Popular Science Monthly 



239 



How Germany Manages to Feed 

 Her Millions 



OX each one hundred acres of cultivated 

 land, Germany feeds seventy of her 

 people, while Britain can only support forty- 

 five. The two chief factors in the recent re- 

 markable development of German agricul- 

 ture, are her settled economic policy and her 

 well thought out system of agricultural 

 education. It was the belief that he was 

 essential to the communityand that his land 

 would not be allowed to go out of cultiva- 

 tion, rather than the extra profit on his 

 wheat, that inspired the German far- 

 mer to greater efforts during [the last ten 

 \-ear5. The need for well educated men as 

 managers of estates is more commonly 

 recognized in Germany than in any other 

 countrv in the world. 



The Ferris Wheel Turned Into 

 A Baby's Carriage 



Install a Motor-Driven Bootblack in 

 Your Home 



A SIMPLE contrivance for cleaning and 

 polishing shoes promises to save time 

 and the price of the daily "shine" for the 

 busy man. The machine consists of a pair 

 of brushes mounted at the sides of a central 

 brush, as shown in the accompan^'ing 

 illustration, and operated by power from 

 any ordinary- electric light socket. The 

 blacking is applied by hand with a dauber. 

 Then the foot is placed in the space between 

 the two end brushes and the power turned 

 on. The foot may be moved about in any 

 position in the allotted space, so that all 

 parts of the shoe may be reached. 



For polishing, a flannel drum is provided, 

 .made of three or four layers of flannel which 

 sag when the machine is at rest but are 

 thrown out by centrifugal force when 

 the power is turned on. The foot 

 sinks into this drum, which, re 

 volving at the rate of twelve 

 hundred revolutions a min- 

 ute, gives a high polish to 

 every portion of the shoe. 



The machine is the 

 invention of a Mani- 

 toba lawyer. It is so 

 constructed that the 

 parts are interchange- 

 able and'easily slipped 

 on or off, and there is 

 nothing to get out of 

 order or to be spe- 

 cially cared for. The 

 entire operation takes 

 up just about a min- 

 nte for each shoe. 



The mechanical bootblack that cleans and 

 polishes a shoe in the twinkling of an eye 



Push this miniature Ferris wheel along 

 and the swings will work up and down 



A BACKYARD can be changed into an 

 amusement park for your children by 

 a new type of Ferris wheel which can be 

 pushed^along wherever it is wanted. It is a 

 combination of Ferris wheel and carriage 

 invented by a South Carolina man, Charles 

 M. Calhoun. The side supporting wheels 

 are made about five feet high, and are kept 

 in position by long iron crossbars. Two 

 hangers are pivoted side-by-side on two 

 special crossbars mounted near the center 

 of the central axis of the carriage and dia- 

 metrically opposite. Hence 

 when one hanger moves 

 upward the other 

 moves downward, 

 and when one is 

 near to the rear of 

 the carriage the 

 other is near the 

 front of it. In fact, 

 the weight of one 

 hanger always tends 

 to balance that of 

 the other, and very 

 little effort is required 

 to push the carriage 

 along. One of the 

 iron crossbars which 

 hold the side wheels 

 in place also serves 

 as a handle by which 

 to push it. 



