Popular Science Monthly 



389 



Safeguarding the Eyes of Horses 

 with Goggles 



SULPHUROUS fumes rising from heat- 

 ed crude oil made life miserable for 

 the horses and men employed in a Los 

 Angeles briquette plant. Clouds of yel- 

 low smoke, surcharged with the fumes, 

 hung over the yards. Its effect upon the 

 eyes was extremely painful and injurious. 



To protect the horses as well as the 

 men in carrying the steaming material to 

 the briquetting machine, both were 

 fitted with goggles. The drivers were 

 equipped with a type similar to that used 

 by motorists, while the horses wore 

 an apparatus composed of circular 

 pieces of mica set in metal rims 

 and held in place by a leather 

 mask. 



w 



"Busting the Bronchos" 

 of the Sea at Palm Beach 



THE Old Man of the Sea 

 and all his mermaids 

 are wondering what the 

 commotion in the vicinity' of 

 Palm Beach can be. Riding 

 the surf each balmy morning 

 appear men and women mount 

 ed upon what appear to be real 

 sea serpents but which, upon 

 closer examination turn out to 

 be steeds made of wood and can- 

 \as. Breasting the waves astride 

 these floating creatures is soci- 

 ety's latest diversion. 



The sensation is not so thrilling as surf- 

 riding on boards, as the Hawaiian does it. 

 That is due in part to the fact that these 

 -ea bronchos can be ridden with very- little 

 practice. The photograph gives an idea 

 of the amount of enjoyment the sport 

 affords. The man directing his mount is 

 one of the most 

 expert surf- 

 riders. 



They ride 'the surf at Palm Beach now on curious 

 rolling, pitching horses made of wood and canvar 



Why There Is Nothing "Just As 

 Good" as Cork 



HEN a man goes into a hardware 

 store for a supply of cork for some 

 specific purpose, he generally gets what he 

 asks for. The reason why the dealer does 

 not endeavor to persuade him to tr>' some- 

 thing else "just as good," is because there 

 is nothing else he could offer. Cork is 

 cheap, and for ages it has stood alone in its 

 field of usefulness. It is tough and elastic 

 and its specific gravity is only 

 0.24. This added to the fact that 

 it is impervious to water, accounts 

 for its use in life-preservers. 

 The cork oak which grows 

 principally in Spain, Portugal, 

 Algeria and Southern France, 

 furnishes the supply. Only the 

 outer bark of the tree is used 

 for the commercial product. 

 When the tree has attained 

 a diameter of approximately 

 five inches^ which it usually 

 does by the time it is twenty 

 ^^j ^ > ears old, the cork, as the first 



W/t/^^^9l stripping of bark is called, is 

 ^^^g^^ / removed. This cork is so rough, 

 coarse and dense that it has little 

 commercial value. But its re- 

 moval does not kill the tree. On 

 A horse wearing the contrary, it seems to promote 

 goggles to prevent development. The stripping is 

 sulphurous fumes ^q^^ {^ July and August, and 

 great skill is necessary in order 

 not to injure the tree. If it is in- 

 jured at any place the growth there ceases 

 and the spot remains ever afterward 

 scarred and uncovered. 



But if the stripping is correctly done the 

 growth of new bark begins at once and the 

 subsequent layer is of finer quality than 

 the one removed. Each year the inner 

 bark — the real skin of the tree — forms two 

 layers of cells, one within, increasing the 

 diameter of the trunk, and the other with- 

 out, adding thickness to the sheathing. 



The instruments used in the strip- 

 ping are either the crescent-shaped 

 saws of the Algerians or the long- 

 handled, wedge-shaped hatchets of 

 the Spaniards. A mark is cut clear 

 through the bark around the base of 

 the tree and another just below the 

 main branches. The two parallel 

 incisions are then connected by 

 longitudinal slits, following the deep- 

 est cracks in the bark, after which 

 the bark is pried off. 



and smoke 

 injuring the 



from 

 eyes 



