GLEANINGS IN BtE CULTUliE. 



Jt-NF. 



strong colony in place of the frame of honey taken j 

 from it; and that for each succeeding colony form- j 

 ed, this comb now having a few eggs in it, is taken 

 out and another put in its place, while the fratne of | 

 honey should be taken from those you wish to pre- 

 serve from the moth. In putting the frames of | 

 combs in the little colonies 1 place them beyond the j 

 division-board until the queen gets to laying, when 

 one by one they are placed in the brood-nest, as the i 

 colony gets strong enough so the queen will till 

 them with eggs. I 



The bees will care for the combs as regards keep- 

 ing the moths from them, just as well beyond the 

 division-board as they would if no division-board 

 were there. When the last little colony is made T 

 use nearly three times the bees in making it, and 

 give, when hiving them, two or more frames of 

 hatching brood, so that, in a week or so, I may 

 again have a fair colony to rear queen - cells from; 

 for at the expiration of about two weeks the same 

 operation is to be repeated, and eight to ten more 

 colonies formed. 



Again in two or three weeks, or as soon as the 

 original strong colony is in fine condition, more are 

 formed ; but as it grows later in the season, a quart 

 or more of bees are taken to form the colony, in- 

 stead of a pint. Finally, as fall draws on, the first- 

 formed little colonies are strong enough to spare 

 bees. At this time 1 take bees from three or four 

 colonies, thei-eby getting bees enough to make a 

 good full colony at once. By the above plan it is 

 no trouble at all to build up a depopulated apiary 

 again, especially if you are willing to feed liberally 

 when honey is not coming in from the field; and I 

 believe it is far cheaper than to buy bees by the 

 pound, and queens to put with them, as many do. 

 G. M. DooLiTTr.E. 



Borodino, N. Y., June 1, 188.5. 



Friend D., I especially approve of your 



glan of getting at least one strong colony, 

 efore you begin forming nuclei. A power- 

 ful colony will bear drawing bees and brood 

 from to a wonderful degree, Without materi- 

 al injury; but we should be careful how we 

 cripple "^ colonies already weak, by untimely 

 division or abstraction. Circumstances may 

 make it needful to modify any rules that 

 may be laid down ; but I thinlc any smart 

 bee-keeper will be able to devise ways simi- 

 lar to the one you mention, to get his surplus 

 combs under the control of the bees, even if 

 he have but very few colonies to start with. 



AN IMPROVEMENT IN REGARD TO 

 MAKING FOUR-PIECE SECTIONS. 



HOW TO DO SMOOTHER AVOHK WITH AN ORDINAUY 



CIRCULAR SAW THAN CAN BE DONE BY THE 



AID OF THE SANDPAPERINO MACHINE 



OR PLANER. 



'OW slow is the march of progress ! Hun- 

 dreds of times I have invented cum- 

 brous machinery for doing certain 

 kinds of work, that I thought at the 

 time were marvels of skill and in- 

 genuity, and then found out some time aft- 

 erward that the whole machine could be 

 dispensed with entirely, and still do better 

 work, and faster. I have seen this so many 

 times, that, when something new had to be 

 worked out, I have thought to myself, "Now 



very likely when we get more acquainted 

 with this business, f A /s whole machine will 

 be dispensed with entirely.'' For all that, 

 the machine has to be 'built. The same 

 thing is true the world over. Sitting down 

 and waiting will not get us along any. We 

 must roll up oin- sleeves, and push into the 

 business before tis ; hew out something that 

 will do the work, change it. simplify it as 

 we go along, and when we get it to produce 

 exactly the thing we -vsant, then, but not be- 

 fore, we can begin substituting simple 

 means for what before has been complicated. 



Three months ago we printed a cut of a 

 machine for making section boxes out of four 

 pieces of wood. The machine has been run- 

 ning in our saw-room ever since it was got- 

 ten up, and has worked up short bits of bass- 

 wood into enough nice sections to pay for it- 

 self several times over. The machine I allude 

 to has a circular saw and sandpapering 

 wheel together, as shown on page 158. Now 

 hear the sequel : 



To-day Mr. Gray brought me some pieces 

 of wood sawed up for ends of wide frames. 

 These wide frames are to hold only one tier 

 of sections, so the pieces are only four or 

 live inches long. Tney are too short to run 

 through the planer practicably. We have 

 formerly sawed them with a planer saw ; 

 but such a saw is too slow, as you all know. 

 Well, these pieces were sawed with an ordi- 

 nary ten-inch circular saw, and they were 

 smoother on both sides than the work of the 

 planer saw, or the planer or sandpapering 

 machine. 



What did they do it with V Why, they did 

 it Avith an ordinary ten-inch saw, filed iritli- 

 out any set. It is possible to use such a saw 

 without any set, because the stuff is so short, 

 and because the basswood was so thorough- 

 ly seasoned. To accomplish this, however, 

 several tilings are necessary. First, as I 

 have said before, use extra nice basswood 

 lumber thoroughly seasoned. Second, a filer 

 who can file a saw so it can be run safely 

 without any set ; that is, on short stuff, 

 such as I have mentioned. Third, a man- 

 drel that runs absolutely true. Every tooth 

 of yom- saw nuist follow' in an exact line the 

 tooth that goes before it. Fourth, a man 

 long accustomed to the business, for a saw- 

 yer. 



After the saw had cut up a large pile of 

 these sticks, it was put on to four-piece sec- 

 tions, both of basswood and white poplar, 

 and it turned out the best work that has 

 ever been made in our establishment. I 

 asived our saw-tiler if he could file another 

 saw just like that ; tliat is, so it could be 

 run without set, and without a single tooth 

 in the saw leaving a mark on the woodwork, 

 lie said he thought he could, and he is now 

 at it. 



I have given you this long description of 

 the matter, because I think there are expert 

 saw-filer* and sawyers among our readers 

 who can do this same thing. All you want 

 in order to make beautifiU sections, and 

 make them rapidly, is a gang of saws to do 

 th<^ dovetailing, and a single rip saw to slice 

 up the blocks. 



Now, then, friends, to do this you must 

 have perfect tools, and you must'be expert 



