nce, and better methods of
manufacturing and burning alcohol will be found, and then we shall have
a fuel that can take the place of either coal or petroleum for lighting
or power.

It is thought that wood-alcohol will be of especial use to the farmer,
since he has so many waste vegetable products, has so much need of power
in small quantities and is far from the sources of public service
power, such as electric and gas plants. Alcohol-driven motors can be
used to take the place of the labor of both horses and men on the farm.
On level farms they can run the heavy machines, such as mowers, reapers,
and binders, plows and cultivators. On any farm they may be used to run
stationary engines, to chop and grind food for live stock, to pump
water, churn, run sewing-machines, operate fans, drive carriages and
wagons and do many other things.

Wood-alcohol produces ammonia as a by-product, is used in the
manufacture of dyes and coal-tar products, of smokeless powder, of
varnishes, and of imitation silks made from cotton.

REFERENCES

Report National Conservation Commission.

Reports of Geological Survey.

Conservation of Ores and Related Minerals. (Carnegie.) Report Governor's
Conference.

Conservation of Mineral Resources. (U. S. Government Report.)

Industrial Alcohol and Its Uses. W. H. Wiley. Bulletin, 269.

Production of Peat in the U. S. in 1908. U. S. Government Reports.

Production of Oil in the U. S. in 1908.

Production of Gas in the U. S. in 1908.

Waste of Our Fuel Resources. (White.) Report Governor's Conference.

CHAPTER VII

IRON

We have already stated the importance of iron in our modern life. It can
not be overestimated. All the many articles of iron and steel, our
tools, our machinery, our vehicles, our bridges, our steel buildings,
and a thousand and one other things are dependent on our iron supply.

Of all the elements that make up the earth's surface only three are more
plentiful than iron, so that we might think that we should always have
an abundant supply of it; but when it occurs in small quantities, as is
usually the case, it can not of course be profitably mined. It is only
when enough of it is found together to permit it to be mined to
advantage that it is called iron ore.

Iron ore is found in only twenty-nine states of the Union, and eighty
per cent. of the present production is in two states, Minnesota and
Michigan. We can see that iron is very unevenly distribute