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Near San Fernando, Calif., is a large farm devoted to the raising of cactus apples, the pulpy product of one of the species of the familiar desert plant. The apple is used for the making of jellies and candies or is eaten in its natural state. It has a sweet taste and is about eighty per cent water. An acre of land will produce 500 to 600 boxes of the apples, which were selling for $1.25 a box last season.

 

Sixty-seven workers, in 1923, were producing as much as 100 men did in 1899, in spite of the shorter hours prevailing five years ago, according to a survey of productive efficiency in the manufacturing industries by the national-industrial conference board. This was accomplished by the development of machinery and better organization. Today, iron screws are being made by automatic machinery at a ratio of 1,000 to every one formerly made by hand. The ratio for spikes is about 200 to one, and in various other branches of the metal trades, many articles are being made by machine methods at the rate of fifty to one by the old hand processes. In the automobile industry, thirty workers in 1925 could do as much as 100 in 1914, the board discovered. In the production of food and food products, seventy-five persons in 1925 performed as much work of all kinds as did 100 in 1899.

 

The 506-foot smokestack of a copper company in Great Falls, Mont., ordinarily lighted at night with flood lamps, is being kept dark part of the time to protect migrating birds. For some reason, it has exerted an attraction on birds and hundreds of them have been killed by flying against the shaft. Small birds, as well as ducks, geese and other larger kinds, have met death in this way. When the Boy Scouts learned of the conditions, they requested the company officials to keep the stack in darkness during the seasons of bird migration.

 



Fender carriers for ice and luggage are exact duplicates of the body of the automobile on a car introduced in California. Even the door handles are similar, the windows have real glass, backed by curtains, and the top is hinged at the rear, the "sun visor" making a convenient handle. The carriers in this style are less conspicuous than the ordinary type and are said to be more efficient because of the ease with which they can be opened and the extra protection offered the contents by their construction.

