TWO SILK SHIPS UNLOADING AT SEATTLE The transcontinental freight trains are waiting at the dock when the big ships come in. Most of the great traffic has ceased since the world began to fight. There are comparatively few ships left since the withdrawal of most of them for work in the war. hama to Vancouver in less than nine days, a record that the Awa could not equal, it was imperative that the latter get in before July thirtieth, the day the Empress was scheduled to dump her boxes into the Canadian road's trains. She made the trip in the fastest time ever accomplished by any vessel of her line and her cargo of silk was on its way across the continent when the Empress arrived. War is already cutting capers in the silk trade although women will perhaps go on wearing silk regardless of trade conditions. The traditions of style war rant the assertion. Just the other day, at the outset of the present European wars, the British steamship Protesilaus, of the Blue Funnel line, came into Victoria with a silk cargo valued at $1,750,000, probably the most valuable shipment. that has ever come to us. The thirtyfour hundred bales were hurried east, after which the Canadian government commandeered the ship preparatory to converting her into a hospital ship. By this act one of the largest carriers in the trade is temporarily removed. The Pacific ocean boasts a ship that (Continued on page 470) GETTING HEAVIER LAYING T BIDDIES By R. C. AULD HE chief point of interest in regard to keeping hens is the egg-laying capacity of the individuals. Can that capacity be increased by special dietary, or other means? This is a question that poultry breeders have long discussed among themselves. Science has at last come along and decided the question for them, and says: The capacity of a hen for egg-laying cannot be increased by any certain means or methods, her capacity being fixed from chick-hood. That is, each chick is endowed with a certain egglaying capacity-which means that the number of eggs she will "lay" is fixed; in fact, the whole number is already formed, and only require development to come to their growth and be produced. That being so, it behooves the poultryman to select his stock, as far as he knows how, from heavy-laying strains. Not being able to increase the inherent capacity, the only possible thing he can do is to accelerate the hen's industrious nature, so that she may lay more regularly or oftener. When she has reached her limit, over the the long or short route, she is fit only for fricassee and the family table, Sunday noon. Breeding for heavy egg-laying production is, therefore, of the first importance, and one man, Dr. Raymond Pearl, of the Maine Experimental Station at Orono, has devoted long and persistent study to the subject, his results being enlightening and such as should benefit the breeder. He has laid down certain rules, as a result of his experiments, that are quite easy to understand and practice. Summarizing his knowledge he has formulated the following "laws": 1. The selection of breeding birds should be made on the basis of constitutional vigor and vitality; which may be determined by their normal growth, their performance in respect to the vitality of their chicks (this being charged up against the hen); their freedom from or immunity against sickness, and other troubles. 2. The use as breeders of such females only as have shown themselves by trapnest records to be high producers; since it is only from such females that there can be any hope of getting males capable of THE HEN'S SUPPLY OF THE STOCK COUNTS The hen lays as many eggs as should. MAINE EXPERIMENT STATION FOR POULTRY Men at this institution have evolved a set of rules for the breeding of high capacity egg producers. 5. The making at first of as many different matings as possible. 6. Continuing though not by too narrow inbreeding (or line breeding) those lines in which the trap-nest records show a preponderant number of females to be high producers. It will thus be noted that, in one respect, the rooster is more important than the hen; but he must spring from a hen of high-producing capacity and be mated S this one hundred per cent amount of capacity, resident in the germ cells (gametes), can be contributed by each parent; but there being two equal fifty per cent proportions (from each of the two parents) we have in the resulting chick a one hundred per cent efficiencyand that is determined, as science has declared, at the period of fertilization of the female or egg cell by the male or sperm. WATCHDOGS FOR THE SMOKESTACKS By K. H. HAMILTON MOKE seems to be an accompanying factor of our modern industrial life. Cities lacking it are usually in a state of industrial stagnation. To eliminate the nuisance of a much polluted atmosphere, and at the same time do the least possible harm to the manufacturer, is a problem with which many cities are battling. A ray of hope springs from St. Louis. At one time more dingy than Pittsburgh, it is now pronounced officially as "practically free from smoke". A smoke monitor that would seem to WATCHDOGS FOR THE SMOKESTACKS have considerable 373 be conducted through them with ease. In other words, when there is a good bed of redhot coals the medium in the stack is a good conductor and the resistance to current is very low. When dust or fumes are present, through a peculiar combination, the resistance is greatly increased and the electric discharge causes the warning bells and lights to operate. GIVING ITS WARNING Heretofore some methods have been in vogue calling upon the fireman to watch the smokestack, which in numerous cases is so situated as to make this method impractical. The new electric "watchdog" seems to overcome this, as the recording apparatus and alarm are adjustable to almost any convenient location about the plant. The operation of the instrument de WHEN THE CHIMNEY SMOKES DIRECTIONS ARE LIGHTED tant part in the smoke problems of the future. Its benefits are two-fold; that is, it stops to a great degree the pollution of city air and at the same time puts dollars and cents into the pockets of the manufacturers, for it sees to it that the man at the furnace is firing for efficiency. Anti-smoke agitators have for a long time hoped to do away with the use of soft coal and the production of the destructive clouds of gas and floating carbons, but in a great many parts of the United States the cost of anthracite is prohibitive and it is necessary to use bituminous coal. Investigations have proved that when the latter is fired skilfully practically no smoke is produced. twenty-three millions the United States Government was paying. In other words, the interest that New York paid in 1913 on its debt of long term bonds was thirtyeight and one-half million dollars-a fifth of the aggregate cost of running its government and seven dollars and fifty cents for every man, woman and child. The taxpayers of New York are at last. beginning to demand, "Why is all this?" In the past, when a mayor and his Our City Will Grow No Matter Who's Elected This same man was a taxpayer. He had just learned that New York City has a larger debt than the Government of the United States; that, according to the latest figures obtainable, it owes more than all the six states of Central America combined, plus Chile and Brazil; more than Chile, China, Sweden, Venezuela, the Philippines, and Cuba; nine times as much as Canada; a hundred thousand times as much as Ohio, and thirteen times as much as Massachusetts. This disgruntled taxpayer Will it ever grow as fast as its budget? FATHER KNICKERBOCKER IS BEGINNING TO GROAN had learned that New York City owed exactly one billion, one hundred and twenty-two million, six hundred and ninety thousand and forty-two dollars. He simply could not comprehend that mountain of gold whose top he could not see. The interest the City of New York was paying on its debt annually was more than one and one-half times the political henchmen came up for office in New York, the mayor addressed the taxpayers and in substance said: "Good citizens, elect us and we'll keep the tax rate down to one dollar and eighty cents on each solid one thousand dollars you own. This, we promise you in return for your votes." The voters voted. By the close of the fiscal year the pledges of efficiency and self-sacrifice on the part of the favored were forgotten by those who made them. The mayor and his conferees found the tax rate approximated one dollar and eighty-three cents, and the keepers of the exchequer were called and told to issue bonds for fifty years. The bond brokers were glad to get these bonds at twice the rate of United States Government bonds. They praised the city for its liberality. |