736 



Popular Science Monthly 



Put the Tree iii the Barn, Put the 

 Cat Out, and Go to Bed 



THERE'S no accounting for taste. 

 Here is an instance where sooner 

 than cut down a fine 

 old tree a new barn was 

 built around it, the 

 trunk passing through 

 the roof. Whether this 

 is due to conservation 

 or to sentiment we are 

 not aware. It undoubt- 

 edly is a pity to cut 

 down beautiful old 

 trees, but just the same 

 one would imagine that 

 a tree in the barn would 

 be, to say the least of it, 

 inconA'enient. Whether 

 it is profaned inside the 

 barn with nails and 

 hooks and harness, who 

 shall say? Whatever the 

 reason, there it is, and it 

 at least has the merit of 

 being exceedingly pic- 

 turesque in appearance 



and probably is unique. 



They built the 

 tree to avoid 



Ef Ye Cain't Shoot the Critters, 

 Dynamite 'Em 



AVERY simple and cheap method of 

 destroying wood-chuck burrows 

 has been discovered by a farmer 

 He takes a stick about three- 

 quarters of an inch thick and 

 about ten feet long, and 

 ties a stick of dynamite 

 to the end, ready capped 

 and with two feet of fuse. 

 He lights the fuse and 

 pushes the charge into the 

 hole. As the fuse takes 

 about a minute to burn 

 down, he has plenty of time 

 to tamp the earth around it 

 and get out of the way. 



The explosion of the dynamite de- 

 stroys the den and, the fumes being very 

 poisonous, any animals which may escape 

 the explosion are asphyxiated. 



This is a far simpler and quicker 

 method than digging them out, and the 

 explosion fills up the burrow too. 



The Battle of the Bath-Tub Fought 

 with Toy Submarines 



A TOY submarine that really runs 

 under water has been recently put 

 on the market. It is 

 fifteen inches long and 

 is constructed of wood 

 and metal. As equip- 

 ment it carries steering 

 and diving planes, a 

 deck gun, and a torpedo. 

 The motive power is de- 

 rived from elastic bands, 

 and the boat will travel 

 from twenty to forty 

 feet under water, at any 

 desired depth, either 

 straight ahead or in a 

 circle. 



The torpedo is fired 

 from the deck gun, and 

 is controlled automatic- 

 ally so that it is dis- 

 charged to a distance of 

 four or five feet as the 

 boat rises to the sur- 

 face. 



Two boys, with two 

 or three of these realis- 

 tic toys and the neces- 

 sary facilities for sailing them, can stage 

 all kinds of sham battles and naval ma- 

 neuvers. Blockades can be carried out 

 and paper boats sunk in the most relent- 

 less manner, while, with the help of 

 a few tin soldiers and "land bat- 

 teries" enemy cities can be 

 readily reduced to ruins and 

 the garrisons routed. 



barn around this 

 cuttine it down 



The toy submarine which dives and 

 circles. Note the heavy artillery it carries 



