[Illustration:  Dart Parts and Paper Parachute]

feathers, B, and tie them together securely at the bottom.  Bore a hole in the center of the cap C, and fasten the feathers inside of it.  Fasten the cap on the cork and the dart is ready for use.  When throwing the dart at a target stand from 6 to 10 ft. away from it.

The parachute is made by cutting a piece of paper 15 in. square and tying a piece of string to each corner.  The strings should be about 15 in. long.  Tie all four strings together in a knot at the end and fasten them in the top of a cork with a small tack.  It is best to be as high as possible when flying the parachute as the air currents will sail it high and fast.  Take hold of the parachute by the cork and run it through the air with the wind, letting it go at arm’s length.  —­Contributed by J. Gordon Dempsey, Paterson, N.J.

** A Tool for Lifting Can Covers [352]

A handy tool for prying up varnish paint, syrup and similar can covers car be made from an old fork filed down

[Illustration:  Made of an Old Fork]

to the shape shown in the illustration.  The end is filed to an edge, but not sharp.  —­Contributed by Ben Grebin, Ashland, Wis.

** Keeping Rats from a Chicken Coop [352]

After trying for months to keep the rats from tunneling their way into my chicken coop by filling in the holes, laying poisoned meat and meal, setting traps, etc., I devised a simple and effective method to prevent them from doing harm.

My roosting coop is 5 by 15 ft.  There is a 1-in. board all around the bottom on the inside.  I used wire mesh having 1/2-in. openings and formed it into the shape of a large tray with edges 6 in. high, the corners being wired, and tacked it to the boards.  This not only keeps the rats out, but prevents the chickens from digging holes, thus helping the rats to enter.  —­Contributed by John A. Hellwig, Albany, N. Y.

** Homemade Telephone Receiver [353]

The receiver illustrated herewith is to be used in connection with the transmitter described elsewhere in this volume.  The body of the receiver, A, is made of a large wooden ribbon spool.  One end is removed entirely, the other sawed in two on the line C and a flange, F, is cut on the wood, 1/8 in. wide and 1/16 in. deep.  A flange the same size is made on the end D that was sawed off, and the outside part tapered toward the hole as shown.  The magnet is made of a 30-penny nail, B, cut to the length of the spool, and a coil of wire, E, wound on the head end.  The coil is 1 in. long, made up of four layers of No. 22 gauge copper magnet wire, allowing the ends to extend out about 6 in.  The nail with the coil is then put into the hole of the spool as shown.  The diaphragm C, which is the essential part of the instrument, should be made as carefully as possible from ferrotype tin, commonly called tintype tin.  The diaphragm is placed between the flanges on the spool and the end D that was sawed off.  The end piece and diaphragm are both fastened to the spool with two or three slender wood screws, as shown.