1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



499 



main on the surface of the leather. A light 

 coat of this kind will exclude the water even 

 if the boots are exposed to the wet all day. 

 This shoe grease will not injure leather by ren- 

 dering it hard and inelastic. When a man's 

 boots are exposed to wet, he should wash them 

 clean at night, and hang them up in the kitch- 

 en where the leather will dry gradually, and 

 put on a little grease every morning. It is 

 far better to grease a little often than to grease 

 bountifully every ten or twelve days. Leather 

 should not be allowed to become very dry be- 

 fore greasing. Always apply the grease as 

 soon as the leather is almost dry ; then the 

 leather will be mellow, and never become hard. 

 Nothing injures boots or shoes more than to 

 set them aside to dry when covered with dirt. 

 Keep boots and shoes away from the tire when 

 they are liable to be heated. Heating the 

 leather injures it. 



LAY UP THE PIECES. 



Any farmer who does not practice saving 

 pieces would be surprised at the real profit 

 derived by laying up the odds and ends about 

 his premises. Every day almost there are 

 bits thrown away, at the time considered of 

 no value, which perhaps not many days subse- 

 quent would save both time and money. How 

 many times a year does a farmer want a strip 

 of board, a piece of wedge or pine timber, 

 something for a hammer handle or rake tooth, 

 which canaot be obtained without spoiling 

 valuable material, or going to some carpenter 

 shop, and perhaps while this delay is made, a 

 team and hired man are standing still waiting 

 for a broken tool to be put in order ? 



But very little would be required while 

 working at the wood pile to sort out and split 

 into proper shape bits of tough timber and lay 

 them up in some out of the way corner, and 

 also to throw up small pieces of boards, such 

 as are usually used for making kindling wood. 

 A strip of board not more than two inches 

 wide may be wanted sometime in a hurry foi 

 cleat upon a wagon box, or of some other 

 size for another purpose, and the saw have to 

 be applied to a whole board to obtain it. The 

 repairs upon buildings, making board fences, 

 splitting stakes or stove wood, always makes 

 pieces in just about the shape that will be 

 wanted at some future time, and they should 

 never be wasted. These fragments possess 

 of themselves no real value at the time of lay- 

 ing them away, but their worth is in supplying 

 a want, and saving hinderauce and perplexity 

 in a busy time. 



It is just as essential to save pieces of 

 leather, scraps of iron, screws, nails, bolts, 

 hinges, wire, buckles, rings and rivets. Any 

 amount of this material is cast away annually, 

 or sold for one cent per pound, which if saved 

 would have been worth dollars perhaps. By 

 this we do not intend to advocate that when a 

 breakage occurs upon any farm implement, 



patching up will answer for permanent re- 

 pairs, for all tools should be kept in the best 

 of order, but there are times when plowing, 

 harrowing, or at some other work, that the 

 harness or some tool will give out and by the 

 aid of wire, nails, buckle or a piece of tough 

 timber the breach may be quickly repaired, 

 and with sufficient strength to last until the 

 hurry is over, and time can b« spared as well 

 as not to take the implement to the work shop. 

 A stitching awl and a few waxed ends kept 

 on hand will often save a hundred times their 

 cost. — Ohio Farmer. 



"WINGS OF BEES. 

 Here is something relative to the formation 

 of the wings of the honey bee, which seems to 

 have passed unnoticed by the bee experts of 

 the country, probably I might say by the world 

 in general, — at least I never saw it spoken of 

 in any work on bees. The propelling power 

 of the honey bee consists of four wings, two 

 oi^a side, and the peculiar construction of the 

 wings is such that they can form two (one on 

 a side) out of the four. Examining a cluster 

 of bees, some could be seen with two broad 

 wings, like those of a fly, while others would 

 have the four. To solve the mystery, I placed 

 a wing underneath a powerful microscope, 

 which unfolded the mechanical means whereby 

 the four wings were made two. The peculiar 

 feature consists of twenty minute hooks upon 

 each back wing, hooking upward, and a sort 

 of ledge upon the underside of the front or 

 large wing, which the hooks match into, forming 

 one wing of two. Upon examination I found 

 that-queen, workers and drones all have the 

 same number, and in the same relative posi- 

 tion. The question is, do they avoid using 

 the back wings, except in case of heavy loads, 

 to preserve them from wear, (the wings of old 

 bees become so worn and ragged that it is dif- 

 ficult for them to tly) or can they fly faster 

 while empty with only the two forward wings ? 

 Be it as it may, I leave the question for con- 

 jecture. — M. S. Snoto, in Co. Gent. 



Decomposing Sods. — Every farmer, gar- 

 dener and fruit grower should gather sods 

 whenever opportunity will permit, and pile 

 them up in some corner or out-of-way place 

 to decompose. Sods are the cream of the 

 soil, and wonderfully supplied wiih fertilizing 

 properties, making one of the very best invig- 

 orators for trees, vines and plants. They 

 may be easily obtained from fence corners of 

 tilled fields, or gathered from the surface 

 after ploughing and harrowing sward land. 

 Pile them up grass downward and cover the 

 heap with a coat of ashes to keep grass from 

 "rowing. A year or two will be required for 

 them to thoroughly decay. Water should he 

 applied at intervals sufficient to keep the pile 

 moist in a dry time to prevent a dry mouldy 

 rot. — Ohio Farmer. 



