WHERE PRESIDENT WILSON WILL SUMMER IN THE GRANITE STATE A piazza view, with Mount Ascutney in the distance. ing" yet discovered. Other birds and animals are colored to harmonize with their usual surroundings, but the argus pheasant can at will transform itself, to all appearances, into a cluster of ferns! Living among a multitude of natural enemies in the fern brakes of the East Indian Islands, the bird could not survive long if forced to depend on wing and leg alone. When in danger from birds birds of prey or prowling beasts the argus, instead of seeking safety in flight, promptly spreads its ample wing and tail feathers and melts into the background, safe in Nature's protection. ROLLING HIS GLOBE AROUND THE WORLD A LITERAL GLOBE TROTTER GEORGE M. SCHULLING, the famous American athlete, is now making a second attempt to walk around the world for a purse of eighteen thousand dollars. He takes with him his abode, a globe on wheels, and must neither ask nor receive contri butions. Schulling left Pittsburgh in 1911 and is due back in 1923. Already he has covered ten thousand miles or onesixth of his journey. His globe is seven feet in diameter and weighs six hundred and fifty pounds. He sleeps inside. LARGEST AMONG WORLD'S WATER WHEELS WATER wheels in the Western World are rivaled for size by four giants which have served to make famous the town of Hama in Northern Syria, on the River Orontes. The largest of the four wheels is of wood and is some seventy feet in diameter. The wheels are driven by means of what is known as the undershot principle, the wheel being turned by water flowing beneath it. The creaking of the wheels is incessant day and night, for they are never stopped. The water is used not only to supply the needs of the town but for irrigating the surrounding gardens as well. This is a most primitive form of water supply but is, nevertheless, quite adequate to meet the needs of the town of Hama. A BRAINLESS MONSTER THE accompanying picture compares the skull of the Phororhacos, a fossil bird of Argentina, with that of the horse. Unlike the head of the horse, that of the Phororhacos was largely of solid bone. So LARGER THAN A HORSE'S SKULL, YET LIT ERALLY A "BONEHEAD" Above, the skull of the Phororhacos-a fossil bird of Argentina; below, that of the horse. few were the brain cells of the fossil that it is believed the species succumbed from of sheer inability to cope with the changing conditions brought about by the evolution geological ages. Although the largest of all birds, extinct or otherwise, the Phororhacos was without doubt incapable of planning either a defense or attack with its limited. mentality. Little is known of the bird except that it was practically brainless; stood some fifteen feet in height, and could fade from the landscape with the speed of an express train. It is certain the Phororhacos could not fly but that it depended upon its legs for locomotion. THIS WATER WHEEL IS SEVENTY FEET IN DIAMETER These photographs of the American fleet were taken during battle practice at the southern drill ground. Behind the Michigan is the Connecticut, leading in division firing. Note her wake. From their conning tower the officers direct the operations that keep the American navy at the peak of efficiency. Perfect scores in target practice have become a common occurrence. With gunnery regulated by mathematics, such incidents as distance or the roll of the vessel have little significance. The range is secured by geometrical computations, and the men in the conning tower correct the errors incident to movements of the vessel and other attendant circumstances. Through the aid of trigonometry, the trajectory is arrived at. The gunner has no means of knowing the effect of his fire and is dependent upon the telephoned report from the tower to learn THE GUNS AND THE "MEN BEHIND" A view showing six 12-inch guns aboard the Delaware. The American "jackies" have made themselves the best marksmen in the world. Under their skill the 12-inch gun has become a veritable engine of death. To build such a vessel requires three years. The guns cost nearly $1,000,000: the armor fully three times that amount. N By R. B. SANDO OT everyone who keeps a few chickens needs to resort to artificial methods of hatching and brooding chicks, as is usually imagined. The average man would often be better off without a machine, and to show when and why this is true is the purpose of this article. The modern incubator is a success. There is no gainsaying the fact that the best machines on the market today are pretty good hatchers. But they are not quite up with the old hen, and the incubator men exaggerate when they say that their machines are equal or superior to natural methods. It is impossible to improve upon Nature by beating the old hen at her own game. The only thing wrong with hen-hatching is that it is a little too slow for these strenuous days, when we want to count our chicks by the hundreds or thousands. The best incubator made is only man's nearest approach to what the hen can do, just as the best airship ever constructed will never quite equal the safe and sure flight of the birds of the air. The inexperienced man, when he uses a machine, should always buy one of the highest grade, or of a make that is used successfully on large plants, or on government experiment stations. Home-made incubators, as well as cheap factory-made machines, should be avoided, for the technical problems involved in artificial incubation are pretty deep after all. Even the experts disagree as to moisture, ventilation. |