy and 1 in oat hay. In 21 cases the hay was in barns; in 1 case it was in stacks, and in 1 case stacked straw was involved.

Here is an interesting thing. The average number of days between the date of storage and the date of the outbreak of fire was 43 days. The minimum was 2 days, and the maximum was 330 days.

Eighty-nine per cent of the fires occurred during the months of June, July, August and September. Salt was used in five cases. The average quantity of salt added, based upon four cases, was 16 pounds per ton and the maximum was 30 pounds per ton.

We have received some rather complete reports. From the Province of Ontario, Canada, 26 reports were received of fires resulting from the spontaneous combustion of hay, grain, and straw in that Province. The aggregate loss was $182,000, in round numbers; the average, $7,000; the minimum was $3 and the maximum was $18,400. These include mixed hay, hay and straw, hay and grain,. hay (one variety), and straw.

Doctor BROWNE. I might say as to this project that our work is very active in stimulating the interest of manufacturers of farm machinery to solve this problem of spontaneous combustion. They are developing equipment for artificially drying hay, for cutting it up and preventing shattering of the hay, perfecting hay ventilators, and accomplishing other improvements. Quite recently a new process has come out for making hay. It is the so-called Cushman process. The hay, when it is cut, passes through large crushing rollers back of the cutting bar. This crushes the stalk of such hays as alfalfa and clover so that on exposure to air they dry out in about one-fourth of the time ordinarily taken, and I judge from this fact that the machine will be received very favorably. It has not been put out on the market, but will be next year. We are interested in ascertaining if hay made by that process will undergo less spontaneous heating than that made in other ways. It eliminates the necessity for kicking the hay up and shattering it. The hay will not require any tedding.

Mr. HART. The loss from shattering in alfalfa is very high indeed. Doctor BROWN. Yes, sir. A part of our future research program is testing out the effects of these different processes of making and storing hay, and determining whether or not the risk of spontaneous heating has been decreased.

Mr. HART. Michigan State College did some work along that line. They were going to cure it the same day it was cut, and they burned up a number of barns for farmers.

Doctor KNIGHT. And still it is rather interesting that in the West, through Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, it has been customary for them to cut their alfalfa and allow it to wilt and put it immediately into the stack. They recognize out there that if it is rained upon it may burn; that spontaneous combustion may occur, and if a very heavy dew falls, the hay might spoil; but if put in just after it is wilted that heating would take place, and the hay would turn a brownish color but would be very palatable. By this method, however, there is considerable loss of food value. We know that to be the case, but the hay is very palatable and livestock would take it in preference to some of what they call the better cured hay. It was a sort of siloing process, in which the material finally is quite dry.

Doctor BROWN. In Italy they get around it altogether by using a certain kind of silo. They dry it to 35 per cent moisture and put it immediately into an air-tight silo. I have seen hay taken out of such a silo after two years and it was just as fresh as when it was put in.

Doctor KNIGHT. I do not think the enormous loss that comes from spontaneous heating and final burning is fully realized. That is one reason I have read you some of these figures. The problem is very serious in agriculture at the present time.

Mr. HART. We have never had any trouble in 14 years' experience in farming. Maybe we get a loss in value by shattering and drying on the field, but we have never had any burned hay.

Mr. SANDLIN. Is there any particular kind of hay, or are all hays subject to this kind of damage?

Doctor KNIGHT. All hays are subject to spoilage and spontaneous heating, but the reports we have had in the last year are that in most cases of heating alfalfa and/or clover was involved.

Mr. HART. They are in a hurry to get it in to save shattering or loss of leaf and they get it in just a little too soon.

Doctor BROWNE. The leaf may be a little dry and shatter, although the stalk is still undercured.

Doctor KNIGHT. In Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana the haymakers cut their hay and cock it immediately after cutting, and it is allowed to cure in the cock. It is, I think, quite a general practice throughout the West and other alfalfa regions, and instead of getting a brittle leaf the leaf is more waxy. More sap is carried out into the leaf and it makes it less liable to shatter.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Have you conducted any experiments on this Cushman process to verify these statements here?

Doctor KNIGHT. No, sir. This harvester has not been on the market up to this time, but we have been informed it will be ready for operation in the 1933 season.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Well, it says here that hay manufactured by this process has within one hour lost 30 per cent of its moisture. If that is true, that is a wonderfully progressive system.

Doctor KNIGHT. We are attempting now to get a process-something very simple-that a farmer could use to determine whether or not the moisture content of the hay was down to a point where it would be safe. Even one load of improperly cured hay placed in a barn or stack may be sufficient to start spontaneous decomposition or ignition.

Mr. BUCHANAN. If that is true there, spontaneous combustion of hay ought to be a thing of the past when that process is put into effect. In five hours 75 per cent of the water is out and within 24 hours it is all out.

Doctor KNIGHT. May I ask permission to add a brief statement in the record to complete the details on these projects? Mr. BUCHANAN. Yes, sir.

