Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/269

 Popular Science Monthly

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��With an Axe and Two Springboards He Chops His Way Up a Giant Tree

FROM the logging camps in the vast timber district of Vancouver have come some remarkable accounts of dar- ing and agility. The story that is going the rounds of the camps just now is the tree-climbing feat performed by a power- ful lumberman, Andrew Busby. A cable had to be attached to a tall tree at a point one hundred and twenty feet from the ground. With pole-climbing spurs and belt this would have been a simple task, but no such equip- ment was available. How was it done?

With an axe and two spring- boards Busby began to climb the tree. Using the first board as a platform he chopped a notch five feet above him, slipped the second board into the notch, climbed up, and, pulling the first board after him, continued the operation a score of times. Within an hour he stood on the last springboard,, at the top of the tree, and affixed the rope, his companions yelling their admiration in the meantime. Standing more than a hundred feet above the ground on a little platform a few inches wide he was ap- parently as calm as he was when on the solid ground.

Needless to say, Busby is an expert chopper, skilled in the use of the spring- board and is pos- sessed of the fear- lessness natural to the woodsman. His claim to the title of champion tree-climber has not yet been dis- puted nor is it likely to be, ac- cording to his fellow workmen.

���With an axe and two springboards Busby climbed to the top of a 120- foot tree cutting grooves into which to insert his board at five-foot intervals

���The calf is photographed against a squared background at regular intervals to obtain records of its growth

��Studying the Effects of Calf-Foods by Means of Photographic Records

IN keeping records of experiments to de- termine the effects of various foods and combinations of foods as substi- tutes for whole milk in the rearing of calves the Agricultural Ex- periment Station of Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind., uses photographs instead of tabulated figures to furnish an index in regard to the condition and develop- ment of the calves. The photographs are made at intervals of thirty days during the first six months. The illus- tration shows the equipment used in securing the pictures. The background is divided into six-inch squares to designate the height and length of the calf. In order to secure contrasts in the photographs of calves of different breeds, a black or a white background is used ac- cording to the color of the calf. The camera is placed on a stationary support and is situ- ated at a uniform height and distance from the background for each exposure. No special attention is given to the calf on the day it is to be photographed, so that the picture may represent its ordinary condition. When all preparations have been completed for the picture the calf is led up to the platform in front of the chart. When it reaches the cen- ter of the plat- form a helper on the other end waves a cloth or coat in front of it, just enough to cause the calf to pause and con- sider whether it is wiser to go for- ward or back. During that second the cam- era clicks.

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