Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/255

 Popular Science Monthly

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��How Germany Manages to Feed Her Millions

OX each one hundred acres of cultivated land, Germany feeds seventy of her people, while Britain can only support forty- five. The two chief factors in the recent re- markable development of German agricul- ture, are her settled economic policy and her well thought out system of agricultural education. It was the belief that he was essential to the communityand that his land would not be allowed to go out of cultiva- tion, rather than the extra profit on his wheat, that inspired the German far- mer to greater efforts during [the last ten \-ear5. The need for well educated men as managers of estates is more commonly recognized in Germany than in any other countrv in the world.

��The Ferris Wheel Turned Into A Baby's Carriage

��Install a Motor-Driven Bootblack in Your Home

A SIMPLE contrivance for cleaning and polishing shoes promises to save time and the price of the daily "shine" for the busy man. The machine consists of a pair of brushes mounted at the sides of a central brush, as shown in the accompan^'ing illustration, and operated by power from any ordinary- electric light socket. The blacking is applied by hand with a dauber. Then the foot is placed in the space between the two end brushes and the power turned on. The foot may be moved about in any position in the allotted space, so that all parts of the shoe may be reached.

For polishing, a flannel drum is provided, .made of three or four layers of flannel which sag when the machine is at rest but are thrown out by centrifugal force when the power is turned on. The foot sinks into this drum, which, re volving at the rate of twelve hundred revolutions a min- ute, gives a high polish to every portion of the shoe.

The machine is the invention of a Mani- toba lawyer. It is so constructed that the parts are interchange- able and'easily slipped on or off, and there is nothing to get out of order or to be spe- cially cared for. The entire operation takes up just about a min- nte for each shoe.

����The mechanical bootblack that cleans and polishes a shoe in the twinkling of an eye

��Push this miniature Ferris wheel along and the swings will work up and down

A BACKYARD can be changed into an amusement park for your children by a new type of Ferris wheel which can be pushed^along wherever it is wanted. It is a combination of Ferris wheel and carriage invented by a South Carolina man, Charles M. Calhoun. The side supporting wheels are made about five feet high, and are kept in position by long iron crossbars. Two hangers are pivoted side-by-side on two special crossbars mounted near the center of the central axis of the carriage and dia- metrically opposite. Hence when one hanger moves upward the other moves downward, and when one is near to the rear of the carriage the other is near the front of it. In fact, the weight of one hanger always tends to balance that of the other, and very little effort is required to push the carriage along. One of the iron crossbars which hold the side wheels in place also serves as a handle by which to push it.

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