fifteen dollars to twenty dollars per acre.

It is the dividing up of the old plantations which places good farm land upon the market at these figures; the Southern farmer has appreciated the fact that more money can be made with less labor by closely cultivating fifty acres of land than by endeavoring to farm four or five hundred, and wants to get rid of the surplus land; to receive cash for those acres which otherwise must be allowed to grow up in scrub pines. Strange as it may sound to one not familiar with old farming methods in the South, the offering of farm-land for sale is one of the most unmistakable evidences of agricultural prosperity.

which is the junction of two railroads. On this farm is at least 100 acres of original forest, oak, hickory, chestnut and walnut, besides pine suitable for fence rails, fire-wood, etc. It is well watered by two large creeks, and has over 100 acres of rich bottom land-land which would never require a fertilizer for any kind of crop. About the farmhouse a well-built home containing nine large rooms, is a splendid orchard of twenty acres. And this farm was offered for sale for $5,000.

The case just cited is not an extreme one, although, of course, an immigrant might not, without some search, be able to hit upon so desirable a location. Almost anywhere, however, he could find good farms which could be purchased at

It is much to be regretted that Eastern farmers, and those city-dwellers who so often dream of smiling acres of their own, are not availing themselves of the opportunities which the middle South now presents. These opportunities, though now in plenty, will every day grow more rare, for a great industrial empire is rapidly building, and the land will be snatched up rapidly. A plain hint was given when that ship sailed into Charleston harbor the other day as to whounless there is an early awakening in our own country-will form a large percentage of the builders.

FTER the problem of obtaining a record of the human voice had once been solved by the invention of the phonograph, many inventors turned their attention towards some suitable process for photographing spoken words. Though a phonographic record constitutes a true picture of the voice, it is not distinct enough to be deciphered by mere inspection.

The photographic phonograph or photographophone invented by Herr Ruhmer affords a far more characteristic graphical rendering of spoken words. In this

apparatus an electric arc lamp inserted in the circuit of a microphone is made to give out a radiation the intensity of which corresponds to the sound vibrations in the microphone, this radiation being fixed photographically on a film running past in front of a narrow slot. By a convenient inversion of the whole process, the original sounds can then be reproduced from the photographic record.

Though the sounds thus reproduced. are of remarkable distinctness, being free from the disturbing noises characteristic of ordinary phonographs, their low intensity so far stands in the way of a practical application. The process suggested a

PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE FRENCH VOWELS. Beginning at the top they are as follows I, U, OU, E, O, A.

short time ago by an Austrian inventor, Herr J. Palla, is intended to remedy this inconvenience:

A porous moist layer (paper, gelatine, etc.,) placed on a metal plate and soaked with a solution of a metal salt, is exposed to the action of a microphone current, supplied through a metal peg in contact with the sensitive layer, when chemical

alterations will be produced in the latter, the salt solution being decomposed and the metal precipitated on the plate. The current-carrying peg should be moved alongside the surface of the moist layer on any path whatsoever.

If the layer in question afterwards be treated with a convenient reduction agent, the dots and dashes produced by the current-carrying peg on the plate will become more or less transparent, (while all the surrounding parts will appear dark) according to the actual intensity of the microphone current, thus affording a photographic picture of the spoken words. By inserting this in the circuit. of a telephone (owing to the varying resistence of the several parts of the record) it can be made to reproduce the talk like an ordinary phonograph, except for the distinctness and faithfulness of the renderings being far more remarkable.

Whereas, in the above processes the photographic record, so far from being used for an immediate reading of the human voice, is reconverted into sound vibrations perceptible to the ear, Dr. Marage, of Paris, has recently succeeded in producing plain photographic records from which the character of the human voice can be immediately recognized. While the intention of the French scientist originally was to construct an apparatus by means of which the qualities of a vocal performance (in conservatories, etc.) could be gaged, it does not seem unlikely that in a not remote future these records like Chinese ideographic writing might be read immediately. It would then be possible, by simply talking into a microphone, to produce at the other end of a telegraph wire a graphical record of the spoken words which would only have to be transcribed to ordinary writing. The same process would then allow of the services of a stenographer being dispensed with, as dictation would immediately produce in the apparatus a graphical record to be transcribed by a typist.

Dr. Marage's method is based on an ingenious application of the Pollak-Virag telegraph which, invented in 1900, has been quite recently brought to a high stage of perfection. In fact, this apparatus allows as many as 40,000 words per hour to be transmitted, whereas the most efficient telegraph so far known

viz., the Baudot apparatus, was able to deal with only 4,000 words each hour.

The dispatches to be transmitted are at first handed to a typist operating a special typewriter, which so far from printing the dispatch in ordinary types, reproduces it on a continuous paper tape in the shape of a set of perforations. This perforated band, being unwound in the transmitting apparatus, then acts as current interrupter throwing into the line a very rapid set of current impulses that correspond to the perforations. Generally speaking, each letter of the alphabet can be decomposed into horizontal and vertical elements. The perforations representative of each letter are accordingly divided into two series, one of which cor

flected upon a window of a dark chamber in the interior of which a sensitive photographic tape is unwound.

From the above it will be readily understood that the elements constituting the letters thus telegraphed leave a photographic impression, being rapidly recombined on the tape to the respective letters. In order to render them visible the sensitive tape being unwound is made to pass through a developer and a fixing bath and finally between drying rollers. The tape then issues at the other end of the apparatus where the dispatch is read immediately in a handwriting of remarkable distinctness, though of somewhat singular shape.

Now Marage, as above mentioned, has

K

T is said that it required one year for Matthias Baldwin to construct his first locomotive in 1832; today the establishment that bears his name can build nine complete locomotives in one day when pushed to extremes. This huge engine-building plant is only one of numerous concerns flourishing in this country. For many years, until the great wave of organization, and trust-making passed over the country during the late "nineties," all these concerns were independent. Like their sisters in the steel trade, however, the great locomotive companies with one exception have passed to the control of a great mother company, and today we have a prosperous concern known as the American Locomotive Company. The exception mentioned, the only concern not joining the combination, was the Baldwin Locomotive Works, and at the present time these two monstrous manufacturing rivals control the entire locomotive output of America.

The building of a locomotive is a most interesting series of operations from the time that the specifications are received

until the finished machine leaves the shop for service. When the order is placed for so many locomotives it is customary to specify the type of engine wanted; the approximate weight; the number of tons of freight it must be able to haul; the sharpest curve on the road and the maximum grade to be ascended. With this information the designer works up his ideas on paper in the form of a drawing that illustrates a complete locomotive. This is approved by the proper authorities, and then his assistants make what are known as detail drawings of each individual part. These are for the pattern makers, machinists, blacksmiths and boilermakers, the four skilled trades that are required in this business.

At the largest individual plant more than ten thousand men handle the thousand or more pieces that go to make up one locomotive. Ninety per cent of these men will never see the finished machine, for it is none of their business what becomes of the part they handled as long as they made it according to the drawing. Pieces that must fit together accurately are sometimes made in shops that are more than a quarter of a mile apart, and if mistakes occur they do not appear