376 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



top. All the latterals are covered with a dense mass 

 of white flowers, which, together with its perfect 

 symmetry of form, not only make it look very beau- 

 tiful, but standing up as they do far aboye all other 

 brush give it the appearance of gigantic white 

 plumes, standing here and there like giant "senti- 

 nels" on the desert. The section of stalk I send you 

 was cut out of an ordinary sized stalk only, about 

 four feet from the ground. It is these last year's 

 stalks that I use in my new smoker which came 

 to hand all right. I thought at first I was not going 

 to like it, but I have changed my mind. I left two 

 or three of those brushes or leaves just as they 

 came from the stalk, so you could see how little 

 trimming has to be done to them to make them into 

 brushes ready for use. Chas. Bridges. 



San Fernando, Cal., May 27, 1880. 



The samples sent us are most beautiful 

 brushes, and it is hard to imagine that they 

 grew and were not made. The section of 

 stalk sent us is actually 41 inches in diame- 

 ter, and although you would think from the 

 looks outside that it might be a section of a 

 white oak log denuded of the bark, this min- 

 iature saw log only weighs 9 ounces. It is 

 so light that one, on taking it up, is almost 

 startled. By looking closely, you will see 

 where the great leaf stalks have been pulled 

 off, if I am correct, and it is these that make 

 the curious little brushes. As the brushes 

 are very soft and of vegetable fibre, instead 

 of animal, it seems to me now that they are 

 destined to take the place of feathers and 

 everything else, for brushing off bees. If 

 friend B. can get so many, I would like him 

 to tell me how low he can furnish me 1 ,000. 

 They are so light, they can probably be sent 

 as cheaply by mail, as any way. They are 

 so much of a curiosity, that I have had our 

 engraver make a cut of one of them. 



BRUSH FOR GETTING BEES OFF HONEY 

 COMBS. 



You will remember that I gave you a pic- 

 ture of a yucca, or Spanish bayonet, on page 

 137, June No., last year. If I have made no 

 mistake, this plant is one of the same fam- 

 ily. We have one now in bloom in our gar- 

 den, but it is only about 4 ft. high, instead 

 of 20, and does not as yet bear any honey at 

 all. I presume it is because we have not 

 got the right variety, the fruiting yucca; 

 the great difference in climatic influences 

 may also have much to do with it. As one 

 looks upon the gigantic specimen of stalk 

 sent by friend B., he almost unconsciously 

 wanders in imagination to the land where 

 it grew, and I mentally figured how many 

 dollars I would give to leave my busy cares 

 for a while, and wander in that strange land, 

 and stand at the foot of one of these speci- 

 mens of nature's handiwork, the sentinel of 

 the desert. "How wondrous are thy works, 

 O Lord." 



BRAINS vs. MACHINERY. 



THE FOrtMER NOT ALWAYS TO BE BOUGHT WITH 

 MONEY. 



HANKS for your book on bee culture. I cele- 

 brated the Fourth (or, rather, the fifth) read- 

 ing scraps of it hero and there.- "gleanings" 

 that I found most fascinating reading. I have a 

 way of marking, on the tiy-leaf of a book, the pages 

 I wish to refer to. The first page marked in this 

 is 121, where you publish Barnes & Co.'s letter. 

 Your comments are timely, and exactly to the point. 

 Three or four years ago I bought one of their com- 

 bined circular saws, with set of cutter-heads, etc. I 

 had no difficulty in setting it up all right. It would 

 spin beautifully, and I thought I had found a foot 

 power that would fiy through flint rock if necessary. 

 I began feeding the saw with a piece of dry, inch 

 pine, when it almost instantly wedged up, or faint- 

 ed, or something. At any rate, it would not saw. I 

 turned to the circular for relief, and found that 

 Barnes & Co. distinctly avowed that they sold sawn, 

 but not hraim. This struck me as severe; but 

 then, I thought perhaps they hadn't enough for 

 home consumption any way, and I would apply to 

 some of their customers who were referred to as 

 recommending the saw. They promptly supplied 

 the " brains" that Barnes & Co. couldn't spare, and 

 I found that the buyer was supposed to be mechanic 

 and machinist enough to file and set the saws, and 

 put things generally into working order, while I was 

 demented enough to suppose that the machine 

 would come all ready for business. In my case, 

 having a fancy for tools, the saw was wanted for the 

 pleasure of using it only; but the years have slipped 

 away, and I have never had a chance to have the 

 machine put in order, or to learn how to do it for 

 myself. Now, had it come to hand rcaclu, just as you 

 describe the planers on page 122, it would have been 

 set up, always at hand; I would have resorted to it 

 frequently, and many of my friends would have had 

 their attention called to it with results beneficial to 

 the makers. You are emphatically right. The 

 manufacturer, in any case, must not rely upon the 

 buyer's brains, but use his own so clearly that he 

 needn't depend upon his customer's having any. 



F. A. Whiting. 

 Dunellen, N. J., July 6, 1880. 



There is much truth in what you say, 

 friend W., but I fear you put it a little too 

 strong. Machinery that is perfectly adjust- 

 ed and in working trim, when sent out, does 

 much toward lessening the necessity of 

 brains it is true, but brains and care are 

 needed to accomplish any really good result 

 in this world, if I am not mistaken. Anoth- 

 er thing : few perhaps know what it costs 

 to get trained hands that can and will keep 

 machinery in nice working order, every 

 time, year after year. We have a Barnes 

 saw, in fact, two of them, that we are using 

 all the time in the wax room, but they are 

 very rarely in nice order, when I want to use 

 one. The spring is too weak to throw the 

 treadle up, the saws are not set enough, or 

 the operator does not let the treadle rise 

 clear up as he must do to accomplish any- 

 thing. Have charity, friend W., for poor 

 careless humanity, and let us all try to do 

 better. 



