AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



January, 1910 



Popular Scientific Books 



Ji/iKi^IC STAGE ILLUSIONS AND SCIENTIFIC 

 IVl Avilv^ DIVERSIONS. INCLUDING TRICK PHOTOGRAPHY 



Compiled and Edited by ALBERT A. HOPKINS 

 With an Introduction by Henry Ridgely Evans 



8ro. 36S Pages. 420 Illiistralions. Price, $-'.30, Postpaid 

 ^^^11 IS unique work appeals to the professional and amateur 

 i '^ alike and will prove a welcome addition to any library. It is 

 ^^iV the acknowledged standard work on magic. The illusions are 

 illustrated by the highest class of engravings, and are all explained 

 in detail, showing exactly how the tricks are performed. Great 

 attention is paid to the exposes of large and important illusions, in 

 many cases furnished by the prestidigitateurs themselves. Conjuring 

 is not neglected, a selection of some of the best known of these 

 tricks having been made. The work cannot fail to be of interest to 

 young and old, and there is hardly anyone who is in anyway in- 

 terested in either science or magic to whom it will not appeal. It is 

 beautifully printed and attractively bound. An illustrated circular 

 and table of contents will be sent on application. 



EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE 



By GEORGE M. HOPKINS 



Twenty-fifth Edition, Rcx'ised and Greatly Enlarged 

 1,100 Pages, over cjoo Illustrations 

 Tzvo Octavo Volumes; Price in Cloth, $3.00; Half Morocco, 

 $j.oo. Postpaid 

 '^^^:;^HIS book treats on the various topics of physics in a popu- 

 ■ ^J lar and practical way. It describes the apparatus in detail, 

 ^^^/ and explains the experiments in full, so that teachers, 

 students and others interested in physics may readily make the 

 apparatus without expense, and perform the experiments without 

 difficulty. The aim of the writer has been to render physical ex- 

 perimentation so simple and attractive as to induce both old and 

 young to engage in it for pleasure and profit. All intelligent 

 persons should have at least an elementary knowledge of physics 



to enable them to understand and appreciate what is going on in 



the world. This can be acquired by reading "Experimental Science." As a gift from em- 

 ployer to employee, from parent to child, from student to teacher, nothing could be more 

 appropriate or acceptable. It is the most thoroughly illustrated work ever published on 

 Experimental Physics, and its unprecedented sale shows conclusively that it is the book of 

 the age for teachers, students, experimenters, and all others who desire a general knowledge 

 of Physics or Natural Philosophy. Illustrated and descriptive circular on application. 



The Scientific American Boy 



By A. RUSSELL BOND 



i^mo. 320 Pages. 340 Illustrations. Price, $2.00, Postpaid. 

 '^^^-^HIS is a story of outdoor boy life, suggesting a large 

 ■ ^ ^ J number of diversions which, aside from affording enter- 

 ^^^/ tainment, will stimulate in boys the creative spirit. In 

 each instance complete practical instructions are given for build- 

 ing the various articles. The needs of the boy camper are sup- 

 plied by the directions for making tramping outfits, sleeping-bags 

 and tents, also such other shelters as tree houses, straw huts, log 

 cabins and caves. The winter diversions include instructions fur 

 making six kinds of skate sails and eight kinds of snow-shoes 

 and skis, besides ice-boats, scooters, sledges, toboggans and a pe- 

 culiar Swedish contrivance called a "rennwolf." Among the more 

 instructive subjects covered are surveying, wigwagging, helio- 

 graphing and bridge-building, in which six different kinds of 

 bridges, including a simple cantilever bridge, are described. 



The Scientific American Cyclopedia of 

 Receipts, Notes and Queries 



In Three Bindings. Price. Cloth, $3; Sheep, $6; Half Morocco, 



$6.50, Postpaid. 

 y^^:^HIS is a careful compilation of the most useful receipts 

 # ^ J which have appeared in the Scientific American for more 

 ^^^/ than half a century. Over 15,000 selected formulas are here 

 collected, nearly every branch of the useful arts being represented. 

 It is the most complete volume on the subject of receipts ever pub- 

 lished. It has been used by chemists, technologists and those un- 

 familiar with the arts \\ith equal success, and has demonstrated that 

 it is a book which is useful in the laboratory, factory or home. An al- 

 phabetical arrangement, with abunrlant cross-references, makes it an 

 easy work to consult. The Appendix contains the very latest formulas 

 as well as 41 tables of weights and measures and a dictionary of chem- 

 ical synonyms. A full table of contents will be sent on application. 



