838 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



they are doing. Doesn't it malce one feel 

 like taking off his hat, and looking around 

 s'jmewhere for a low seat away back? 



The above from friend Klimi is exceedingly 

 viiluable, as it demonstrates wliat we have 

 lung felt probable, that carp in the Southern 

 States would grow all winter. It gives us 

 all the more i)leasiuv. too. from the fact that 

 friend Klum has been one of oar old friends, 

 almost from the time when Gleanixc^s com- 

 menced. IJiit, friend K., you did not tell us 

 tlie size of your pond. In fact, we can hard- 

 ly wait until we get tiie next number, to 

 know how large a pond we must have to hold 

 loOO Hs!i. fi'om four to live inches long. 



PUTTING A CIRCULAR SAV/ IN" ORDER. 

 .vNi) I'niKNu cu(iu;HiL,r/s idkas in sdmk other 



MATTEHS .\S WELL. 



f'KIEXl> ROOT:— At^ tlic-re are many beekeepers 

 who use foot-powei- saws, who have had lit- 

 tle experience in flxinp: theiu, I will try to 

 present a lew ideas from 30 years' practice. I 

 liave sometimes got heavy sawing done at a 

 iDmmon saw-mill, but, oh such i-oiigh work! all of 

 which must be planed before any one would call it 

 llrst class. I ttnd nearly every saw is filed square 

 on the inside of the teeth, so there is no slicking- or 

 planing of the wood; therefore the chips are rolled 

 out, not cut. I have tried evei-y way I could think 

 of, and I And that quite a strong- bevel on inside of 

 t loth for splitting- saws gives best results. Tt should 

 be about i') degrees slant, and the back of tooth 

 thou Id he perfectly square. 1 always mark the 

 collar to the saw-arbor, ami also the saw, and with 

 the arbor T mark plumb up. I put on the saw, with 

 saw-mai'k to correspond with arbor-mark; of course, 

 the saw rests down on the arbor. I always set the 

 fiaw first, and adjust it on the arbor, then joint it; 

 next I side ui> the rough and uneven points with 

 an oil-sTone. I file saws in a vise made for the pur- 

 pose. 



For cut-oft saw, I find they work best, filed alike 

 on both edges* of tooth, with a medium bevel. In all 

 cases, as little set as the saw will work well, the bet- 

 ter; and to do good smooth work it should be joint- 

 <,'d often, and every tooth must be true. P'or a 

 splitter, a long hooking tooth is the best. I find 

 that, to do nice work, the saw should not reach 

 much above the wood it is sawing. In sawing sec- 

 tions I raise the table so the saw is up 2 inches for 

 a fu piece, and soon. One who has never tried this 

 will be surprised; and still further, in sawing sep- 

 arators and any thin fixtures, a thin wedge, the 

 thickness of saw-cut back of saw works nicely in 

 protecting one from being scratched by the saw as 

 the work leaves it. 



Where saws are filed as nearli' all common mill- 

 saws arc, they do not run nearly as long as they 

 would if there were a bevel on front, inside of the 

 teeth, because that square corner is soon dull, and 

 it very soon goes hard, and the work is rough, be- 

 cause it can not clear itself (something like clean- 

 ing putty from a dipper with a blunt instrument, 

 instead of a sharp one with an edge). Doesn't it 

 please you, friend R., to have the work come from 

 the saw so that a stranger will ask you if it hasn't 

 been planed? But, like every thing else, no one 

 can fix the saw every time just alike; perhaps a lit- 

 tle too much s;'t, or a tooth may have got sprung 



out a bit (but usually the stone on side of saw will 

 detect the latter trouble), and often the guage may 

 be too near at either end, which is often the case, 

 and a few trials will fix this. And, by the way, a 

 guage similar to yours in A B C is the best I ever 

 saw, for there is no delay in setting to a hair's 

 breadth, and all worked from one end, it's just 

 splendid when one is in a hurry. 



CKYSTALLIZATION OF SYRUP MADE Of (JKAMLAT- 

 ED SUGAR, ETC. 



T see in last GLE.\siNas, friend Doolittle has had 

 trouble with feed hardening. I, too, have often 

 s<;en it recommended to stir the sugar into hot wa- 

 ter, and it was complete. But, alas! I have been 

 sadly disappointed. I can ndt make a safe feed, 

 without boiling- it a little at least; and as soon as 

 taken from the fire I stir in a certain amount of 

 tartar, care being taken not to scorch the syrup, ( i- 

 to get it too thick; for if more than about as thick 

 as good ripe honey it will often harden some; but 

 on the other hand, if we feed quite late in the sea- 

 son, of course we must hurry up the sealing process 

 by feeding as thick syrup as possible. 1 lost two 

 colonies last winter with haidened syrup in the 

 feeder (one right over the cluster too), where it 

 would be as warm as anywhere in the hive; but I 

 got enough of winter feeding, and hope my bees 

 ai'e now ready to pass through the near long win- 

 ter. They are all in chaff hives, with a wide board 

 slanted against the hive (with end beveled so as to 

 fit close, to turn off water, etc.; and around the 

 whole is a lot of evergreens bound with withes, so 

 no cold winds or sno-w reaches the inside. The en- 

 trances are all open 7 by -;'« inches, with passage- 

 ways over frames, and considerable packing of 

 j cloths and cushions. No snow or rain can reach the 

 [ entrance, and they are where the snow will cover 

 I the whole as soon as it drifts, and I care not how 

 I late it remains there. 



I TOBACCO, AND THE RISING GEXER.VTION. 



I 1 tell you, friend R., I am more than rejoiced to 

 I read the result of your plan on the tobacco ques- 

 tion. What shall be done? Every available course 

 is taken to induce even the little innocent boy to 

 use the shameful poison, and yet temperance socie- 

 ties are common in many places (on the liquf)r 

 question); but tobacco is passed unnoticed. It 

 seems to me the latter should be as foremost, for 

 the law does not forbid its use, which, unless it does 

 soon, who can tell the result? How often we see a 

 poor bi-okeu constitution, and caused only by the 

 use of tobacco (yes, and strong tea), and often a 

 little something else alternately. How often 1 hear 

 people say they wish they had never seen the vile 

 weed, but they can not leave it off. I don't believe 

 any one ever honestly thought it did him good. 

 Suppose you or I should take some honey as often 

 as we sometimes see one use tobacco, what would 

 they say? "Oh! I should think honey would kill 

 you," would be his thoughts, and yet which is the 

 more poisonous? I know men who look to bt; 

 strong, and far more able to do a heavy day's w ork 

 than myself, who say they can not do any thing, 

 their heart troubles them so, l)ut they smoke only 

 from 15 to 20 times a day, and chew the remainder. 

 Now. don't say I am uncharitable, for I am not. 1 ^ 



would give every (l(illiu- 1 have if I could stop this ' 



one sad state of tilings, which slowly but surely 

 brings darkness and death among us. This life is 

 short, and only for ]irei)aration for a longer and 

 better one; and how sad to think of throwing it 

 away! E.P.Churchill. 



No. Auburn, Me., Nov., 1884. 



Friend C, we pretty nearly agree with you 

 all through. In regard to circular saws, we 

 use to some extent what is called a planer 

 saw. Tills makes the lumber as nice as any 

 planer, when in order ; but all such arrange- 

 ments, so far as our experience goes, cut 

 much slower than ordinary rip saws, when 

 tiled so as to cut most rapidly. 



