Smoker, Tin Corners, &c. 



" I send you, by mail, a smoker and 

 specimen of tin corners, and methods 

 of fastening foundation and frames, 

 which is very easy and quickly done, 

 even by a novice. Care must be taken 

 not to drive the nails so tight as to cut 

 the foundation. 



The smoker is made without any 

 solder to melt, and the lower stopper 

 cannot drop out, with fire and all. It 

 has the advantages over the bellows 

 smoker, as both hands can be used 

 while smoking. They can be mailed 

 at 35 cents. 



We welcome your, valuable paper, 

 which has visited us for 10 years, every 

 month. 



The prospects for honey are extra 

 good. Hundreds of boxes are now 

 almost full." r. H. Cyranus. 



The smoker is intended to be held in 

 the mouth. The tube is 2x5 inches, 

 with a cone-shaped end, 2i inches, 

 making its total length H inches. It 

 has perforated tin partition to prevent 

 the fire from issuing from the tube.— 

 For a mouth smoker, it is the best we 

 have ever seen, but we cannot imagine 

 that any one would prefer a mouth 

 smoker to one to operate with the hand. 

 We have no such preference — others 

 may, and for such, friend Cyranus has 

 "just the thing." 



The tin corners overlap the frame 

 and are nailed to it. They are made of 

 pieces of tin 2xli inches long by H 

 wide, which are bent to fit the top 

 bar of the frame running down f of an 

 inch on either side. These edges pro- 

 jecting t of an inch over each end of 

 the frame, form the rests to hold it in 

 position, making it very strong, and 

 not allowing them to be fastened down 

 by the bees. 



Friend Cyranus' method of fastening 

 foundation into the frames is to rabbet 

 the top-bar out i of an inch from one 

 side to the centre, place the founda- 

 tion against the piece left, and press a 

 strip of wood, ixf of an inch, (being 

 just the size of that rabbeted out,) 

 close to the foundation, nailing through 

 both with small brads. Of course, it 

 cannot get away. 



Nearly all the trouble with comb 

 foundation may be accounted for 

 either by its not being fastened firmly 

 to the top-bars, or from its not being 

 put into the frame with the strong way 

 of the foundation in a perpendicular 

 position. To ascertain this — hold a 

 piece of foundation up, and look over 

 it; it will be easy to discover small 

 ridges running one way across it. In 

 placing it into the frames, these should 

 always run from top to bottom — never 

 the other way. 



In passing through the rollers, while 

 making it, they press together so 

 closely as to make very thin parts be- 

 tween every row of cells. It is impos- 

 sible not to see this when holding a 

 piece horizontally between the eye and 

 light from a window. Every machine 

 now used makes it thus— but we have 

 a promise of a new machine before 

 next season that will avoid this weak- 

 ness. Whether it will come up to the 

 promise or not, time will tell — and the 

 Journal, will inform its readers. We 

 advise those intending to purchase 

 machines to await the developments of 

 the next few months. Inventive 

 genius is at work, and something bene- 

 ficial may be the result. 



i^We have received a letter, con- 

 sisting of questions to be answered, 

 that would, if framed and glazed, be 

 interesting to beholders. It is written 

 on one side of a half sheet of paper, but 

 contains 91 words so inaccurately 

 spelled as to be almost unintelligible. 



81^" That Prize we drew at the Burling- 

 ton Convention came duly to hand a few 

 days ago. It was offered by Hardin Haines, 

 of Fulton Co., 111. It was to be a Cyprian 

 Queen. She came in good order and was at 

 once introduced into one of the colonies of 

 the Bee Journal apiary. She is a tine 

 looking; queeu and is laying profusely. We 

 shall report her progeny in our next month's 

 Journal. 



Jt^~ The third annual Exhibition of the 

 Iowa Industrial Exposition will open at 

 Des Moines on Sept. 4,— keeping open for 

 one month. 



