288 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



June, 1906 



To Make Cheap Gas-light 

 for Country Homes 



TAKE a common Clay Pipe. 

 Put a simple " Acetylene" Gasburner on its stem. 

 Bind the two in position with a tight-fitting piece 

 of Rubber Hose. 



Then fill the bowl of the pipe with fine-ground Cal- 

 cium Carbide. 



Next tie a moistened rag over head of the bowl to keep 

 in the Carbide. 



Now put the pipe into a Glass of Water, as in picture. 



There you have a complete Gas plant for 25 cents. 



Touch a match to the Burner — 

 and you'll get a beautiful White 

 Gas-light. 



Of course, this is only an ex- 

 periment, but it shows the won- 

 derful simplicity of Acetylene 

 Lighting. 



That very simplicity gave 

 Acetylene Light a setback at 

 first. 



It seemed so simple to turn Cal- 

 cium Carbide into Gas-light that 

 over 600 different kinds of "tanks" 

 and "Acetylene Machines" were in- 

 vented, patented, and marketed for 

 the purpose by about as many 

 different people. 



Well, the thing to be expected certainly happened! 



About 530 of these "Acetylene Machines" had been in- 

 vented and sold by people who knew more about Tin- 

 ware than they did about Gas-making. 



The "Calcium Carbide" was all right all the time, but 

 530 of the machines for turning it into Gas were all 

 wrong all the time. 



So Acetylene Gas "got a bad name," though it is 

 clear enough now that it never deserved it at any time. 



It was like selling Wood Stoves to burn Hard Coal in 

 and then blaming the Coal for not burning. 



Lots of things happened to grieve the Owners of these 

 530 makes of alleged "Acetylene Machines." 



But very few accidents occured from them even in the 

 days of rank experiment and dense ignorance among 

 "Generator" Makers. 



Of course, a gun will go off unexpectedly, now and 

 then, if the trigger be pulled by a person who "didn't 

 know it wasloaded." 



But, that's no fault of the Ammunition — is it? 



Well, finally the Insurance Companies got after these 

 530 odd makes of "Acetylene Machines" that wouldn't 

 Acetylate, and the Insurance Board made an investi- 

 gation of all Generators that were submitted to them. 



Then, out of the 600 odd "Machines" patented, only 

 about 70 were "permitted" by the Insurance Board to 

 be used. 



Oh, what a howl was there! 



By "permitted" I mean that the Insurance Board 

 was willing that any building should be Insured, without 

 extra charge, which used any one of these 70 Acetylene 

 Generators it had found safe, and effective, just as it 

 permitted houses to be piped for City Gas or wired for 

 Electricity, under proper conditions. 



Now, the Insurance Companies ought to know whether 

 or not these 70 different makes of Acetylene Generators 

 were absolutely Safe to use. 



Because, they have to pay the bills, if Fire or Ex- 

 plosion occurs, from any one of the Acetylene Generators 

 they authorize. 



And, here's a proof of their good judgment. 



Though there are now Two Million people using Acety- 

 lene Light in America, there have only been jour Fires 

 from it in one year, against 8865 Fires from Kerosene 

 and Gasoline. 



There have also been 4691 Fires from Electricity, 1707 

 Fires from City Gas and 520 Fires from Candles. 



Besides these there have been 26 Fires from the Sun's 

 rays, But — only jour Fires from Acetylene. 



That shows how carejul the Insurance Board was in 

 its examination of Acetylene Generators, and in "per- 

 mitting" only the 70 makes that were above suspicion 

 out of the 600 experiments that were once on the market. 



Well — the boom in Acetylene Lighting made lower 

 prices possible on the material it is derived from, viz. 

 Calcium Carbide, a material that looks like Granite but 

 acts like Magic. 



Today, Acetylene Light is a full third cheaper than 

 Kerosene Light, or Gasoline Light, per Candle Power. 



It is not more than half the price of Electric Light, nor 

 three-fourths that of City Gas. 



