pay, but pay well. If it pays expenses for the next four or five years—until the apple trees begin to bear-the backers will be satisfied.

The irrigation was a particularly knotty problem. Streams were too far away for pumping and wells were out of the question. Back of the broad acres of the Garmesa Orchards for that is what the farm is called-there is a range of low mountains-sunbaked hills they appear in contrast to their near neighbors of the Rockies. The snows fall deep there and engineers told Lazear that a small watershed had been formed there by Nature. Here was devised a unique irrigation system. A reservoir was constructed, first for a capacity of two thousand acre-feet and then the dam was raised to make the capacity twice the original. Here the melting snows and rainfall collected. But the addition to the dam failed to hold and more than half the water was lost last summer, causing considerable damage to crops-and

too expensive and a well was out of the question. A modern distilling plant was installed at a cost of fifteen hundred dollars and the murky irrigation waters were turned into absolutely pure water. Records are kept of the cost of fuel and labor and the amount of water. Already, the system has proved a relatively cheap boon to the ranch. During the summer months, when the horses are doing maximum labor they get distilled water and the milk cows get it at all times.

The ranch is fourteen miles from the nearest town-Fruita. The road was nothing more than a bumpy trail, although the right of way was fairly level. Lazear built a new road, making several cutoffs that saved considerable distance and some bad climbs for the horses. Good roads is one of the youth's hobbies, because his books show that bad roads cost more. Therefore, in his business, as far as possible, bad roads must go. The Garmesa farm is to be a fruit ranch with about half

grief to the young ranchman. The dam is now being repaired with reinforced concrete and no further trouble is expected from this quarter.

With his irrigation problem settled, the question of water for drinking pur

the acreage in apple and pear trees, which Lazear found would thrive best in his climate and would bring the highest returns. Old fruit growers scoffed at the idea of even planting trees, let alone developing them into

He went to experts. He told them of his soil, baked by the sun of centuries. They told him to use dynamite. He did, exploding a half-stick of the powder in each tree hole, which loosened the ground for several feet around, forming a natural moisture. reservoir, and gave the root fibers of the young trees a chance to spread. The nitrogen in the powder served as a fertilizer, as later experiments proved. A few trees were planted without the explosive and they failed to make half the showing that their more modern rivals did. The trees grew and flour ished in the hot sun, despite the fact that they had no artificial irrigation after June first, owing to the breaking of the dam. But the soil was kept loosened around the trees in the most approved dry-farming method. These trees made a better growth during the first year, than many of the new orchards in the Grand Valley that had plenty of irrigation.

But for proper fruit growing, the climate must be right. The expert horticulturists told Lazear that apples and pears would grow if treated well enough, but that frost conditions would determine the future of the ranch as a paying fruit growing locality. Lazear wanted to know about weather conditions, so he installed a weather bureau on his farm. It is as completely. equipped as any government station and it cost fifteen hundred dollars, but Lazear says he has the satisfaction of knowing that his records will show that under normal conditions his location is an ideal one for fruit growing. Frosts come early in the spring and late in the autumn, his records show.

Oats, hay, and sugar beets were planted last season. To obtain the best results he got government expert advice about the best seed. This he purchased, although it cost him twice or three times as much as the ordinary seed. Grimes alfalfa was grown alongside of a tract planted with ordinary

treatment. The better seeds withstood the drought better, made twice the growth, and the seed was fifty per cent heavier. From the seed of the better alfalfa patch, a much larger plot will be planted for seed purposes next year and in the year following the one hundred acres of alfalfa will be planted with this. By this method there will be alfalfa adapted to his conditions. It will take time, but it will be worth money.

A daily record is kept of every horse, the kind and quantity of its feed, its weight, and the kind of work. The same with the cattle, with additional records for milk production. He knows, after a few weeks, what brings results and when the animal itself is below standard.

Like every well-managed farm, the Garmesa place has large poultry pens in connection. Only pure-stock hens are bred. Every hen has a number on her leg and in the bookkeeping system. The nests are provided with traps and when a hen lays an egg she is held captive until released and her number taken. So Madame Hen must keep the pace. Records of her feed and her eggs are kept and if she fails to deliver the eggs she goes to the dinner table.

Lazear feels that it will be several years before his plan has been worked out, but also believes that when the time comes, he will have a ranch that will bring results in cash. In two years he hopes to have the farm paying expenses with the staple crops, while waiting for the fruit trees to grow.

Whenever he gets a knotty problem, he goes to the state or government experts in that particular problem.

"Do I like it out here? You bet I do-feel that," and he extended a bronzed arm.

Swinging a golf club never produced biceps like those, nor did the tennis. court bring a tan like his, nor the dance give an appetite like the one he demon

BIG SHIELD PROTECTS MOTORCYCLE RIDER

STEEL tubing and

mohair cloth are used in making the new wind shield for motorcycles which will make them more comfortable to use in bad weather. The device weighs but nine pounds and can be attached to any machine in a very few minutes. Riders who have experimented with it have found that there is no additional strain on the wrists when steering a machine that had been equipped with the new device and there is but a small reduction in possible speed. The curve throws the wind up so that when the rider is peeking over the top he is not met by a blast of air. A mud guard attachment protects the trousers and keeps the motor free from flying mud.

SHIELDING THE RIDER

The new device makes the motorcycle comfortable even in winter.

FROM THE FRONTIER OF AFGHANISTAN: A MOUNTAIN BATTERY

These men have defended the Indian border in the past and are capable of carrying their guns in very rough country. Their equipment is remarkably compact.

REFRIGERATING THE AUTO

THE

'HE construction of automobiles involves many scientific principles and experiments or tests by motor-car engineers form an important part of car manufacture. In an Indianapolis factory has been installed a refrigerating room in which various parts of an automobile or the whole chassis can be tested at any time under wintry conditions. A temperature of zero or below is reached very shortly with the aid of an ice-making machine. It is the only refrigerating plant of its kind in the world and it is of the greatest value in making tests

of fuel and machinery.

FROZEN REINDEER FOR

CZAR'S ARMIES

THE Russian Army is now

being furnished with frozen reindeer meat, from Arctic Siberia. The deer are slaughtered in great numbers in the interior and brought to the nearest station on the Trans-Siberian Railway, for shipment to the front. The native owners, who have no use for money and cannot read or write, are given pay in articles which they crave and need. This barter includes brick tea, tobacco, firearms, cooking utensils, needles, knives, scissors, beads, various cheap brass ornaments, etc. A typical Siberian woman, owner of a herd of several thousand reindeer, dresses in a picturesque costume of beaded boots and coat of reindeer skin adorned with colored beads and fantastic strings of brass bells and other gaudy ornaments. With some of her hired herdsmen she spends her time and energy in keeping the large herd constantly on the move over snow-covered

SHE HELPS FEED THE

CZAR'S ARMIES

Her herds of reindeer

are being sold to the Russian commissary.

tundra, in search of fresh pastures

of moss.

BY TROLLEY OVER
NIAGARA

VISITORS of the future at Niagara Falls may take a trolley ride over the whirlpools in noiseless, comfortable cars, carried on a cableway. The concession has been let by the Canadian Government to a Spanish company. It will be built on the same plans as the cableways at the Wetterhorn in Switzerland and at Mt. Ulia near San Sebastian, Spain. The cars will be much larger than those used on the Spanish aërial trolley and will accommodate fifty people to the

load. The terminals will be 1770 feet apart and the whole route will be at an elevation of about 250 feet above the rapids. The one car that will be drawn back and forth across the torrent has already been built in Spain. It will travel on six cables, three on each side of the

car.