Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/755

 Popular Science Monthly

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��Have You Weeds on Your Lawn? Kill Them With Gasoline

��THE complete elimination of dandelions, rag- weed, quack grass, and troublesome weeds that grow on the lawn is made easy by a device that elim- inates all back-break- ing stooping. The instrument consists of a slender tube filled with a liquid and pro- vided with a sharp point that is pushed into the heart of the

��Efficiency Has Come to the Garden Rake

����O'

��At side detailed drawing of weed killer

��\ Diaphragm

Pin that 15 pushed ir\to roots of VKceds to oper\ valve

��lution of iron sul- phite is used for pig weed, rag weed, and quack grass. The device is all metal, and very simple in construction ; none of the metal parts is affected by the liquids. Pressing the tool into the ground raises the valves and releases a little of the liquid. The tube may be tilled by twisting the handle and remov- ing the top.

��Above, the same in use on

��weed ; the liquid then automatically runs out, and the weed is killed beyond the power to grow again.

For killing dande- lions and most or- dinary weeds a gaso- line solution is most effective, while a so-

��lawn

���This simple, self-cleaning rake is the out- come of a Minneapolis man's impatience

��NE day, Charles F. Reiter of Minneapolis, Minn., lost his patience when raking his lawn— and who wouldn't, when the leaves seemed to take extraordinary pleasure in sticking between the teeth of the rake. After Mr. Reiter had bent down and pulled the leaves out so many times that his back ached, he threw down the rake, went into his house and invented a temper-saving, back- resting device which cleans the rake auto- matically.

The automatic self- cleaning attachment is simply a curved piece of wire which, manufactured in any desired length to fit any rake, sets be- tween the teeth of the rake. Wire arms, operated by springs are attached to the handle and to the curved cleaning wire. When the rake touches the ground, the cleaning attachment is pushed up out of the way. The leaves or scraps are raked in the usual manner. But when the rake is lifted for the back stroke, the wire arms are pressed down by two single coil springs, and the curved wire in- stantly pushes out the leaves accum- ulated on the prongs.

It will be seen that in addition to saving the trouble of cleaning the rake, all the leaves, etc., that are collected would be worked into the soil, thus helping to make the "leaf-mold" that is so highly valued by horticulturists.

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