Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/570

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���A burl that looks like a leg

��Popular Science Monthly

Pranks Played by Trees

BURLS are abnormal growths common to almost every spe- cies of tree. They are produced as a result of some injury, such as for- est fires, insect attacks, gnawing of animals, or excessive pruning. The effect of the injury is to stimulate the growth of dormant buds or to give rise to a great many new ones which cannot develop into branch- es, but do form a gnarled and inter- woven mass of woody tissue of very intricate design.

This unnatural growth is very dense and hard. In most trees it is very small, but in the case of the red- wood, the largest tree that grows, it reachesasizewhich makes it of value.

���Nature grew these legs — on a tree

��Giant Ladle for Molten Cinders

A GIANT ladle for carrying a w a >• molten cinders from the furnace of a Maryland steel company has re- cently been cast, weighing nineteen thou- sand, seven hundred and ten pounds. A fair idea of the propor- tions of this huge ladle can be gained by a comparison with the figure of the man w^ho is standing in it. It is ten feet in diameter and nine feet deep.

��With a Trans- Conti nental Burromobile

ATRANS-CONTI NENTAL "burro mobile" recently made its appear- ance in Los An- geles, California, after having crossed the country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The speed- ometer on this ma- chine showed that more than five thou- sand and forty-two miles had been cov-

���A ladle to hold the cinders of a steel furnace

���The burro goes along to help the car

��ered, and John A. F. De Lion, the driver, tells us that he is not yet ready to "settle down." In the accom- panying picture John, the owner of the car, is seen seated in the ma- chine; the boy who is standing is a traveling companion; while Jack, the four-footer behind, is the means by which this car has been "lift- ed" from many a sand- hole and out of mud hub-high.

John started from Philadelphia on June 30, 1912, and through- out the intervening time he has been on the road. The route se- lected led John to New York, Chicago, Omaha, Denver, El Paso, Phoenix and San Diego. He ex- pects eventually to tour the entire length of California and even to pro- ceed farther up the Pacific Coast.

The donkey, strangely enough, goes behind the car.

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