1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



25i 



posited almost right on the spot where it is 

 to be used. The consequence is. a hired 

 man or tiired airl lias to be called in, when 

 a little forethought and a little looking 

 ahead, and i)lanning, might have saved ex- 

 pensive hired labor. 



The worst part of it, however, is the point 

 alluded to in the middle of this article— do- 

 ing different kinds of handwork, laying 

 pieces of bee-hives or section boxes on tiie 

 table in such away that you will be obliged 

 to turn every piece you pick up, end for end, 

 before you can use it, and may be doing the 

 same thing before laying it down again. In 

 nailing up work you not only want the 

 right sort of hammer, and the right sort of 

 nails, but you want a good solid bench to 

 pound on, We have just had some cast-iron 

 slabs nnide, 2 ft. long and perhaps 18 inches 

 wide, to be laid on top of our work-benches, 

 to pound and nail on. 'I'lie slab is solid 

 iron, one inch thick or more, and the upper 

 surface is planed smooth and level. iSow, 

 if you Want to see how much such a thing is 

 worth, just try nailing up work on a com- 

 mon Wooden table, and then try it by plac- 

 ing youi- Work on one of these iron slabs. 



The other evening Frankie was putting 

 section boxes together with a little wooden 

 mallet. I told him to take his basket lo one 

 of the low benches, where he could drive 

 his work together on the iron slab, and see 

 the ditttuvnce. VV"hy, a very light tap of his 

 mallet sent the joint home when he would 

 have had to pound several times on the 

 bench where he had been working witii 

 oidy an inch pine board to lay his work 

 on. Try nailing up a bee-hive by having it 

 rest on an iron anvil, or get a huge block of 

 stone, and make the top perfectly level and 

 smooih. You can smooth and level the 

 top of any stone by first getting it chipped 

 off liy a mason, then lay a slab of stone on 

 top of it, and grind it smooth by pouring on 

 water and rubbing it back and forth. 

 Whenever you have any kind of work where 

 yon have to do the same thing over a hun- 

 dred or a thousand times, it will pay you to 

 spend a little time in getting every thing 

 just as handy and convenient as it possibly 

 can be. If you build the fire every morning 

 in the year, liave matches, kindling, shav- 

 ings, firewood, a sewing-machine oil-can fill- 

 ed with kerosene, or whatever you use, right 

 close at hand ; but have these materials 

 neatly put away at the same time. Now, 

 then, when you are replenishing the supply, 

 get enough to last. 



We have a great many orders for samples 

 of honey, maple syrup, etc. Now, if 1 did 

 not almost Jiylit about it, somebody would go 

 down stairs after one bottle of maple syrup. 

 Perhaps tliis person would try to fill a little 

 bottle by pouring the syrup out of a jug. 

 May be, before he got through some would 

 be spilled on the floor, some on the clothes, 

 and some on the fingers ; then a cork must 

 be hunted for the little vial ; then a block 

 of wood with a hole bored in it to put the 

 vial in, so it can go safely by mail ; then 

 somebody must whittle a plug" and have it 

 sawed off. Then the mailing clerk must 

 write on the block, '• Sample of maple syr- 

 up." Then a piece of stout paper must be 



hunted up to wrap the package in securely ; 

 then some stout string to tie the paper^ and 

 then a pair of scissors to cut off the string. 



It is finally ready to be addressed ; but in 

 doing it, various utensils have been taken 

 from their places. Some clerk is wasting 

 time hunting for his saw, and grumbling 

 because somebody didn't put it back. The 

 same way with scissors, and the same way 

 with string. Do you wish to know the 

 remedy V I Mill tell you. If we shall 

 probably need 100 samples during the sea- 

 son, get loo vials just right ; then 100 corks 

 just right; then have 100 blocks of wood cut 

 out and bored just right ; stoppers to match^ 

 and blocks, are made at the same time on 

 the turning-lathe. Some woman is then 

 set at work at it, who has done similar 

 work before. A combined tunnel and mea- 

 sure is taken from the counter store. This 

 utensil will fill a small bottle with any liquid, 

 without wasting a drop, for the nozzle 

 attached to the caj* will go right into tlie 

 bottle. When all are put in the bottles and 

 corked, 100 pieces of stout paper are cut ex- 

 actly riglit ; then the printer prints a labels 



saying, '' This is a sample of gallons of 



molasses that we have for sale^" also giving 

 name and address of the man who made it/ 

 One of the girls who is expert in tying up 

 packages then ties the wliole lot at once. 

 If they are to be used soon she also i)uts the 

 postage-stamp on, and they are put in a neat 

 little basket right close to the Uiailing clerk. 

 The cost of putting up the whole lumdred 

 has nut exceeded 60 cents, or hall a cent 

 apiece, after the materials are all got ready. 

 Ihe former way it may very likely liave cost 

 lu da. to put up just otie sample bottle. In 

 other words, we have, by an outlay of 50 cts. 

 in labor, accomplished what might have 

 cost toward $10.00. Now, even though you 

 should not need more than 50 of the pack- 

 ages, you will make money if you never 

 make any further use of the last 50 at all. 

 If you look about you and see what is go- 

 ing on you will see this thing repeated al- 

 most every day, and, to a greater or lesser 

 extent, in every household. Of course, you 

 must use judgment in deciding about how 

 many of each thing you are going to need in 

 the course of the year, for it does not pay 

 to have a great lot of waste material lying 

 around ; but if you make it a study, > ou'will 

 be astonished to find the possibility of econ- 

 omizing in labor by doing little things of 

 this kind all at once, instead of going over 

 the long laborious routine every day or every 

 few days. 



THE HONEY EXHIBITION AT THE CO- 

 LONIAL. 



HOW OUR FRIENDS ACROSS THE WATER DISPLAY 

 HONEY. 



HILE our friend James A. Abbott, of 

 Southall, London, England, was vis- 

 iting us a few months ago, among 

 other things which he brought from 

 his native country he showed us some 

 finie photographs which he himself ^ad tak- 

 en with his own instrument. Mr. Abbott is 

 a natural genius ; and among his hobbies, if 



