action. Watching the steaming surface of the brine, a pellicle of salt forms, which soon breaks and sinks down, to be followed by another, and the crystallization then proceeds rapidly.

It is this extreme rapidity of crystallization in the concrete grainers that has astonished the oldest salt-makers and made glad the directors of the Plate Glass Company.

"No such fast salt-making was ever known before," said salt-maker Mason. "It beats all, how the crystals form on the bottom and sides of the grainer. I never saw anything like it, and I have been making salt-and good salt, toofor twenty-five years."

"The secret is this," he continued; "the concrete becomes so extremely hot from the maintained temperature of the brine,

In this salt works, anything that saves manual labor or in any way tends to reduce the cost of making salt is hailed with delight by this skilled mechanic and his assistants.

It is a fact that the estimated capacity of each grainer, of 100 barrels every 24 hours, is being greatly exceeded, and more than 130 barrels is being made.

The salt accumulates rapidly on the floor of the grainer; and to remove it there have been installed Wilcox automatic submerged rakes, which are placed beneath the steam pipes, and which may be described as long, rigid frames of steel, of angle-bar construction, running the entire length of the grainer, and sliding backward and forward along a steel way bolted in the concrete walls, about six inches from the bottom. At intervals

of eight feet, beginning at the extreme back end of the grainer, are hung crosswise rakes of bar steel, about six inches wide, hinged to turn upward and forward. This steel frame with the rakes is attached at the front end to a hydraulic ram, with nine-foot stroke, so that with each forward movement of the ram, the salt gathered by each rake is moved nine feet along the floor of the grainer.

The return stroke places the rake next in front one foot behind the little pile of salt, 12 feet long, the width of the grainer, the hinged rake slipping over, and the operation is resumed. This goes on continually through the whole length of the grainer, a complete stroke requiring about three minutes.

The last rake at the front end brings up the accumulated salt on a slight incline, draining off the brine, and dumping it over the edge into a wood conveyor below.

The steam pipes, rakes, and all metal parts exposed to the brine and salt are heavily galvanized to prevent rust, for a particle of rust will ruin a quantity of salt.

The twelve hydraulic rams are actuated by a large three-cylinder pump driven by a 20-horse-power electric. motor, direct-connected. This pump can be operated at various speeds, but the usual pressure to the rams is 68 to 70 pounds.

As the salt drops into the conveyors, which are 12 inches wide and 20 inches deep, automatic rakes carry it along to a series of hoppers set in the bottom of the conveyor at intervals of 25 feet. Beneath the hoppers are fast-running rubber belts 15 inches wide, which catch the salt and carry it into the storage building.

This large storage house, 200 feet long by 120 feet wide, with concrete floor, adjoins the front of the salt block, and has a capacity of 45,000 barrels.

The salt, as it enters on the belt, is caught up by vertical conveyors and lifted to the ceiling, where it is deposited

REAR END OF SALT BLOCK. Showing asbestos-covered main pipe into which all engines of the glass works exhaust. Smaller pipes over passageway are feed-pipes supplying the "grainers."

on other belts and carried along to any part of the building desired, and then allowed to slip off, forming huge piles. The power driving these belts is furnished by a number of electric motors located at convenient places in the building.

When the salt has passed the State inspection, it is branded with the State and company brands and is ready for shipment. If loaded in bulk in cars, the operation is simply to run a pair of bucket-conveyors into the car; and in a short time, thirty tons or more have been transferred from the hillsides of salt. The usual practice, however, is shipment in barrels, even though a barrel costs twice as much as the salt it contains. The filling is done by automatic machinery, by which the barrels are conveyed on narrow, moving platforms under the bucket-conveyors, which deposit the product to the required weight, 280 pounds, and move it along to a heading machine, which sets the barrel-head and stamps the brand thereon. It is then carried on the platform to the car door.

Thus is the saline product of the earth placed on your table, delivered to meat and fish packing establishments, or made ready for other uses of mankind, entirely by mechanical means.

DorM

HEN a large Austrian novelty house cornered the skim milk market recently, dealers and public wondered what on earth the concern would do with the thousands of gallons of the liquid which were shipped to them. daily. The 267 employees could not possibly drink such a quantity; and although it has long been known that milk will cleanse certain metals, the company would find it impossible to use up those hundreds of cans in this way, even though they put the entire force to scouring eight hours a day.

What, then, could be the use to which this great ocean of skimmed milk was put? When questioned on the matter, the proprietor of the establishment smiled mysteriously, and beckoned the visitor into one of the storerooms.

Here he picked up a billiard ball. "What do you suppose this is made of?"

he questioned. "Celluloid," came the prompt and confident reply. "Wrong; it is milk, skimmed milk, Sir!"

