Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/221

 Popular Science Monthly

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��Plowing and Pulverizing the Soil in One Operation

A ROTARY tiller which prepares a seed bed without the usual harrowing, disking and rolling opera- tions has been invented by Guy E. Lincoln, a graduate of the Minne- sota Agricultural College. It is somewhat similar to milling ma- chines used in Europe, but it differs from them in that it does its work on a furrow turned with an ordinary sulky plow, while most of the foreign machines work on the soil just as it lies in the field.

The tiller attachment con- sists of a steel rotor tooth set to the right of the share and mold-board. The rotor is geared at the top to the shaft of a small gasoline motor which whirls it at the rate of five hundred revolu- tions a minute. Thus the teeth of the rotor shred and tear the weeds, grass, roots, fertilizer and soil into a finely pulverized mass, mak- ing a mellow seed bed for the sowing of any crop. For use with the tractor the tiller attachment can be run by the tractor power.

The modern farmer has come to realize that the fertility of the soil depends upon the distribution of a goodly amount of humus (rotted vegetable matter) through- out the entire seed bed. Formerly this humus, as surface litter, was raked up and burned. Today it is returned to the soil to help feed the coming crop. When it is cut up, pulverized and distributed by a milling machine it produces a scientifically perfect seed bed.

There is undoubtedly a large place for the rotary tiller in the agri- cultural industry if it will do work equivalent to that of harrows and disks at a cost not much in excess of that in- curred by horse-drawn implements. The prin- cipal drawback to till- ing and milling ma- chines has been the expense involved in their operation and breakages when encountering stones and other obstructions. The tiller described

���The rotary tiller plows and pulverizes the soil, weeds and roots in one operation, eliminating har- rowing, disking and rolling

��The steel rotor tooth which is set to the right of the share and mold- board. It is geared to the shaft of a gasoline motor

��will only have to deal with stones which pass over the mold-board — an important fact in its favor. On the other hand, there would seem to be a waste of power in raising the furrow of soil several inches in the air in order to mill it. Some tillers work on the soil without raising it at all.

��COTTON SOAKED IN DISINFECTANT

���The handle of the brush folds over the bristles and keeps it germ-proof with disinfectant

��A Water-Tight Holder and Sterilizer for the Toothbrush

THE toothbrush il- lustrated is made with a folding handle, somewhat like that of a familiar type of pocket comb. But the tooth- brush handle does more than fold over the bristles of the brush. It forms a receptacle for a disinfectant which will keep the brush perfectly sterilized and an- tiseptically clean until it is ready for use again. When the brush is clamped in its hollow handle it may be carried in the pocket, if necessary, in perfect safety, without danger of soiling or dampening the pocket.

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