304 



September, 191 'J 



American ^ee Journal 



down until it is sharp on all three 

 edges, and is a perfect triangle. A hole 

 is bored in the center, and a half inch 

 rod a foot long is either bolted or 

 welded in. The other end of the rod 

 is spread out to an inch and a quarter 

 and sharpened for use, as a pry or hive 

 tool. These three-cornered edges fa- 

 cilitate the scraping of super?, hives, 

 and section holders — in fact, any cor- 

 ner with propolis in it can be easily 

 cleaned out. 



The next tool, No. 2, that a number 

 of bee-men have appropriated, is a 

 claw hammer with a steel handle 

 spread apart at the other end, and 

 sharpened fora scraperand nail puller. 

 Such a hammer is fine for opening 

 cases of honey or for use as a hive 

 tool. This hammer is used by all fruit 

 dealers, and is a staple in the hardware 

 market. 



But this little hammer is rather light, 

 and some of our hurry-up bee-men 

 have had their blacksmiths make them 

 a heavy tool l-U inches wide made of a 

 leaf from a carriage spring. One end 

 is sharpened, with the edges square. 

 At the other end, a blunt, round piece 

 of steel is fastened as shown, to act as 

 a crude hammer in case a nail or staple 

 is to be driven. This is heavy enough 

 to do almost any kind of prying. 



The tool shown in No. 4 is used by 

 Mr. E. D. Nichols, of Montrose, Colo. 

 It is about 7 inches long, but would be 

 better if it were !' or 10 inches long, 

 and l!i inches wide instead of an inch. 

 The handle end is curled over, and a 

 heavy string loop pulled through so 

 that the tool will always be dangling 

 from your wrist when going from one 

 hive to another. The advantage of 

 this tool is that you don't have to keep 

 picking it up. 



Figure 5 is just another leaf from a 

 carriage spring straightened and sharp- 

 ened with a small bolt inserted about 

 1,'2 inches from the sharpened end. 

 This prevents the tool slipping into the 

 hives too far when inserting between 

 hives, supers, etc. It also protects the 

 thumb and fingers from getting many 

 a hard jolt if the super separates sud- 

 denly. 



Number 6 is still another leaf of car- 

 riage spring sharpened at one end and 

 curled over half way and sharpened 

 also. This makes a fair scraper for 

 covers, bottoms, etc. 



Number 7 is a piece of saw blade cut 

 3Kxo inches, and sharpened square, 

 like a regular wood scraper. The 

 round wood handle is a piece of broom 

 handle ; a saw kerf is made for the in- 

 sertion of the blade. A few nails are 

 then driven through after drilling 

 small holes through the blade. We 

 like this tool very much for scraping 

 wood separators and section holders. 

 For some work it is better than the 

 tool shown in Fig. ], but I want one of 

 each. 



When a blacksmith understands just 

 what you want, you will be surprised 

 what a neat tool he can make if he is 

 careful. Any of these tools can be 

 made by a blacksmith except, perhaps, 

 Fig. 2, and while you are at it have 

 a half dozen made, and then you can 

 have another handy when you lose one. 



Some Different Hive Tools 



Conducted by J. L. Byer, Mt. Joy, Ontario. 



Confusion in Namos 



In a recent issue of Gleanings in 

 Bee-Culture, Dr. Miller protests 

 against the use of the word "'honey" 

 as applied when giving yields of 

 apiaries, as it is a very indefinite 

 term when nothing is said as to 

 whether extracted or comb is men- 

 tioned. He also calls attention to 

 the fact that a worse mix-up is made 

 when the term "foul brood" is used, 

 and nothing given to let one know 

 which brand of the disease is meant. 

 In connection with this last criticism, 

 I emphatically agree with him, and 



I have been a "kicker" ever since 

 the cumbersome term "European 

 Foul Brood" was coined. It leads and 

 will lead to endless confusion as long 

 as the name is used, it would yet be 

 a good thing to change to something 

 that will not cause so many mis- 

 takes. Only a short time ago. so well 

 known and practiced a writer as Mr. 

 J. E. Crane, stated in Gleanings in 

 Bee-Culture that he was surprised to 

 see how differently "foul brood" act- 

 ed in different localities, as in 

 some locations it seemed more virul- 

 ent than others, and spread much 

 faster. I called his attention to the 



