252 



Popular Science Monthly 



introduced at Pensacola, perhaps it will 

 be the death blow to the hopes of those 

 of us who wish to see the United States, 

 the birthplace of self-sustained flight, 

 provide for its Army and Navy a fleet 

 of aircraft which in time of war would 

 safeguard our Navy, our fortifications, 

 and eventually our homes. 



The ice-skating rink which took the place of the popular 

 dance floor in one of New York's prominent hotels 



Our Big Birdseed Bill 



WHEN one watches a canary 

 daintily picking at its little box 

 of birdseed, one is not likely to reflect 

 upon the large quantity of that food 

 which is eaten every year. Nevertheless, 

 during the past year the canaries of this 

 country consumed a total of four million 

 seven hundred and four thousand six 

 hundred and twenty-five pounds, or 

 two thousand three hundred and fifty 

 tons of birdseed. At the advanced price 

 of five and one-half cents a pound which 

 has been in force since the war made 

 it dif^cult to import this material, the 

 tiny birds have cost their owners two 

 hundred and fifty-eight thousand seven 

 hundred and fifty-four dollars and 

 eighty-eight cents. 



THE average annual fire loss in the 

 United States is about two dollars 

 per inhabitant. 



Making a Dancing Floor Into a 

 Skating Rink 



NEW YORK, the city of many fads 

 and fashions, is now forsaking the 

 dance floor for the ice skating rink. 

 Dancing, which has held sway for three 

 winters, was doomed to a slow death, 

 even before a substitute was found. 



It needed only the advent 

 of a successful play in 

 which an ice skating scene 

 was the chief attraction to 

 turn the tide in favor of 

 the rink. Quick to see the 

 coming change, the man- 

 ager of one of the largest 

 hotels in the city converted 

 his famous dance floor into 

 a skating rink, and at pres- 

 ent has the largest in the 

 city, with the exception 

 of the permanent arenas 

 which have catered to ice 

 skaters for a number of 

 years past. 



The rink is circular in 

 shape, and consists of a 

 shallow tank which holds 

 five inches of ice. The 

 water was frozen at the 

 beginning of the season by 

 the refrigerating plant of 

 the hotel, and is to remain 

 in that condition until the skating season 

 is over. Every night, Avhen the last 

 skater has left the rink, the ice is 

 scraped, and a slight film of water is 

 sprinkled over the surface. When this 

 water is frozen, it makes an entirely new 

 surface for the next day's sport. It is 

 said that the rink was made at a cost of 

 about twenty thousand dollars. 



Hazards of Aeroplane Making 



AEROPLANE manufacturing must 

 now be rated among the hazardous 

 eniplo3'ments. At a foreign aeroplane 

 factory a number of workmen employed 

 in the varnishing department were taken 

 seriously ill, and two deaths resulted. 

 Upon careful investigation the cause 

 was found to be poisoning by tetrachlor- 

 ethane, an ingredient of the varnish 

 used. These accidents led to an order 

 forbidding the use of varnish containing 

 a high percentage of this deadly chemical. 



