Page:Amazing Stories Volume 15 Number 12.djvu/109

Rh for the start of the race. The controls are in the coxswain's hands, y'know."

I'm still trying to figure it out. Maybe you think Sergeant Shane used his head for once. But you don't know Shane like I do; a man's got to have a brain to think, and that's one thing my stupid buddy don't possess! Maybe Einstein could explain it, I can't. Anyway, the next race we have, I'm betting against Sergeant Shane, no matter what the odds. He won't ever duplicate that stunt again, take it from me!

SK practically anyone as to the outstanding product of California and they will probably reply, "Beautiful blondes." But their second choice will undoubtedly be the large, succulent seedless oranges which California exports to the rest of the nation at the rate of a hundred thousand carloads a season.

The most remarkable thing about California's immense orange industry is that this fruit ordinarily would not grow in a climate such as the Golden State's. The story of the growth of the orange industry in California is another conquest of science.

Oranges ordinarily require a semi-tropical climate for the best results. To sidestep this California growers have their fields pitted with smudge pots which will throw a protective blanket of smoke about the oranges in case of any early frost. Careful pruning is also necessary to the success of the crop.

Of course the famous California orange is the seedless navel variety which is an absolute abnormality. The original tree from which the seedless variety sprung was a freak, an oddity, in Brazil. As the fruit had no seed it could be propagated only by budding or grafting. An offshoot developed this way was brought to the United States in 1870, and all of the navel oranges are descendants of this tree grafted on roots grown from seeds of oranges of other types.

So, for one State to have Hedy Lamarr and this unique and amazing fruit industry, seems almost like a superfluity of benedictions.

HE principle that allows a spinning top to whirl about at a concentric angle is the same principle which keeps this globe we live on pointed unerringly at the Pole star in its spinning orbit. For that matter every spinning body utilizes this gyroscopic law to stabilize itself against the pull of gravitational attraction.

Modern ships employ a compass based on this principle of gyroscopic action. By adjusting a perpetually spinning gyroscope so that its axis points always to the pole, a nonmagnelic, perfectly accurate compass is created. Another utilization of this principle of motion is the gyroscopic stabilizer employed on ships. Adjusted in the bow of the ship, the huge top-like gyroscopic stabilizer checks the inclination of the ship to roll with the weather. The ship's stabilizer must be of enormous size for it operates against the weight of the ship itself. The usual weight is close to 150 tons. This might seem small compared to a modern ship, but by acting instantaneously, a gyroscopic stabilizer checks the ship's roll before it attains irresistible momentum.

NEW device invented by an ingenious Texan might possibly prove to be of immense value in the conservation of water. Instead of irrigating vast areas of arid crop land with water, a rifle-like mechanism is used which fires a bullet of ice into the ground to the root of the plant. The machine which discharges these ice bullets is adjusted on a tractor which has a refrigerator system that makes a series of ice slugs to keep the weapon constantly loaded.

By firing the ice pellet directly to the root of the plant, where it will soon melt, a concentrated form of irrigation will be attained. This will do away with much of the present waste.

NE of the most fantastic coincidences ever to appear in the publishing business, occurred to a New England firm which makes almanacs. The editor of the forthcoming almanac was extremely busy one morning when a printer's devil hurried into his office and breathlessly demanded the weather forecast for July 13th.

The editor looked up irritably from his work.

"Can't you see that I'm busy?" he shouted. "Put in what you please, but get out of here and leave me alone."

Nettled at this summary dismissal, the printer's devil set the type for the July 13th forecast, predicting rain, hail and snow.

The editor was furious when the almanac was published, but his consternation can be only imagined when, on the 13th of July, it did actually rain, hail and snow!

The following year the almanac outsold all of its competitors!