32 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan . 1. 



thought occurred to us that cut nails, from their 

 wedge shape, would hold the boards together 

 all right. The experiment was so simple that 

 we tried it at once; and the result was, that 

 that barricade stayed up without any more 

 fussing with it. 



The wire-nail catalogues will give you very 

 nice engravings, showing you how the cut nail 

 breaks the wood, and how the wire nail simply 

 passes through the grain, making a nice smooth 

 round hole. All this is true to a certain extent; 

 but as a cut nail is wedge-shaped, the further 

 t is driven into the wood, the more it cZ?'a'M;.s; 

 and when it is driven clear up to the head, the 

 broken parts of the wood are wedged up tightly 

 against the surface of the nail; and as soon as 

 a hammer is applied to draw the nail out, the 

 particles of wood lying against the nail begin 

 to assume their former position, but can not, as 

 they now have the nail to press against; and 

 the harder the nail is pulled, the tighter these 

 bits of wood bind, until the hammer forces 

 them from their position; and this pressure is 

 made much harder, it should be remembered, 

 by the greater roughness of the cut nail as com- 

 pared with the wire. 



If, for any reason, a couple of boards are 

 sprung apart, wire nails will fail to draiv them 

 together; but a cut nail will make them " hug." 

 Now, the point is right here: That for bee- 

 hives of Ji lumber (it doesn't matter so much 

 with Dovetailed hives; we want a cut nail that 

 will make a tight, close joint — one that will 

 make the edges of the board hug together. On 

 account of the danger from splitting, a wire 

 nail is better for ^g hive lumber. Wire nails 

 are also better for use in crating; they are 

 nicer for finished and all small work; and those 

 not accustomed to nail-driving can generally 

 use them with better success; they are also 

 cheaper; but in the hands of a person more or 

 less expert, th^ cut nails for bee-hives of >< inch 

 boards will bi; found to be better. The wire 

 nail, although it pulls all the way, starts easily. 

 A cut nail starts very hard; but when once 

 started it comes easily — easier than the wire 

 nail, as it pulls or binds on only tivo sides. 

 Practical carpenters will not allow wire nails 

 to be used in sheeting houses, for that very 

 reason. They want a nail that starts hard. If 

 it starts hard, it probably will never start. 



TBY IT, AND SEE WHETHER IT IS ALL RIGHT. 



There is a certain kind of lack of faith, or, 

 to call things by their proper name, there is a 

 certain kind of stupidity about humanity that 

 vexes me more than almost any thing else. 

 When I sat down behind the bench, and used 

 to repair watches, years ago, every little while 

 a watch would be sent to be repaired, when it 

 simply needed winding up. Sometimes the 

 owner had come quite a distance, or had sent 

 his watch by his neighbor, with the statement 

 that it would not go. I got so used to this that 

 I always applied the key the very first thing, 

 to see whether the owner had not forgotten to 

 wind his watch. Year after year this same 

 state of affairs kept going on. Sometimes the 

 owner would almost get mad. he was so sure 

 he had wound it at the regular time. Fre- 

 quently I would hand it back to him, with a 

 remark something like this: " Here, my good 

 friend, just take your key and wind it yourself. 

 Perhaps you will then be convinced." I sup- 

 pose watch-repairers are having the same 

 thing to contend with, even now. But it is not 

 alone the case with watches. Last week the 

 cook informed me that she had no place to pour 

 her slops and dishwater. Then she explained 

 that she had been carrying them quite a dis- 

 tance through an adjoining room to a sink in 

 the wax-room. Some repairs in the latter cut 



this off. Right by her cooking-stove is a sink 

 with a proper trap, that was put in years ago, 

 at considerable expense. I asked her why she 

 did not use it, and she said it had been stopped 

 up for the past two years. '" Why. my good 

 friend, you don't mean yon have been lugging 

 all your slops into the wax-room for two years 

 past?" She admitted that she had done so. 

 This morning I got the plumber, with wrenches 

 and tongs, and instructed him to take up the 

 whole structure, and make it work, no matter 

 what it cost. Now, he, like the jeweler, had 

 probably learned to try things, and see, before 

 he decided they wouldn't work. He called for 

 a pail of boiling water, and, lo and behold! it 

 went'out in a twinkling. Another and another 

 followed, and the cook was obliged to admit 

 that there was no obstruction whatever. Long 

 ago it did stop up. and she had to dip her slops 

 out again. I can not lind out why I was not 

 informed of the matter promptly. Perhaps 

 they thought I had too much care and worry. 

 Some time ago an adjoining sewer-pipe was 

 flushed very thoroughly with steam and hot 

 water, and this likely cleansed out also tne 

 pipes of the kitchen-drain; but she had got it 

 into her heud that it would not work, and so 

 she never tried it any more. 



A few minutes ago the vegetable-wagon was 

 standing before the door, in a zero wind, while 

 the driver lugged from somewhere a pail of 

 water for the horse. The horse stood close to 

 the hydrant. " Why, what in the world are you 

 stopping to carry water for, boys? Isn't that 

 hydrant all right? Have you tried it?" Why, 

 no, they hadn't tried it, but they supposed it 

 was frozen up. I had been wondering why 

 folks were not using our watering-trougk late- 

 ly; and I then remembered that, last week, 

 while we were putting in the pipes to the 

 greenhouse, the water was shut off from that 

 hydrant an hour or two. Somebody started the 

 report that it was frozen up, and no one had 

 tried it since. In the same way, a slanderous 

 report starts about a neighbor. It is passed 

 around from mouth to mouth, and everybody 

 believes it. If you should say to one of them, 

 •'Why, my friend, the idea is preposterous; 

 have you asked Mr. A about it?" the reply 

 would probably be, "' Why, no; I have not said 

 any thing to him about it. But everybody says 

 it is so, and I guess it is." 



Go straight to the man himself, and he will 

 explain to you in a minute that it was simply a 

 great blunder, started, probably, because some- 

 body jumped at conclusions. Now, then, before 

 you say the sink won't work, or the hydrant 

 won't work, or that your watch or clock will 

 not go, or that your neighbor has turned ras- 

 cal, do, for Heaven's sake, take the trouble to 

 see whether it is true, or only a notion that you 

 and other people have got into your heads. 



A. L R. 



THE WASHINGTON CONVENTION. 



We have just returned from the Washington 

 convention. While the attendance was not very 

 large, the quality and high character of the 

 discussions was of the very best. We were hon- 

 ored with the attendance of four government 

 officials — Hon. Edwin Willitts, the Assistant 

 Secretary of Agriculture; Prof. Wiley, Chief 

 Chemist; Dr. Riley, Entomologist; and Frank 

 Benton, an assistant. The addresses from all 

 four were listened to with marked attention, 

 and we hope to give a report of them in our 

 next. We had the pleasure of a personal inter- 

 view with Prof. Wiley, the chemist whom the 

 bee-journals have so severely criticised. We 

 find that he is not only an able chemist, but a 

 pleasant gentleman. We surely have misun- 

 derstood him in the past. 



