1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



409 



on the board, a little further from the hive 

 than before, in order to give more of a chance 

 for finding the queens as they run up. 

 When this first lot of bees is run in, whether 

 the queen is found or not, the other portion 

 of the swarm should be secured and dumped 

 in front of the other hive similarly arranged. 

 During this process, usually both cjueens are 

 found, and 1 have never failed to find at 

 least one of them. If both are found, one is 

 run into each hive, and then the amount of 

 bees equalized (if not already so), and every 

 thing will be well. If only one queen is 

 found, she should be caged and kept in the 

 shade where nothing can harm her, and the 

 entrance-guards removed. In fifteen or 

 twenty mmutes the bees of the queenless 

 colony will make a demonstration, and, if 

 left long enough without their queen, will 

 come out and mix with bees of the adjoining 

 hives. Before this can take place the caged 

 queen should be allowed to run in as soon 

 as possible. A welcome hum will greet her 

 as she enters. 



The clipped-queen plan for handling 

 swarms is too complicated for a beginner, 

 no matter how good it looks on paper. 



Remus, Mich. 



CARPENTRY FOR BEE-KEEPERS. 



Use of the Hammer. 



BY F. DUNDAS TODD. 



One of my school-fellows started out in 

 life in a machine-shop, his ambition being to 

 become a locomotive engineer; but, as Burns 

 says: 



The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men 



Gantr aft a-erley. 



Tom wound up by becoming a famous teeto- 

 tal lecturer. Let it be understood I am not 

 blaming him in any way; for, if the truth 

 were only known, my own vagaries have 

 been even worse. I started out on a farm 



To learn to sow, to reap and mow, 

 And be a farmer's boy. 



After several lapses of various kinds I be- 

 came an editor, and now I have a present- 

 ment that I may wind up my inglorious ca- 

 reer as a bee-keeper. As a youngster I en- 

 vied the lucky men whose biography showed 

 that they had had all kinds of experiences, 

 and here at 50 I look back and wonder if 

 anybody has had as much fun and variety as 

 I have had. 



But to return to Tom. I once asked anoth- 

 er school-fellow why Tom could not learn en- 

 gineering. "Because as a boy he could nev- 

 er drive a nail straight," was the startling 

 reply. 



The more I study human beings the more 

 I see in the above answer. We are not all 

 built alike, thank goodness; but, alas! we 

 tr>' in the days of infancy to make human 

 beings duplicates of each other. Let us all 

 be thankful that there are some Toms that 

 can not drive nails straight but are adept in 

 other lines. 



But I have noticed that even those who 



have natural mechanical ability have an ex- 

 traordinary knack at the start of gripping a 

 hammer the wrong way; so in this article I 

 am going to talk a little about how to drive a 

 nail. 



Hammers are made in weights ranging 

 from a fraction of an ounce to as high as 30 

 lbs. The veriest child knows it would be ab- 

 surd to attempt to drive a tack with one of 

 the heavy weights; but not many realize that 

 for each job ot nail-driving there fS one par- 

 ticlar weight of hammer that is best fitted 

 for it. For instance, drive a fairly thin wire 

 nail into medium hard wood with a IC-ounce 

 hammer, then with the same tool try driving 

 a cement-coated nail of the same thickness 

 alongside of the first. The result will prob- 

 ably startle you, as the cement-coated nail 

 will lie right down and refuse to be driven. 

 Try a lighter hammer, and you will have 

 more success, or grip the first hammer close 

 to the head so that you can tap the nail rath- 

 er gently. 



You see when you hit a nail on the head 

 you impart to it a considerable amount of 

 force moving in a certain direction. This 

 force carries the nail along until the friction 

 in the wood neutralizes it. But in the case 

 of the cement-coated nail the friction is so 

 great that the nail can not move quick 

 enough, and so the head lies right over, and 

 we say the nail is bent. You see the same 

 thing when you hit the wooden handle of a 

 chisel with an iron hammer. The force is 

 transferred instantly from the iron to the 

 wood; and since the chisel can not move for- 

 ward instantly, the wooden handle is mash- 

 ed into a mushroom head. Now, if you used 

 a wooden mallet to drive with, when the 

 blow is struck its fibers would yield for a 

 brief instant; and before they recoiled the 

 handle of the chisel would be on the move, 

 and the additional force would be gradually 

 imparted, and thus avoid mashing the chisel 

 handle. Moral: Do not use an iron hammer 

 on a wooden handle unless the latter is pro- 

 tected with a layer of leather to absorb the 

 force of the blow by compression of its 

 fibers. 



Now do you see that it is worth while to 

 learn something about how to handle a ham- 

 mer? 



The bench wood-worker usually employs 

 a claw hammer weighing fourteen to sixteen 

 ounces. The head should be wholly of steel. 

 The striking face is slightly convex (that is, 

 rounded) to prevent marring the wood, and 

 hardened so as not to be injured by repeated 

 blows upon the nail. 



The beginner usually grasps the handle 

 with the third, fourth, and fifth fingers of the 

 hand, and stretches the fore finger and thumb 

 along the shaft. This may do for tapping 

 gently, but it is utterly impossible to strike 

 a heavy blow with such a grip. 



The proper grip is that made by putting 

 the thumb and fore finger around the 

 handle, grasping it very firmly. The three 

 remaining fmgers are also placed around 

 the handle, but grasp it very loosely. Now, 

 if the hand is grasping the handle at a 



