Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/423

 Some of Our Lake

Noted for Their Chemical Wealth

THERE are several lakes in the United States which contain so- dium carbonate, borax, potash and common table salt. The longer the war continues the more valuable these chemical bodies become. Perhaps the best known of these is Great Salt Lake, Utah's ocean of salt. Others are Searles Lake, Owens Lake and Mono Lake, all in California. The origin of these lakes is doubtful. In some cases they are probably due to an arm of the ocean becoming land- locked. The most remarkable feature about them is the fact that they seem to be continuously fed from subter- ranean sources, since they maintain a uniform amount of salt.

��Popular Science Monthly Waters Are

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���California Has the Latest Thing in Tree-Trimming Ladders

��A

��WEIRD-LOOKING

ladder has made its appearance

��tree- trimming in Pasadena, California. When fully ex tended it is thirty feet high From this height the tree- trimmer is able to cut off branches that are ten feet higher by means of his tree-trimming snips. In the illustration he is shown on the fifth rung from the top, cutting off the un- sightly twigs. He could climb to the top rung of the lad- der without over- turning it. The ap- paratus is collapsible and when folded up it can be wheeled from tree to tree or from job to job. For transportation from one town to another the push-cart end of the device is fastened to an automobile or wagon, and the ladder is towed along with ease. There are few tree-tops, even in California, which it cannot reach. W.L.Geimer is the inventor.

��Two freak faces executed by the world's most original and diverting artist — Mother Nature

Lo, the Poor Furniture Man — He Sees Faces in Walnut

MOTHER NATURE has tried her hand at making faces. She chose the wal- nut veneer of Indiana and this is the result — two faces which may be likened to anything from saints to devils. The fact that they are part of the walnut markings of the wood, fresh from the outdoor workshop, is what makes them unique. Of course an experi- enced painter could have made better looking faces than these on any kind of wood. But he couldn't make them so you couldn't wash or rub them off. The faces which Mother Nature has put into this walnut wood are there to stay, safe against even sandpaper and plane. Walnut veneer is gener- ally used as an orna- mental facing for inferior grades of wood. There are some people who could point with pride to faces in their dining tables, calling them lost Rubens cherubs.

���The tree-trimming ladder is col- lapsible. It is thirty feet high

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