If I can't prove these statements to your full satis- 

 faction my name is not "Acetylene Jones." 



But Acetylene is more than the safest and cheapest 

 Light of the year 1906. 



It is also the Whitest Light — the nearest to natural 

 Sunlight in health-giving Blue and Violet rays, and be- 

 cause of this, with its freedom from flicker, it is the 

 easiest of all Artifical Light on the Eyes. 



It is so much like real Sunlight that it has made plants 

 grow 24 hours per day in dark cellars where no ray of 

 Sunlight could reach them. It made them grow twice 

 as fast as similar plants that had only the Sunlight of 

 day-time, viz., half the time. 



That was proven by Cornell University in a three 

 months' experiment made this very year. 



Now, I've saved up for the last a point more important 

 to you than all the others about Acetylene Light. 



It consumes only one-fourth as much of the vital 

 Oxygen from the Air of Living rooms or bed-rooms, as 

 either Kerosene or City Gas-Light consumes. 



That's a tremendous difference in a lifetime, mark you — 

 three-fourths of a difference. 



Because — Oxygen is Life. 



And every bit of Oxygen stolen from the lungs of 

 Women, Children and Men, through Lighting, is a loss 

 that can never be made good again. 



A 24 Candle-Power Acetylene Light costs you only 

 two-fifths of a cent per hour. 



That's about $5.85 per year, if burned every night in 

 the year for four steady hours. 



A Kerosene Lamp of equal capacity would cost you 

 a third more, viz.: three-fifths of a cent per hour for 

 Kerosene alone, or $8.75 per year. 



That's exclusive of broken lamp chimneys, new wicks, 

 and the everlasting drudgery and danger of cleaning, 

 filling and trimming daily. 



I want to prove these figures to you, Reader, if you 

 are a house-owner or store-keeper. 



Tell me how many rooms you've got and I'll tell you 

 what it will cost to light them with brilliant, beautiful, 

 Sanitary, eye-saving Acetylene. 



Write me today for my Free Book about "Sunlight 

 on Tap." 



Just address me here as — 



"Acetylene B Jones," 



160 Michigan Ave., 



Chicago, Ills. 



Some Insects that Bother the 

 Melon Patch 



AS the little melon seedlings push their 

 way up through the soil in June they 

 are immediately attacked by a little yellow- 

 and-black-striped beetle, who seems to have 

 been actually waiting for the seedling's 

 appearance. Often these striped beetles 

 occur in such numbers that, where only a few 

 seedlings are growing, there is no chance 

 whatever of any surviving the assault. Many 

 growers, therefore, plant the seed very 

 thickly in rows, so that the beetles may 

 have plenty of food. As soon as their 

 appetites have been partially satisfied, the 

 rows are thinned out into hills the desired 

 distance apart. 



A few hills may be protected very easily 

 by a cover the frame of which is made from 



MaKe a light frame six feet square and cover it 

 with c&nvas which has been soaKed in linseed oil. 

 Have the ends long enough to be covered with soil to 

 prevent the smoke from escaping 



two barrel hoops. Cut one into two pieces 

 and cross the two halves, tacking them to- 

 gether at the centre and their ends to the 

 hoop. Thus a dome-shaped frame is formed 

 which may be covered with mosquito netting 

 or cheese-cloth. They are cheap, easily 

 made, and may be kept from year to year. 



If the young plants are kept thoroughly 

 coated with Bordeaux mixture, they are 

 protected from the beetles. 



Early squashes, planted around the melons, 

 will attract the beetles first; and by keeping 

 the squashes well poisoned with Paris green, 

 many of the beetles are destroyed, and the 

 melons remain untouched. Further north, 

 where the beetles attack young squashes, the 

 best method is to drive them off with frequent 

 applications of tobacco dust, or anv of the 

 cheaper, non-poisonous powder insecticides. 



A second brood of the beetles appears 

 later in the season, and is often troublesome 

 on late squashes. Much may be done to re- 

 duce the numbers of this annoying pest by 



