188.3 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULtUllE. 



lo9 



A HOME-MADE BUZZ-SAW FOR MAK- 

 ING HIVES. 



THE WAY FRIEND HESET.TON MADE ONE, TO BE 

 TURNED BY HIS TWO BOYS. 



HAVE been a bee-keeper for twenty-five years, 

 but it has been only about ten years since I 

 commenced with a frame hive. Since that I 

 have talien a great deal more interest in the 

 bee business, yet I have not made much of a 

 success of it, as I have hart a farm to attend to, and 

 that has taken most of my time; but I shall nt ver 

 give it up while I live, for I love the " little busy 

 bee." 



After I commenced reading Gi.eanings I found 

 there was a better way to make hives and frames 

 than with a hand-saw; but to buy a Barnes foot- 

 power would cost me more money than I could 

 spare; so I set about building one. In the first 

 place, I wont to the blacksmith shop and procured a 

 pieoe of inch round iron, 20 inches long. I filed the 

 ends square, and obtained the centers. T then filed 

 down the journals, and the end where the thread 

 was to be cut, and I did all the filing with one Nich- 

 olson ten-inch file. I then put a small pulley on the 

 .shaft, and hung it on its centers, in a little frame 

 made by nailing some two-inch strips across some 

 other strips of the same kind. I filed some screws 

 to a point, for the centers to run on, and clamped 

 the frame to an old sewing-machine table. I then 

 took two eight-inch flat files that had been worn 

 out, and ground them into right and left chisels, to 

 turn my journals true, which I accomplished at ofid 

 spells. I then took the shaft to the shop, had a 

 collar shrunk on for the saw to rest against, a 

 thread cut, and a nut put on to hold the saw. He 

 also made a loose collar for the nut to work against. 

 For the iron and work he charjicd me one dollar. I 

 then took it home and put it into my lathe, and did 

 what tinning was then needed. Where the saw 

 went on I had to turn down to "b of an inch, as it 

 would not make a plump inch, when it was made 

 round. 



I then built a table, about i feet long and 3 feet 

 wide on top. The top is a frame, and hangs on 

 hinges at the back end, so that it can be raised and 

 lowered at pleasure. The right half of the tal)lc 

 runs on slides like the Barnes, but the slides are 

 inch ash. J raise the table by placing blocks under 

 it, of the required thickness. I then built a driving- 

 wheel 4 feet in diameter, by nailing three thick- 

 nesses of inch lumber together, cut out like felloi-s 

 to a wagon-wheel. The spokes are also inch lum- 

 ber, and six in number. The hub is made of some 

 heavy tough lumber, cut into wlieels about a foot 

 in diameter, and securely nailed to the spokes, and 

 two of these wheels on each side. 1 then jilaued up 

 a tough hickory shaft two inches scpjare, turned 

 down the journals to about 1'; inches, put a crank 

 on each end, hung the wheel so that it would run 

 true, and imt on my belt, which a saw-mill man 

 gave me. It was an old piece of 4 ply belt. 1 cut 

 off a strip 3 inches wide, and pulled it in two. and it 

 works all right. The saws are 8 inches in diameter, 

 which you ordered for me from Fitchburg, Mass. 

 The shaft runs in wooden boxes, babbitted, and now 

 with one of ray boys at each crank I can cut up inch 

 lumber rapidly and nicely. In ';-inch lumber it 

 sings like a. top. 



I want to build me a wooden turning-lathe. If 

 thex-e are any of the readers of Gleanings that 



have had any experience in that line of work. I 

 should be glad to hear from them through that 

 medium. G. H. Heselton. 



Valley, Lewis Co., Ky., Feb. 9, 1K85. 



Such a machine as you describe, friend H., 

 will do a large amount of work, without 

 doubt ; but it strikes me you ought to have 

 a pretty good family of boys, if you expect 

 to drive much of a business. While two are 

 turning, there ought to be about two more 

 having a good rest, so as to take their place 

 presently. As your business increases, very 

 likely the boys will begin to plead for a little 

 steam-engine ; and if they uill put in and 

 help their pa, there will not be any trouble 

 in paying for it. Your large wheel'should, 

 by good rights, be entirely below your buzz- 

 saw table, so your belt -svill not ever be in 

 the way m cutting off long boards. You 

 can either put the boys down a little lower 

 than the floor, or else "elevate yourself and 

 tlie saw-table a little higher than the floor. 

 Thanks for your description of the way you 

 did the work yourself, so as to save expense. 



MY HEPORT. 



CAN nOXEV F.VKK SlTCESSFn.I.Y CONfPETE WITH 

 SL'OAK, AS .\ HOl'SEHOI-D SWEET? 



T COMMENCED the season with 10 colonies of 

 |F my own, all in good condition, and 8 colonies 

 J. on shares which were in fair condition. The 

 •^ early j)art of the season promised exceedingly 

 well, and my bees never gathered as much 

 from apple-bloom l)efore. They filled up the spare 

 room in tlu; broodehumber, besides storing a con- 

 siderable surplus, and becoming strong in working 

 force, and in unusually good trim for a successful 

 summer's business. 



However, white clover diil not yield much hone\ : 

 and basswood, of which we have but little at best, 

 yielded ne.xt to nothing. Buckwheat did well for as 

 dry a season as we had, so did Spanish needles; but 

 the yield from those sources is not large in this sec- 

 tion. Taken all together, the past season was con- 

 siderably below an average one. I produced all 

 comb honey. My own colonies averaged me M 1 '» 

 lbs., spring coinit, with ^0 i)er cent increase, and 

 those I ran on shares averaged 'i9^e lbs. and 100 per 

 cent increase. I sold all my honey near home, at 

 from It; to ~5 cents per pound, the first being whole- 

 sale and the latter retail ])riees. 



I found the market at times almost glutted with 

 honey, and it was dull work to make sales at such 

 times. I have produced honey for more than 20 

 years, and have sold at prices ranging from 1.") up to 

 40 cents a pound for comb honey, and am at present 

 strongly of the opinion there can be an overpro- 

 duction of honey, and that we are not far from it 

 now. While many think that honey should be as 

 commonly used, as a sw eet, as sugar now is, it must 

 be recollected that it is generally considered more 

 of a luxury than any thing else at present, and I 

 doubt if we can ever produce it cheap enough to 

 get it out of that position, and live. 



EMBARKING ONE'S .\I.li IN THE HONEY BUSINESS. 



1 have always been too much of a doubting 

 Thomas to make the bee business a specialty, and 

 " I'isk all in one ship," and am therefore engaged in 

 fruit culture in connection with bee culture, and 

 find it pleasant and agreeable as well as profitable. 



