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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



when put in the super. Just as soon as you find the 

 least inclination of the starter to stick to the fasten- 

 er at one little spot, before you take up another 

 section take the paddle from where it is lying in 

 your lap; lay it under the pressor as you do a sec- 

 tion; give a single kick, and then return the paddle 

 to your lap. It may be you will put in 30 starters, 

 and it may be not more than 4, before you will 

 again need the paddle. 



If you find that the presser cuts so nearly through 

 the foundation that you are afraid the starter may 

 fall out, it is probable the edge of the presser is too 

 sharp. Sandpaper it enough to make it dull, or a 

 trifle rounding. 



How fast can this work be done? I have tried it 

 just now, and I can put in four starters in a min- 

 ute. With practice I think I could do better; but 

 this is the first I have tried it, I think, for three or 

 four years, and I never had much practice. Now 

 I'll time Emma. She puts in U starters in a min- 

 ute, and it looks easier when she does it than when 

 I do it. She has had much practice. But she can't 

 keep up that speed all day. The other day she put 

 in 4400 starters (3.200 sections) in a day, working, I 

 think, about 9 hours. That makes an average of a 

 little more than 8 a minute; but in her time was in- 

 cluded changing her bricks and boards, and other 

 necessary changes. She could not have done so 

 well if the sections had been thrown pellmell into a 

 basket, but the sections were neatly placed on a 

 board, all right side up. 



The character of the work is the very best. Just 

 now I picked up a section at random, and pulled 

 out both starters. Instead of pulling loose from 

 the wood, both starters broke apart, leaving wax 

 attached to the wood. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



There, old friend, you have told us exact- 

 ly what we all wanted to know. I do 

 not mean by this that you have given us a 

 better plan than anybody else has, or that 

 we shall all decide to follow it ; but you 

 have told us how one of the " big guns " 

 manages in preparing his sections so as to 

 have them in readiness to be placed on the 

 hives, not only in the home apiary, but in 

 the out-apiaries as well. It does seem too 

 bad, as you say, to be obliged to bother with 

 bricks ; but, mv dear friend, why not put a 

 lamp under the table so as to have the top 

 of the chimney about a couple of inches be- 

 low the brick, and thus keep the brick itself 

 at a uniform temperature? Your idea of a 

 little tool for moistening the foundation- 

 fastener is tip-top. I like vour remarks in 

 regard to having your work handy. Why, 

 it really makes me feel cross toward the 

 whole human family when I see how people 

 waste time, and especially when time is val- 

 uable. Just one simple illustration : It is 

 potato planting time just now, and almost 

 everybody cuts potatoes in pieces more or 

 less when planting. Well, just watch the 

 way people go about it. I have tried a good 

 many men, boys, and women. If you give 

 them a knife and a barrel of potatoes, with- 

 out any further directions, a good many will 

 stoop over and reach into the barrel, and 

 pick up one potato at a time. They will cut 

 it in two leisurely, and then stoop over 

 again, and deposit the pieces into a basket. 

 Perhaps they will turn around and walk 



three or four feet to the basket, and perhaps 

 keep right on doing so. Just at this point, 

 however, if I am around you will hear some 

 scolding. Setting the basket close to the 

 side of the barrel is an improvement. Put- 

 ting the basket on top of a box or stool, so 

 as to bring it level with the top of the bar- 

 rel, is a still greater improvement ; and this 

 does very well when the barrel is nearly full 

 of potatoes. Now, there is a difference of 

 opinion in regard to sitting down or stand- 

 ing up at your work ; but 1 am in favor of 

 having the average man or woman sit down 

 at any work such as cutting potatoes. I 

 have seen men and women pretty well tired 

 out, who did not seem to have sense enough 

 to sit down, even when an opportunity offer- 

 ed. Some say they can work fasterstand- 

 ing up than when sitting down. Well, there 

 is some truth in this; but it will depend 

 much on circumstances. I will now tell you 

 how I direct in regard to cutting up pota- 

 toes. After you get about a third of the 

 contents of the barrel out, tip it on its side 

 and set it on a box, basket, or something to 

 lift it up pretty high. Put your basket to 

 hold the cut ones so that, as you pitch the 

 potatoes forward, they will drop into this 

 basket ; but by all means have a box, bar- 

 rel, or suitable seat of the right height so 

 you can work rapidly and comfortably. 

 Now, putting starters into sections, and all 

 other little work of this kind, comes under 

 the same regulations. 



Fix things before you commence, so that 

 you will not have to travel needlessly your- 

 self, and then economize every inch of space 

 possible that your hands must travel over 

 in doing the work. Yesterday the weather 

 was just right, and the ground was just 

 right to start planting our Puritan potatoes. 

 The tools and potatoes were put into the 

 wagon. Three boys and a man were on 

 hand, ready to drop. I started them to the 

 field while I went to see to something in 

 the office. Ten minutes later I found the 

 horse, two men, and three boys, all stand- 

 iug still because somebody had borrowed 

 our one-horse plow and broken the point 

 off, and had gone away without saying any 

 thing to any one about it. One of the men 

 proceeded to get the rusty bolt from the 

 plow. When I got around I set one of the 

 boys to cutting potatoes, two others to 

 sweeping the tool-house ; then I found the 

 man was turning the bolt the wrong way. 

 He did not know that bolts to hold plow- 

 points are made with a left-handed screw. 

 lie did not know, either, that some oil from 

 the can right near him would make the bolt 

 come out without twisting off the thread. 

 In a few minutes I had the five all busily at 

 work, and in two hours a quarter of an 

 acre of potatoes was put in the ground nice- 

 ly. If I had not been with them, working 

 with brain and muscle, it would have taken 

 them, very likely, until noon. The tool- 

 house would not have been slicked up so it 

 was a thing of beauty (if not a joy for ever), 

 and 1 believe that all hands enjoyed making 

 the work fly — the smart horse we had to 

 help us, as well as the boys. A few min- 

 utes ago I saw a paper in the office, from 

 the Secretary of Agriculture. This paper 



