This does away with all gearing, differentials, etc., usually employed on automobiles, and applies the power directly, without any transmission loss, to the ground where it is wanted.

ENORMOUS YIELD OF GRAIN

RE

EMARKABLE results in the way of enormous yields of Egyptian wheat have been obtained in the lower Rio Grande Valley, on the American side, according to authorized statements made by the Texas state department of agriculture. This grain belongs to the same family as kaffir corn and milo maize. Upon the rich lands of the valley of the Rio Grande it is grown by means of irrigation, and produces two to three crops per year upon the same land from one planting of the seed. The second and third crops spring up from the stubble and give yields equally as abundant as the first crop. In several instances these yields amounted to 100 bushels of grain for each crop, or a total of 300 bushels per acre for the three crops, all harvested within a period of nine months. The grain is used chiefly for feed for live. stock, although a wholesome flour may be made from it and used for bread. The stalks and foliage of this Egyptian wheat are more delicate than that of either kaffir corn or milo maize and the yield per acre of this forage is very large.

Such a heavy yield of grain is, of course, one of the most remarkable ever recorded.

A RATTLESNAKE'S BUSINESS TOOLS. These fangs show, by front and side view, the form of these poison injecting weapons. The poison is squeezed

THIRD CROP OF EGYPTIAN WHEAT FROM ONE PLANTING.

The total yield on this Texan land was 300 bushels

CRANE LAYS RAILROAD

TRACK

THIS picture shows a novel method of taking up or relaying railroad track with a regular wrecking crane.

This was done in connection with the building of the second main track and grade revision of the present main line on the Northern Pacific Railway between Staples and Philbrook, Minnesota, in 1910. The track on the left is the second main and on the right the present main line, the grade of which is to be raised. The track in the center is the contractor's narrow gauge road used for hauling material into the fill.

The sections of track were laid temporarily on the left shoulder of the fill and later were relaid to proper alignment when the right side was built up to grade. About one mile of track was raised in this manner in six working hours.

TRYING TO STRAIGHTEN THE LEGS OF A LITTLE KNOCK-KNEED LLAMA. The little fellow was born at the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens.

Wearing his steel supports, the little

valuable animal is able to walk around This is the first time such an experiwithout his weak knees bothering him. ment was ever attempted upon a wild animal, and it is to be hoped it will prove a success, to offset the shabby trick that Nature has so unkindly played him.

TAKING UP A SECTION OF RAILROAD TRACK WITH A

WRECKING CRANE.

Ingenious civil engineers often create unusual and unexpected short-cuts,

NOT THE MODEL OF A GIGANTIC FOOT, BUT A NET FOR WARRING ON MOSQUITOES.

They are fighting the dreaded malaria in the Island of Mauritius, by thus trapping the winged pests.

"TEAMING" A BOILER

THE 'HE difficulties of heavy freighting in the Southwest are indicated in this photograph which was taken in the mountains of southern Arizona near the Mexican boundary. Sixteen draft horses are required to haul the boiler over the steep grades to a mine. One of the great difficulties lay in the fact that there were a number of "hairpin" and "horseshoe" bends in the road. Along a good part of the way the cliffs dropped straight down for two hundred feet or so below the road, so that any fright on

the part of the horses or lack of control by the teamsters would have caused very serious results.

Even these hardships are slight compared with the conditions of two years ago when pack burrows were used, as there were no roads at that time. It was then necessary to take all machinery apart so that each piece could be hauled by one or two burros. A bed plate which was too heavy to transport otherwise was sawed in two, hung on an axle between two wheels and worked after prolonged exertion by a gang of Mexicans over the mountains.

REMARKABLE OUTBURST OF

UNDERGROUND GAS

WHILE workmen were boring for

water during the beginning of last November near Hamburg, gas suddenly came out of the boring pipes, expending itself as three gigantic flames. The bore hole was 600 feet deep. There was an enormous heat, the engine in front of the fire getting red hot. Owing to the gas coming out of the narrow pipes with such pressure, however, so much heat was absorbed that the top hole was temporarily covered and finally entirely shut up by ice.

No use has yet been made of the gas,

but in the beginning of December it was extinguished and covered with a huge iron bell. The gas escaping, however, poisoned the air, so that it had to be

lighted again and was burning with a bigger blaze than ever at the end of December. This phenomenon attracted huge crowds of people from all directions. On a bank holiday about 120,000 people went to the place, sixty special trains running from Hamburg and five special trains from Berlin, which is about 200 miles away. Along the road from the railway station to the blaze there were hundreds of tents for beer and sausages, and roundabouts. Good business was done by men selling balls of cotton wool