Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/718

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��Popular Science Monthly

���French Official Photo

The street carts of the sanitary service now in use in Paris are hauled by teams of dogs

The Horses Have Gone to the Front, So Paris Drives Dogs

NOT only are large numbers of dogs in training for Red Cross rescue work on the battlefields, but in the industrial world also, dogs are being utilized, espe- cially in Paris. There the city officials have assigned to the dogs the work of the horses of the street cleaning and sanitary departments. They are driven in teams, and draw small carts, somewhat larger than dinary handcarts.

Into these carts the collected refuse is placed in covered cans, and an oilcloth cover- ing is fitted over cans and cart. The whiffle- tree is attached to the cart in such a manner that the dogs may lie down to rest without inconvenience while the carts are being loaded or unloaded.

The dogs make their rounds in as good time as the horses did for- merly. The carts are smaller than the old horse carts; but there are more of them. The upkeep of the dog- teams is considerably less expensive tlvan that of the horses.

��We Are Now Getting Natural Indigo From Michigan

ADVICES from Midland, Michigan, A tell us of the first production of indigo from coal tar in the United States. One thousand pounds of 20% paste are produced daily despite the fact that in the last tariff bill the duty on dyestuffs was removed from indigo. The annual con- sumption of indigo in normal times is in the neighborhood of 10,000,000 pounds. By 191 2, the German makers of the coal tar indigo, which is chemically the same as the product of the tropical indigo plants, had driven the natural product from the world's markets. The artificial is consid- ered better and more reliable than the natural dye. — Ellwood Hendrick.

���The combination tie-rack, collar-but- ton-holder and pincushion which hangs on the wall beside the chiffonier

��Where's That Collar Button?— Why, in the Button Rack, of Course

NO longer need the bachelor fume and the benedict distress the ears of his household over a lost collar button. If he is a really up-to-the-minute specimen of American manhood he will simply reach up to a convenient slab hanging on the wall beside his chiffonier and get an- other button out of the button-rack which the slab carries.

This little temper-saver is a com- bination tie-rack, button- holder and pincushion. Its construction is sim- plicity exemplified. A central slab of wood has a buttonhole groove at- tached to it into which six or more collar buttons slide and are held ready for use. * At the bottom of the wooden slab a pincushion is glued on securely. Into this, stick- pins may be thrust. Fin- ally, at the sides of the center slab are arms up- on which an assortment of ties may be kept in plain view so that a choice may be made readily. -

The device might rea- sonably be called the silent and ever-ready valet.

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