SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3315, 26 September 1917, Page 55

SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

RECENT INVENTIONS OF INTEREST TO AGRICULTURE. O. J. Lynde, Macdonald College, Quebec, Canada. CATTLE POKE. The curved bars of this poke are forced back -when the cow tries to go through a fence, and the sharp prod pricks her neck.

The spring returns them to their usual position as soon as she stops.—William R. Hayden, Indianola, Nebraska. U.S. Patent 1,228,913. FEED BAG. The new feature of'this bag is that the feed comes down intermittently; it flows from the neck bag into the mouth bag when the horse lowers its head for a mouth-

ful, but stops when he raises his head to chew. With this arrangement the horse does not scatter food by tossing his head._ Peter W. Boli, Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. U.S. Patent, 1,229,573.

SILO SEAL. The sectors of this seal arc metal plates with a tongnre on one edge and a groove on the ' other. They are placed around a

central metal disk with, the tongue of the one in the groove of the next.—Finis B. Crawford, Atlanta, Missouri. TJ.S. Patent, 1,229,040. POTASH FERTILISER. Some seaweeds contain potash, but a large amount of it escapes when the water drains away. In this invention alternate layers of dry peat and wet seaweed are

piled in a suitable building and the peat absorbs the potash. The resulting mixture is used as a fertiliser. —Frederick J. Nash, Brooklyn, N.Y. U.S. Patent, 1,228,580. SEED CORN DRIER. The ears of corn hero are supported on triangular tongues punched out of the sheet metal sides; they are dried by air which is

hoabod by a lamp inside, and passes out through tho triangular holes.—Joseph Hcflso, Martingfcon, Nebraska. U.S. Patent, 1,228,556. PLATE HOLDER. This simple holder could be made by a handy boy in a short time. It has two

wire loops attached to two strips of wood and is used to lift hot plates from the stove.

—xTolm Eden, Attleboto, Mass. U.S. Patent, 1,226,420. You find more food for thought in this column than you do in two columns of most other papers. Advise your friends to read it each week in the Otago Witness.