This is only one of many instances in which patents, taken out in the name of some man, are really due to women. The earliest development of the mower and reaper, as well as the clover cleaner, belongs to Mrs. A. H. Manning, of Plainfield, New Jersey. The patent on the clover cleaner was issued in the name of her husband; but, as he failed to apply for a patent for the mower and reaper, his wife was, after his death, robbed of the fruit of her brain by a neighbor, whose name appears on the list of patentees of an invention which originated with Mrs. Manning. A few years ago men of science awoke to the startling fact that the earth's supply of nitrates was being rapidly exhausted. It was then realized that, unless some new store of this essential fertilizer could be found, it would soon be impossible to provide the food requisite for the world's teeming millions. What was to be done? Never was a more important problem presented to science for solution, and never did science more quickly and efficaciously respond. It was soon recognized that the earth's atmosphere was the only available storehouse for the much-needed nitrogen. Forthwith scientists and inventors the world over proceeded to tap this source of supply and to convert its vast stores of nitrogen into the nitrates which are so indispensable to vegetable life. To form some idea of the importance of the problem and the urgency of its solution, it may be stated that the amount of fertilizer required for the cotton crop alone in the Southern States in 1911 was no less than three million tons. What, then, must have been the total amount used through the world for cereals and other crops that need constant fertilizing? The famous nitrate deposits of Chili could supply only a small fraction of the stupendous amount required, and they, according to recent calculations, cannot continue to meet the present demands on them for more than a hundred years longer, at most. The process involved, when once conceived, was simple enough, for it merely required the conversion of the nitrogen of the air into nitric acid, which in turn was employed in the production of nitrate of lime. But, simple as it was, mankind had to wait a long time for its origination, and action was taken only when necessity compelled. At present there are numerous nitrate factories in France, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway and the United States, and the output is already enormous and constantly increasing. Electricity, that mysterious force which has so frequently come to man's assistance during the last few decades, is the agent employed.