Popular Science Monf/tli/ 



:>si 



The Motorcycle as a Valuable Asset 

 in War Operations 



FROM the arrival of the British Ex- 

 peditionary Force in Belgium in the 



late summer 



of 1914 down /^ 

 to the pres- 

 ent time, the 

 motorcycle 

 has steadily 

 gained in 

 importance 

 In different 

 tranches of 

 :hc military 

 service. 

 Its use has 

 not been re- 

 stricted to 

 the Allied 

 armies. The 

 best author- 

 ities place 

 the number 



of motorcycles employed by the armies of 

 the Central Powers, at the time of the 

 Battle of the Marne, at 18,000. The 

 British had at least 40,000 in service in 

 the Spring of 1915, while the French had 

 about 11,000. The Italian forces, up to 

 the present, have 10,000 according to 

 recent estimates. 



It has been figured that more than 

 750,000 motorcycles have been in use for 

 military purposes by 

 the belligerent powers 

 since July, 1914. This 

 does not include those 

 at present in the United 

 States Army services, 

 for prior to our en- 

 trance in the Great 

 War, the American 

 Army did not have 

 more than perhaps 150 

 machines in all. 



Before the era of 

 trench warfare on a 

 large scale, the greater 

 number of motorcycles in use were for 

 despatch riding. By reason of its readi- 

 ness for use at a moment's notice and its 

 ability to thread its way among the heavy 

 traffic behind the lines, the motorcycle 

 superseded all other means employed 



Japanese motor vehicle experts studj' our 

 motorcycle machine gun units and methods 



This little arrangement will save 

 much trouble if you grow plants 



quarters, often long distances apart. 

 Another important use of the motor- 

 cycle in war is that of convoying supply 

 trains from base to distributing stations 

 along the front. The llexibility of the 



motorcycle 

 m a k e s it 

 particularly 

 valuable for 

 such work. 

 Motorcycles 

 have also 

 been used 

 in con- 

 siderable 

 numbers, 

 to convey 

 picked rifle- 

 men to points 

 on the front 

 where rein- 

 forcements 

 are needed, 

 and whole 

 battalions 

 are sometimes transported in this manner. 



Supplying Water to the Thirsty Root- 

 lets of Potted Plants 



THE device illustrated, once installed, 

 will reduce to an absolute mini- 

 mum the work of keeping the potted 

 plants supplied with the required amount 

 of water. It consists, in its main fea- 

 ture, of small tubes 

 containing sponge or 

 some other water -ab- 

 sorbing material, which 

 protrudes from the tube 

 at both ends. These 

 tubes are inserted with 

 their upper end through 

 the hole in the bottom 

 of the flower pots, so 

 that the sponge reaches 

 well up into the soil 

 surrounding the roots, 

 while the lower part of 

 the tube with its cor- 

 responding sponge end goes through the 

 cover of the pan or receptacle, upon which 

 the pots are arranged, and reaches into 

 the water with which the pan is filled. 



Capillary attraction carries the water 

 up the tubes and the plants are thus 



for carrying despatches between head- thoroughly irrigated. 