Billiard balls; dolls' heads; white handles for golf sticks, umbrellas, and canes; salt and pepper shakers; pen holders; ink wells; fancy boxes for gloves, handkerchiefs, and ties; card cases; cigarette holders; and various other novelties, all seemingly made of celluloid, were strewn about; and the visitor was told that each and every article was made from those gallons of skimmed milk which were shipped to the company every day.

What Austria has been doing for a number of years, other countries are now successfully attempting.

We have right here in our own land, besides those mentioned, a number of other articles made from skimmed milk. Many objects which are called "imitation ivory" are really made from a substance the chief ingredient of which is milk. Door-knobs, mantelpieces, clocks, piano keys, paper racks, pin heads, collar buttons, fancy buttons, picture

frames, and innumerable other articles on the market, which the purchaser believes to be made of bone or ivory or celluloid, are really cut from galalith or "milk stone," which is a composition of skimmed milk and formaline.

Milk stone, or galalith, as the substance is known, is made by a very simple process. The equipment of the manufactory consists of a huge tank, into which the milk is pumped; and connected with this by means of an inclined trough, is another tank with a wide, square opening. Over this opening are placed, one about two inches above another, three wire sieves, varying in fineness, the lowest one being of very close mesh.

From a huge vat into which certain chemicals have been poured, the milk is pumped through short pipes into the first. tank mentioned, where it is threshed about by a glass paddle for fifteen minutes. The bung-hole of the tank is then opened, and what was once milk is forced out by air-pressure in the form of a yellowish brown powder. This is called chemically treated "casein" and it is sent down the inclined trough, through the three sieves, to the second, tank, where it is mixed with the

formaline and poured out on marble slabs to dry. The formaline solidifies the powdered casein, and forms it into a horn-like substance, which has been given the name of "galalith."

Galalith can again be mixed with other substances and worked over into a material which forms a substitute for bone, ivory, celluloid, marble, hard rubber, and even amber.

There is really no limit to the articles which can be made from galalith. It takes dyes readily, and inferior grades are colored. The best remain white, however, for white galalith brings the highest price because of its similarity to ivory. The first grade of white galalith is made up into knife-handles, and it brings almost as high a figure as would so much ivory.

Galalith is the best substitute for ivory ever discovered, for it is smooth to the touch, retains its soft, creamy tinting for years, is not marred by soap and water, and, unlike celluloid, is proof against fire. It does not chip or crack like bone, and can be cut into the most delicate shapes, being tough and not easily broken.

For piano keys it has no peer outside the genuine ivory, and that is rather diffi

WHERE THE MILK IS SOLIDIFIED. Showing milk "closet" (at right) and "blower" (at left), where the powdered milk is sent in last step in hardening process.

cult to secure, elephant hunters growing fewer each year, and those still in the business demanding almost prize money for their work. To be sure, a single elephant's tusk will make about 96 sets of keys; and it may be that the highestpriced pianos will always have ivory keys; but it is pretty safe to wager that when next you play a Chopin nocturne on a concert piano, you will run your fingers over keys of galalith.

Each year in Vienna, there is held a popular and an important festival known as "Creamery Day," the object of which is to gather together all the latest achievements in dairy products, for exhibition purposes. Last year, on Creamery Day, Mr. Maximilian Ripper, assistant at the Agricultural Experiment Station of London, had on hand some specimens of galalith; and, exhibiting these, he gave a talk on the value of skimmed milk, which interested scientists of many countries.

Mr. Ripper said it was a well-known fact that the success of a creamerywhere the chief source of profit is, of course, butter-does not depend so much upon the cost of production

and the selling price of butter as on the profits derived from the skimmed milk. The right market for the milk skimmed for the the purpose of butter-making, is really the vital question of the milk industry to-day. Years ago the skimmed milk was either thrown away or given to the pigs; and although these useful animals consume vast quantities of the chalk-like liquor, skimmed milk is now used for a thousand different purposes-for the manufacture of sugar of milk, as food for many animals besides pigs, and for a very delicious beverage poetically called "milk champagne," which is skimmed milk with fruit juices impregnated with carbonic acid. A rather large percentage of skimmed milk is also separated into its component parts, which are then worked up. The "casein" serves for the manufacture of cheese; also for glue, putty, and other substances. But all these different uses of skimmed milk did not solve the question favorably until the invention of galalith, which is just what the material scientists have been waiting for during the last quarter of a century. The insolubility of galalith, its easy working, elasticity, and proof against fire, make it a very desirable product.

In Austria, something like 100,000 quarts of skimmed milk are used daily for the purpose of making galalith, and the industry is largely on the increase. Factories have been erected for turning galalith into all sorts of useful objects. Its great strength even allows it to be used in place of stone and marble. You could build a house of milk if you liked,