The house A is prepared by removing the top and building the trap from heavy mesh wire which can be easily shaped, the joints being held together by binding the edges with wire. The passage is then fitted with a double trapdoor, the first, B, provided with sharp points on the swinging end, while the other is a falling cover. These two doors are placed in an entrance way, C, made of wire mesh and fastened over the passageway.
The muskrat comes up through the passage, pushing a bunch of moss or sticks and does not notice passing the trapdoors. The upper door is to keep the animals caught from getting at the first door.—Contributed by Vance Garrison, Bemidji, Minn.
A Casein Glue
Casein glues are splendid in woodworking, making cardboard articles, and when the composition is varied somewhat, make excellent cements for china and metals. Casein is made from the curd of soured milk after removal of the fat, and is put on the market in the form of a dry powder.
To make the glue, soak the casein powder two hours in an equal weight of hot water. To this gummy mass add about one-seventh the weight of the casein in borax which has been dissolved in very little hot water. Stir until all is dissolved after mixing borax and casein. This can be thinned with water to suit and is a good glue, but it can be made more adhesive by the addition of a little sodium arsenate. Any alkali, such as soda or ammonia, could be substituted for the borax.
To make a china cement, lime or water glass should be substituted for the borax. Addition of burnt magnesia increases the speed of hardening.
The Mile-O-View Camera
By T. B. Lambert
Many have tried, but heretofore no one has succeeded in taking panoramic views from the side of fast-moving trains or street cars. Motion pictures are easily obtained from the front or rear of moving trains, but none with the camera lens pointing at right angles, or nearly so, to the track. A complete apparatus for taking continuous and perfect panoramic pictures of any desired length as one travels through a country is too complicated to be described in detail within the limits of this article, but a simple arrangement, invented and constructed by the writer, will enable anyone to perform the experiment at practically no cost except for the film.