XIV 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



Feb 



ruary, 1910 



The Unseen Power 



As man's meclianical skill increases he conceals the means by which work 

 is done. Compare, for example, the earliest locomotives and their ex- 

 posed mechanism with the modern "iron horse," or the early walking- 

 beam engine with a modern motor-boat driven by a submerged propeller 

 and seeming to move as if alive. In your country home there is no 

 need to insult the landscape with a towering, clattering, unreliable 

 windwill. Leave windmills to the days of "New Amsterdam," and the 

 old flint-lock muskets to lovers of antiques, and let your water supply 

 be furnished by the little, inconspicuous Hot- Air Pump, which can be 

 tucked away in the corner of the cellar, barn, or outhouse, works 

 silently and independently of wind or weather, and is reliable always. 

 Once installed it is out of sight and out of mind. 



mmm - m«RicssoM 



Be sure that the name REECO-HII Ih K or HttCO-t HIUNNIJ W ='PP"" "POn the 

 pump you purchase. w^f" III U loll «iin»ti«. V,! |I V%* Wl» This name pro- 



tects you against worthless imitations. When so situated that you cannot personally inspect 

 the pump before ordering, write to our nearest office (see list below) for the name of a repu- 

 table dealer in your locality, who will sell you only the genuine numo- Over 40,000 arc in 

 use throughout the world to-day. IVrite for Catalogue E, ^^d atk for reduced price-list. 



Rider-Ericsson Engine Co. 



HOT-AIR Pn.MP 



» Warren Street, New York 411 Dearborn Street, Chicago 234 West Craig Street, Montreal, 1'. Q. 



239 Franklin Street, Boston 40 Nortb 7tli Street, I'liiladelphia 22 Pitt Street, SyJney, N.S.W. 



(Also builders of the new "Reeco" Electric Pump) 



s^^^bea^i^ii^Xi 



Sim THE NEW YEAl 



Scientific 

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ONE YEAR 



^ WEBSTER'S 



Intercollegiate Dictionary 



ALL FOR $5.00 



The Dictionary is new from cover to cover, built on a novel practical 

 plan which reduces the Massive Lexicon to the proportions of an Oxford 

 Teacher's Bible. 



The book contains many hundreds of text illustrations and twelve full 

 page color plates. It defines 50,000 words and has 1224 pages beauti- 

 fully printed from clear new plates, in large type made especially for this 

 edition, on Bible paper. It is bound in full Morocco with red edges 

 and thumb index and it is altogether the handiest, most practical and up to 

 date Dictionary published. 



MUNN & CO.. Inc.. 361 Broadway. New York 



DESTRUCTION OF WOOD 

 BORERS 



IN OUR waters there are two genera of 

 mollusks, viz., Xylotrya and Teredo, and 

 three of crustaceans, viz., Limnoria, 

 Chelura, and Spha^ronia, that attack and 

 seriously damage structures of wood in salt 

 water. The Xylotrya and Teredo are very 

 similar in structure and action. The former 

 are by far the more numerous, and what are 

 commonly called Teredo are, in the large 

 majority of cases, Xylotrya, and all refer- 

 ences to the Xylotrya will be understood to 

 refer to both genera. 



When first coming to life the Xylotrya is 

 very minute, being the thickness of a hair 

 and about one-twentieth of an inch long. 

 When very young it attacks the wood in 

 countless thousands, and immediately begins 

 to bore. 



In structure it is comparatively simple. 

 Its body consists mainly of a tube beginning 

 at the posterior end of the body, running to 

 the head, and then returning to the posterior 

 end. At the head end is a sucker-like foot 

 or tongue inclosed in two shell valves which 

 are provided with fine, hard, tooth-Uke pro- 

 tuberances. It is with these valves that the 

 boring is made. Through the longer end 

 of the tube water is taken in, passed through 

 the body, through the return tube, and is 

 ejected through the shorter end with the 

 wood borings and the excreta. It does not 

 appear that the Xylotrya gathers any sus- 

 tenance from the wood, its food consisting 

 only of the infusoria in the water. 



Of the crustacean borers the Limnoria, 

 or "wood louse," is the only one of great 

 importance. It is about the size of a grain 

 of rice, and tunnels into the wood for both 

 food and shelter. The Httle galleries ex- 

 cavated are about one-half inch long and ex- 

 tend inward radially, side by side, in count- 

 less numbers, so that the wood partitions be- 

 tween them, which are very thin, aresoon 

 destroyed by wave action, thus exposing a 

 fresh wood surface to attack. 



A new method of destroying these borers 

 has been found. The piles to be treated are 

 inclosed by a canvas apron supported by 

 floats, and kept in an upright position in the 

 water by weights at the lower end. The in- 

 closed space is ordinarily not more than 40X 

 80 feet square. The water in the inclosure 

 underneath is decomposed by means of an 

 electric current, and chlorine, with small 

 quantities of bromine and iodine, are 

 formed, rising through the water around 

 the piles. By a mechanical contrivance the 

 apron and electrical terminals can be 

 lowered to the mud level and gradually 

 raised, the gases being constantly generated 

 in the inclosure. As previously seen, the 

 Xylotrya draws in water through one end 

 of the tube, always exposed, which passes 

 through the entire body. It has been proven 

 that a mixture of one part of chlorine to 

 one-half million parts of water is sufficient 

 to destroy life in marine animals, so a very 

 small quantity passing through this breath- 

 ing tube causes death. As the Limnoria 

 obtains a part of its food from the water, 

 the same result is obtained with this type 

 of borer. It is true that one appHcation of 

 this method simply kills the borers existing 

 in the pile and surrounding waters, and does 

 not prevent further ravages from others, 

 but the process is so cheap that it can be 

 applied as often as necessary, say every two 

 or three months, thus insuring long life to 

 an unprotected pile. 



A public demonstration of this method of 

 destroying wood borers was recently made 

 in the waters of Elliott Bay, the inventors 

 using for the purpose of generating the 



