series of vibrations in the whole body. If I could then set the plunger in one of the tubes to vibrating in consonance with the vibrations of the water, in a little while and with the use of a very little energy, I could burst the whole thing asunder."

In the same way, Mr. Tesla proposes, with a comparatively small power uttered in vibrations of marvellous rapidity, to urge into action the terrestrial current. The inventor thinks it possible that his machine when perfected may be set up, one in each great centre of civilization, to flash the news of the day's or hour's history immediately to all the other cities of the world; and stepping for a sentence out of the realms of the workaday world, he offers a prophecy that any communication we may have with other stars will certainly be by such a method a prophecy which has all the picturesque and imaginative charm to be desired, together with an unusual quality of prudence and safety.

to make the demonstration without subtracting one unit from her fleets in foreign waters at a juncture when continental editors were raising a hue and cry over the "rotten British navy." This review at Spithead was remarkable in showing undoubtedly the most powerful fleet that ever has been concentrated at one point. Of the one hundred and sixty-five pennants that swung at Spithead no less than one hundred and thirty-three were fitted for immediate active service-to fight an enemy within a few hours. So strongly are the English convinced of the importance of sea-going qualities, that practically the whole of this fleet could reach Gibraltar in four days, and the Channel Squadron could be at Halifax in nine days after sailing orders had been received. When it is remembered that England's naval resources in foreign and colonial waters, amounting to one hundred and twenty-five effective fighting vessels, were not touched in showing this unprecedented strength, one understands the bubbling selffelicitation which has made the Times's account of the event almost incoherently joyful.

Aside from its effect in impressing the Powers, such an occasion as the Spithead review has its instructive phase in the comparison furnished with earlier periods of naval construction. The progress which has been made during the reign of the Queen is of course fairly revolutionary. In the first fleet reviewed by the Queen there was not even a screw propeller, and every vessel was built of wood. In the first steam-vessels the Queen saw, the engineers got along with three pounds of steam pressure, and for every horse-power about half a ton of machinery was required, while at present the crack vessels use one hundred and fifty-five pounds of steam, and one and three-quarter hundredweight suffices for one horse-power. The fuel burnt per horse-power has been reduced from seven pounds to two pounds-indeed one might continue almost indefinitely to enumerate the remarkable changes which illustrate the curiously rapid progress of naval archi

tecture.

ness as certainly as the banker. And henceforth until the order changes, the farmer's success in business will quadrate with the kind and quantity of brains he uses, and with the number of fertile acres under his plough. Out in the West-where until lately land might be secured for the asking-farms of many acres are found. In the Dakotas and in California and in the far northwestern States of the Union, these large farms are devoted almost exclusively to wheat-growing. In the vernacular of the wheat belt, these farms are called "bonanza" farms. The best examples of such farms may be found in the valley of the Red River of the North, where the stream flows through North Dakota. Oddly enough when the river crosses the Canadian border, the bonanza farms are not found in its valleys, and even smaller farms have not been established universally upon the rich soil, as they have been a few score of miles south in Yankeedom. In the valley upon the American side there is not a barren acre. Wheat stretches away from the car-window to the horizon, over a land flat as a floor. The monotonous exactness of the level makes one long for the undulating prairies of the middle west. Yet the very evenness of the plain has a commercial value, and makes the location here of the great wheat-farms possible. For in a rolling country there is waste land- here an "eighty" on a hill-top, there a "forty" in But in bonanza farming every

a swamp.

GANG

foot of land must be productive with the expenditure of the least possible amount of human labor upon it. In the lexicon of the Dakota farmer there is no such word as "hoe."

The smallest implement upon a big wheat farm is a plough. And from the plough to the elevator-from the first operation in wheat-farming to the last one is forced to realize how the spirit of the age has made itself felt here, and has reduced the amount of human labor to the minimum. The man who ploughs uses his muscle only incidentally in guiding the machine. The man who operates the harrow has half a dozen levers to lighten his labor. The "sower who goeth forth to sow," walks leisurely behind a drill and works brakes. The reaper needs a quick brain and a quick hand-but not necessarily a strong arm, nor a powerful back. He works sitting down. The threshers are merely assistants to a machine, and the men who heave the wheat into the bins only press buttons. The most desirable farmhand is not the fellow who can pound the "mauling machine" most lustily at the county fair. He is the man with the cunning brain who can get the most work out of a machine without breaking it. The farm laborer in the West to-day, where machinery is employed, finds himself advanced to the ranks of skilled labor, and enjoys a position not widely different from that of the mill-hand in the East. Each is a tender of a machine.