Procure a small piece of silver, a silver button, ring, chain or anything made entirely of silver and fasten a small copper wire to it and hang on the brass pipe with connections to the carbon of the battery.  Clean the article to be plated well with pumice and a brush saturated in water.  When cleaning any article there should be a copper wire attached to it.  Do not touch the article after you once start to clean it, or the places touched by your fingers will cause the silver plate to peel off when finished.  When well scoured, run clear, cold water over the article and if it appears greasy, place in hot water.  When well cleaned place in the plating bath and carefully watch the results.  If small bubbles come to the surface you will know that you have too much of the anode or the piece of silver hanging in the solution and you

[Illustration:  Plating Jar and Battery]

must draw out enough of the piece until you can see no more bubbles.  Leave the piece to be plated in the solution for about one-half hour, then take the article out and with a tooth brush and some pumice, clean the yellowish scum off, rinse in clear water and dry in sawdust.  When thoroughly dry, take a cotton flannel rag and some polishing powder and polish the article.  The article must have a fine polish before plating if it is desired to have a finely polished surface after the plate is put on.

In order to see if your battery is working, take a small copper wire and touch one end to the anode pipe and the other end to the pipe holding the article to be plated.  When these two parts touch there will be a small spark.  Always take the zincs out of the solution when not in use and the batteries will last longer.  This description applies only to silver plating.  Articles of lead, pewter, tin or any soft metal cannot be silver plated unless the article is first copper plated.

** Removing a Tight-Fitting Ring from a Finger [361]

When a ring cannot be removed easily from the finger, take a string or thread and draw one end through between the ring and the flesh.  Coil the other end of the string around the finger covering the part from the ring to and over the finger joint.  Uncoil the string by taking the end placed through the ring and at the same time keep the ring close up to the string.  In this way the ring can be easily

[Illustration:  Wrapping the Finger]

slipped over the knuckle and off from the finger.  —­Contributed by J. K. Miller, Matietta, Penn.

** A Photographic Jig-Saw Puzzle [361]

Take any photographic print and mount it on heavy cardboard, or, if you

[Illustration:  Picture Marked for Cutting]

have a jig saw, a thin smooth wood board and mark out various shaped pieces as shown in the accompanying cut.  If the picture is mounted on cardboard, the lines can be cut through with a sharp pointed knife.  If you have a jig saw, you can make a bromide enlargement from the negative you have selected and mount the print on a smooth board that is not too thick.  This wood-mounted picture can be sawed out making all shapes of blocks, which forms a perfect jig-saw puzzle.  —­Contributed by Erich Lehmann, New York City.