Home Mechanics for Amateurs 



By GEORGE M, HOPKINS, Author of "Experimental Science" 



i2mo, 3/0 Pages, 320 Illustrations. Price, $1.30, Postpaid. 

 "^^^^ HE book deals with wood-working, household ornaments, metal- 

 £ J working, lathe work, metal spinning, silver working ; making 

 ^^^^ model engines, boilers and water motors ; making telescopes, micro- 

 scopes and meteorological instruments, electrical chimes, cabinets, bells, 

 night lights, dynamos and motors, electric light, and an electrical fur- 

 nace. A thoroughly practical book by the most noted amateur experi- 

 menter in America. For the boy and the more mature amateur. Holi- 

 days and evenings can be profitably occupied by making useful articles 

 for the home or in building small engines or motors or scientific in- 

 struments. Table of contents furnished on application. 



MUNN & CO. Inc., Publishers, 361 BROADWAY, NEW YORK M 



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i{lrllliirimllll!llltllini|) 



flOME 



Ml'-CHANICS 



AMATEURS 



A TALK ABOUT PLANTING 

 TREES 



Bv E. P. Powell. 



THE owner of a small country place 

 will do well to learn as soon as 

 possible the simple art of planting. 



Let us begin with the soil. Never 

 l)lant when it is sticky. This will de- 

 stroy the little filjrous roots with which 

 the tree feeds, and if the tree is not entirely 

 killed its development will be checked for 

 months, if not years. Spread the roots out 

 in loose, moist, but not wet dirt, and the 

 growth will be immediate. In the second 

 place never incorporate unfermented ma- 

 nure in the soil about the roots. It is a 

 great mistake to suppose that a shovelful of 

 manure in the hole will be of any benefit to 

 the tree. It will always do harm, and gener- 

 ally will kill the tree. There are very few of 

 our trees that will endure anything of the 

 kind, even after they have started growth. 

 You may spread manure as a mulch, but 

 even there you must be cautious. 



In the third place never leave the dirt 

 loose, but compact it as tightly as possible 

 around the roots. Tread it down, and 

 pound it down, for you cannot get it too 

 tight, — that is provided it is not wet and 

 sticky. In the fourth place never fail to 

 slightly mound up the dirt around your 

 tree so as to run the water away from, 

 rather than have it settle about the tree. 

 This rule of course mttst be modified in a 

 dry climate, and in sandy soil there is less 

 danger. But if you plant your tree in the fall 

 it is quite important not to have the water 

 settle about it during the winter. After 

 pounding the dirt down let the top dirt be 

 loose. Top dress now with a mulch. This 

 is exceedingly important with spring plant- 

 ing, as a few dry days will draw the mois- 

 ture away from the fine roots, and the tree 

 will be past recovering in a very short time. 

 The best very common mulch is coal ashes. 

 This is porous material, and will let the 

 moisture in and hold it there ; at the same 

 time it never makes mud. During the sum- 

 mer, weeds, grass, and almost any waste 

 material will serve for mulch. 



Do not make the mistake of trying to 

 drive your tree into rapid growth when 

 young. As a rule small trees are whipped 

 up with too much food, and old trees are 

 starved altogether. Better feed your old 

 trees liberally, and your young trees care- 

 fully. So when you plant your tree let it 

 have only good vegetable mould, and if ma- 

 nure is used at all place it on the surface. 

 This matter is extremely important ; for 

 stimulating is the ruin of young cherry trees 

 and pear trees particularly. An apple tree 

 that will give you three feet of wood in a 

 season is growing fast enough. I some- 

 times have them pointed out as growing 

 prosperously, because they give two or 

 three times that wood. Sound wood will 

 not be made with such rapidity, nor well- 

 ripened wood, to resist the cold of winter. 

 A pear tree should be simply kept grow- 

 ing; never allowed to stop; but never filled 

 up with a lot of shoot sthat cannot ripen. 

 On the contrary cut back at least one-third 

 of the growth each year. 



Tree planting of apples, pears and heavy 

 trees of all sorts, can generally be accom- 

 plished better in the spring than in the fall. 

 If planted in the fall they should be se- 

 curely staked and tied, so that there will 

 not be the slightest swaying of them in the 

 wind, or bending with snow. Black rasp- 

 berries, and as a rule stone fruits, had 

 better be set in the spring. If the soil is 

 not likely to be ready when spring ship- 

 ments are received, they can be ordered in 



