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��A potato farm built on the apartment house principle. Each floor is six inches high and contains one layer
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Growing Thirty-Five Bushels of Po- tatoes in a Six-Storied Box
TALK about growing potatoes in your back yard! Here is a method by
which you can
grow thirty- five bushels of
tubers in a six-
by - eight - foot
packing-box.
It looks like a
big pen, but it
is a very old
thing in the
way of potato
farms. The
western
miners have
known about
it for many
years. Now
they are pas- sing it on to
the eastern folk The pens
are built of
heavy timbers
and open spaces are left on all
sides to permit the plants to
force their way through. The
"soil" consists of rich earth and
manure with a mixture of hay or excelsior, and each bed is about six inches deep. Potato plants are placed in the first layer of soil and in each layer until the top is reached. The farm is built on the principle of the apartment house, potatoes growing on each floor.
When growing, the plants reach out in all directions, in- cluding straight up. When they are fully grown the pen is taken apart and the potatoes are rolled out of their thin covering of soil with a rake, so that they are not bruised and cut. One bushel of potatoes is sufficient for plan- ting. A yield of thirty-five bushels to each pen is the rule rather than the (-xception. This idea might very well be adoi)ted by city-dwellers h«'re in the East, for the large supply would make potato famines non-existent.
��Popular Science Monthly
��Sun for Ripening Bananas? Cer- tainly Not — Just Cool Them
SUNSHINE is not in the least neces- sary for ripening bananas. All that is necessary is to subject them to a heat of about seven- ty-eight de- grees for about eight or ten hours, and then gradually cool them to a stea- dy temperature of about sixty degrees. This quickly pro- duces a pleas- ing golden color, and renders the fruit firm and of very desirable appearance for sending to market.
���The swinging "Stop" signal will catch your eye readily and stop you
��Swinging "Stop" Signal At- tracts Your Eye
ALL the fundamental princi- ples of safety first are em- bodied in a signal system for use at grade crossings which has been perfected by a Pennsylvania company. It has three different aspects shown in the accompany- ing illustration. Under normal conditions the "Stop" signal is concealed behind the "Look! Listen!" sign. When a train ap- proaches, however, the "Stop" signal is released and swings back and forth so as to attract the attention. It is a well-known psychological fact that a moving signal is invariably more effective in attracting the attention than a signal which remains stationary. If, for any reason, the signal mechanism is out of order and fails to work properly, the "Stop" signal drops down vertically and remains in that position, as a constant warning to all persons ai)proaching the crossing.
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