STATEMENT OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS ON PREVENTION OF FARM FIRES

The Bureau of Chemistry and Soils has leadership in the United States in the work on farm fire prevention. The bureau has cooperated with the National Fire Protection Association in the organization of a special committee on farm fire protection. This committee has been the medium of contact for farm organizations, insurance associations, and fire prevention agencies in furnishing data on farm fire losses and in developing methods of prevention and control.

Through this committee work the department has

1. Developed recommended practices for fire-protective construction of farm buildings.

2. Drawn up specifications for motorized rural fire-fighting equipment.

3. Drawn up specifications for water-pressure systems for fire-protective purposes on farms.

4. Developed standards for first-aid fire extinguishers for use on farms. 5. Developed methods for the safe use and storage of gasoline and kerosene on farms.

6. Cooperated with the agricultural committee of the National Fire Waste Council in preparing a handbook on prevention and control of farm fires.

In connection with the studies on the spontaneous heating of hay, a revolving tubular motor-driven sampler for collecting samples of hay from the interior of the hay mow has been designed and developed. This sampler has been found to work very satisfactorily and is the first device of its kind that has been made available for securing samples from desired depths by one boring.

The moisture content of hay in the field can be determined quickly by a distillation method which has been developed, and results can be obtained within 10 or 15 minutes. The perfection of a simple device of this character will be of immense value to farmers in the control of their hay-making operations.

Because of the work of the bureau on the prevention of explosions and fires in grain-threshing machinery, there has resulted a reduction in insurance rates from $11 to $1.50 per hundred, a net saving of $9.50 per hundred dollars insurance, and it is anticipated that the development of methods for the prevention of fires resulting from spontaneous heating in hay and grain in storage also will result in the reduction of insurance rates on farm property.

ESSENTIAL RESEARCH ON THE SPONTANEOUS HEATING AND IGNITION OF AGRICULTURAL

PRODUCTS

Spontaneous heating of farm products (hay, grain, manure, etc.) is one of the important causes of our farm fire loss. A thorough understanding of the causes of spontaneous heating and ignition of farm products and development of means of prevention would save American farmers $20,000,000 annually from fires due to spontaneous heating, and would reduce additional loss of

$43,000,000 annually due to deterioration and spoilage of farm products subject to abnormal temperatures and influence of oxidation.

At least one-tenth of the harvested hay crop is lost by spontaneous heating occurring between time when cut and time when used. This loss occurs after the expense of producing and harvesting the crop has been incurred. The farm value of the hay crop in the United States in 1931 was approximately $632,000,000. The principal hay-producing States are New York, Wisconsin, California, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Kansas, Indiana, South Dakota, and North Dakota.

CORRELATED RESEARCH NECESSARY

Correlated research on spontaneous heating of agricultural products along chemical, bacteriological, and engineering lines is necessary in connection with hay (various kinds), grain (especially wheat, oats, and corn), cattle feeds (so-called mixed or prepared feeds), manure, commercial fertilizers, jute, sugar, sawdust, cotton, silk, hemp, tankage, and other products subject to spontaneous heating. Since the bureau in its bacteriological research work has learned that the initial heating of hay and other agricultural products is due to microorganic action, a careful study of strains must be made in regard to the occurrence and distribution of important types and the conditions necessary for their growth.

It will be necessary to study the varieties of hay in selected haying sections, with special attention to methods of curing and storing, machinery used, and other factors having a bearing on the problem, with subsequent observations on various lots of hay after storage. Special attention must be given to the heating of "combined" grain. A large number of fires of this character have been attributed to the introduction of "combine" harvesting in Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Southwest.

This research is necessary in order to develop proper methods for handling and storing agricultural crops to prevent these continued losses from spontaneous heating and fire.

COLOR INVESTIGATIONS

Mr. BUCHANAN. Your next item is:

For investigation and experiment in the utilization, for coloring, medicinal, and technical purposes, of raw materials grown or produced in the United States, $69,730.

Doctor KNIGHT. The following justification is presented for this estimate:

WORK UNDER THIS APPROPRIATION

The work under this appropriation includes studies on vat dyes, the analysis and synthesis of biological stains, and the utilization of molds and other organisms in the production, by fermentation, of chemicals from agricultural products. The work on vat dyes consists of the study of the fundamental details of dye synthesis, the preparation of new vat-dye intermediates, and improvement of existing methods used in the production of known valuable intermediates, with the object of developing broader markets for agricultural products, such as cotton, through its utilization in ways recently made possible by the application of these new dyes. This work also points the way to new fields for the production of dyes to reduce dependence on dyes from foreign The work on biological stains includes testing and certification of stains and the synthesis of new stains for medicinal application and for agricultural and other research. The work on fermentations consists of study of the action of various microorganisms on carbohydrates and other agricultural materials for the production of chemicals, working out the optimum conditions for formation of the desired products, and semiplant scale development of promising processes.

sources.

Mr. BUCHANAN. For color investigations you had $93,460 in 1932, $75,000 in 1933, and $69,730 is estimated for 1934, with a legislative furlough decrease of $5,270. Give us a short sketch of your work under this appropriation, Doctor.