230 



Popular Science Monthly 



Forest Rangers Must Fight 

 Snakes as Well as Fires 



THE Forest Service is on the war patli 

 against rattlesnakes in the national 

 forests. Alany forest rangers have been 

 bitten by these venomous snakes from 

 time to time, but the attention of the 

 forest service was sharply called to the 

 necessity for the extinction of rattle- 

 snakes by an episode which occurred 

 during a recent forest fire. 



Several fires broke out in the Shasta 

 National Forest, and a force of men was 

 called to subdue it. After the fire was 

 thought to be extinguished and the men 

 were withdrawn it was (lisco\ered that 

 one blaze had broken out again. A 

 squad of men who returned to the scene 

 ran into a section of brush that seemed 

 literally alive with rattlesnakes. Six 

 hours were spent in fighting the snakes 

 before it was possible to enter the forest, 

 and in the affray several men were 

 bitten. 



Arrangements are now being com- 

 pleted for the arming of forest guards 

 and fire fighters against snake bites. 

 The weapon to be given out consists of 

 a small combination tool containing a 

 sharp lancet and a receptacle to hold per- 

 manganate of potash, which is declared 

 to be the best antidote for snake bite. 



Making Butter by the Barrel. 



DAIRY work is receiving much atten- 

 tion in England during the war. The 

 thousands of wounded and convales- 

 cent soldiers in the hospitals through- 

 out the British Isles consume tons of 

 eggs, milk and butter every day, and 

 it is extremely important that all of 

 this material be of the very best. The 

 accompanying illustration shows a 

 monster churn which can make and 

 wash six hundred pounds of butter at 

 a single operation. 



This monster churn makes and washes six hundred pounds of butter at a single operation, and 



is exceeding valuable at this time in English hospitals, where wounded soldiers consume 



large quantities of dairy products by the orders of their doctors 



