1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



177 



For the New England Farmer. 



ABOUT PUMPS. 



Neighbor Goodman was in, a few evenings ago, 

 and gave me a little of his pump experience. Good- 

 man has some eight or ten pumps to look after, 

 and says "it's a study to keep 'em all a-goin» ; 

 something or other is everlastingly getting into his 

 pumps," he says, but he feels now a little on the 

 gain about them, and hopes if all are careful as 

 they should be, that they may hold a spell. One 

 or two got frozen up the other day. Goodman 

 said he didn't stop to try putting in a handful of 

 salt to thaw through three feet of ice, as is so often 

 recommended, nor a spoonful or two of molasses, 

 as a late Farmer has it. No, indeed ! Goodman 

 keeps the salt for the pork, and the sweetening for 

 the pudding. His way to thaw out a pump is, to 

 take a piece of lead pipe and tunnej, and plenty of 

 boiling water. By means of the pipe a stream of 

 hot water can be passed directly upon the ice, and 

 it will thaw all away in a few minutes. My neigh- 

 bor has all his wooden pumps furnished with small 

 wooden faucets just under the platform ; an inch 

 hole and a plug just over each one, admits a cheap 

 rod wrench, which adjusts the stream to run off as 

 desired. 



One thing my neighbor told me that I thought 

 a capital idea. He says he has often found his 

 match to get up the lower box of a copper pump, 

 and has been obliged to saw the pipe in two below 

 the pump, to drive it out. Then after the box was 

 fixed, there was all the bother of soldering it to- 

 gether again. He has bought brass couplings — the 

 same form as used on engine hose — and soldered 

 one part to the lead pipe, and the other to the 

 pump. When anything is the matter with the 

 pump, the coupling can be unscrewed in a minute, 

 and the pump taken away to be conveniently re- 

 paired.- These brass couplings are found at the 

 plumbers in Boston. The cost is one dollar for 

 an inch and quarter size. 



My ingenious neighbor does his own soldering. 

 It might be better, if one lived near a brazier in a 

 town, to patronize him ; but it is a great conveni- 

 ence to be able to repair or solder together a pipe, 

 oftentimes ; and this art, as well as many others, 

 very well to know about, is not a great mystery. 



You must have a good copper soldering "iron." 

 This will cost in Boston according to weight, from 

 25 to 15 cents. The heavier the "iron," the longer 

 it will retain heat. A shilling's worth of solder 

 from the tinman will last a good while ; a little 

 pounded rosin, ajackknife, and fine saw, are neces- 

 sary. It is best to heat the iron with charcoal in a 

 portable furnace ; Goodman uses an old iron ket 

 tie, with a hole through the bottom, which allows 

 the necessary circulation of air. Now the operation 

 seems to be just this; one part of the pipe — the 

 lower part — is flared out around the edge, and 

 whittled and scraped perfectly bright and neio ; the 

 other part of the pipe must be made equally clean. 

 The smaller end is now placed in the other, and if 

 the work has been rightly done so far, there is a 

 channel above and outside of the line where the 

 two parts meet for the solder; the two parts are 

 now to be held perfectly still; a little rosin is 

 thrown into the channel; the use of this is to make 

 the melted solder "flow," that is, spread willingly 

 on the parts to be connected. The iron should not 

 be red hot ; that injures it, and burns off the tin. 



nings with which it is tipped, but it should be hot 

 enough to melt solder readily. 



Now, it must be borne in mind as an important 

 condition, that solder will not adhere to cold lead, 

 so, while the solder is being melted into the chan- 

 nel, the pipe should be touched with the iron. If 

 the pipe is kept hot, and every drop of solder 

 melted in with the preceding one, so that no holes 

 are left, the union is complete and satisfactorj\ 



I suppose, Mr. Editor, a good many of your 

 readers are "greatly exercised" with their trouble- 

 some pumps. It will happen sometimes, that small 

 leaks exist which produce immense discomfort ; be- 

 low the lower box there may be the smallest pos- 

 sible hole where the air gets in and lets the M'ater 

 settle down ; you catch hold to pump, and the han- 

 dle flies back in your face, while the bottom of the 

 pail is covered with a few aggravating bubbles. 



Then it makes a man feel poor to take hold of the 

 brake, and have it drop down against the log. But 

 if the slightest thing gets under the lower clapper, 

 this will happen. I think it pays to have an iron 

 rod always on hand, fitted at the smith's in the best 

 manner, to start the box right out, and find the diffi- 

 culty at once. It may be a little gravel which can be 

 easily removed. If the leather is at all old, or ob- 

 stinate about shutting down tight, better throw it 

 away and have a new one. The box should be 

 dried before being put back, and the yarn or hemp 

 packing very even and smooth, which is always to 

 be kept full of hard, beef tallow. w. D. B. 



Concord, Mass., Feb., 1857. 



For the New England Farmer. 



WIHTERIHG BEES. 



Mr. Editor : — I have read several articles in 

 the Farmer relative to the management and win- 

 tering of bees. Some of them, in my opinion, con- 

 tain many erroneous ideas ; others very useful ones. 

 If bees are well managed, they are one of the great- 

 est sources of profit that the farmer has. 



I am opposed to leaving bees out of doors in 

 winter, as the extreme changes may weaken whole 

 colonies. A bee-house is usually located in some 

 warm place, fronting the south ; as the sun shines 

 on the hive, the bees are induced to leave it and 

 fly about in the air, and as the air is cold, the bee 

 falls on the snow in nine cases out of ten, never to 

 rise ; thus the colony becomes weak. I have picked 

 up scores of bees from the snow and carried them 

 into the house, and put them into a tumbler, and 

 they would become as lively as ever. To avoid 

 these sudden changes, bees should be put in some 

 cool place, one that would freeze a Httle, and be 

 dry and dark. If I could have a place to my mind, 

 it would be a cellar over a dry piece of land, partly 

 above ground, and well covered over to prevent ex- 

 treme changes. I would rather have it freeze a 

 little, and well ventilated. I would put the bees 

 into the cellar as soon as cold weather comes, and 

 let them remain until the weather is warm enough 

 to have them go to work in the spring. Bees win- 

 tered in this way eat less honey, as the warmer you 

 keep them the more honey they eat, 



I have known several colonies to die that were 

 put i-.i warm places in winter, I place my bees in 

 my house-cellar, and never have lost a colony in 

 winter that was well supplied with good honey ; 

 my cellar is a very dry one. and the part where the 

 bees are is cold. 



