one in a moment that the heavy awkward shoe costs the employer more money than it saves the wearer. Gilbreth demonstrated that the jar of a foot treadle used to stop power machines caused undue fatigue to the girl operating the machine. It is customary for her to have her foot on it all the time so that the machine can be stopped instantaneously. The vibration is wearing on muscles and nerves. Gilbreth devised a simple catch that enables operators to stop the machine without keeping the foot on that particular treadle, thus eliminating this source of fatigue. machine, needs special attention from the expert. The business of lessening fatigue is one of the most important tasks of the efficiency engineer. Yet a knowledge of this fact seems to be one of the slowest things to be circulated among manufacturers. It is hard to make them realize that a man works better sitting down than standing up; that a little device suited to a girl or a ten-dollar-aweek boy will make any difference in the cost of manufacture. But it can be proved in dollars and cents, and I wish I could go and have a talk with that contractor who made me stand when I was Each manufacturer, practically each pulling nails out of old lumber. STATE ORCHARD IN F By FRANK G. MOORHEAD RUIT trees along the road- the proceeds used for the maintenance. of the highways; this is the novel plan now being tried out in Missouri. Already there is a state highway, lead A consignment of fifty thousand fruit trees was given to the State of Missouri for planting on the highways. A special law will protect the fruit. A FORTY-THREE-TON CHUNK OF WOOD The first time the log was put on a steamer the rig broke and damaged the vessel. BUOY MADE OF CON- THE last use to which one would believe that concrete could be put is that of a water buoy, yet such material has been employed for this purpose at Kingston, Jamaica. Boats are moored to this buoy, and it is stated that the new material proves just as satisfactory as steel, costing only about half as much. The mooring chain, however, is inclined to wear upon it, and to obviate this the bottom of the buoy is made concave. A small pump hole on the top of the buoy provides for pumping out all leakage. The nearest approach to this use of concrete is that of the concrete barges that have been tried on the River ROCK-DWELLERS SOUGHT THE pholas or boring clam of the Northwest Coast has been watched by scientists for many years; the investigators have been content to sit on the beach for hours, at low tide, endeavoring to ascertain how and why the mollusks drill into the sandstone ledges for an abode, when there are acres of tide flats available for that purpose. The epicure has been interested in the pholas for a comparatively short period and from different motives. His query is: "How can I get them out readily?" rather than: "How and why do they get into the rock?" He has found that the meat of the pholas is very tender and sweet and that rock oyster soup, as served up at the various seaside resorts, is a delectable dish. Along the Oregon Coast, dynamite is often used to dislodge the pholades from their rock abodes but ordinarily a crowbar or pickax will serve the same purpose. Scattered along the shores of Puget Sound are extensive pholas beds and the demand for the toothsome bi WHERE THE PHOLAS HIDES The rock-boring clam of our Northwest Coast is a delicate morsel when properly prepared. valve is con stantly grow ing among the epicures. RATTLESNAKE FARM IN Brownsville, Texas, right on the "edge of trouble" just now, F. B. Armstrong has a rattlesnake farm. It is not 'difficult to collect the snakes and they breed in great numbers. He sells many of them to museums, collectors, and similar markets, but his biggest profit is in the rattlesnake oil for which there is a constant demand. This brings eight dollars an ounce. |