24-2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



and I stayed so long' in looking at friend 

 H/s bees in the cellar (the cellar was just as 

 handsome and cosy and nice-looking as his 

 garden was ; but he could not help having 

 things nice with white sand everywhei'e to 

 cover up every thing unsightly), that broth- 

 er Clark began to urge that I would not 

 catch that train ; and, besides, I had to see 

 my sister again, and get my dinner. Friend 

 IL and I got to be friends very fast, you 

 may be sure. He showed me his machine 

 for making the little sections, and told me 

 how it Avas done. The cuts below will help 

 me to make it plain to you. 



AN L. FRAME FILLED WITH 2-OZ. SEC- 

 TIONS. 



When I made my little sections years ago, 

 I supposed, as a matter of course, the cheap- 

 est way to make them would be by folding 

 them up as we make one-piece sections now- 

 adays ; but friend II. has got away ahead 

 of that. In the first place, he takes a I 

 board, just long enough to slip inside of an 

 L. frame. Then with a jack-plane, set 

 coarse, he scoops off the shavings. The 

 shavings, of course, roll up as anybody 

 knows they would ; but he tumbles them in- 

 to a pail of water ; and when they get w^ell 

 soaked they are straightened out, piled up 

 and dried. Tliis gives thin strips of veneer, 

 and cheaper than you can imagine. He 

 then fixes a board as in the cut below. 



FOR3I FOn 3IAKl\(i li-O/. SE( TIONS. 



The L. frame is slipped over this board. 

 I want to say, first, that these little blocks 

 are made by gluing a t board on top of a i 

 board, as you see. Xow, with a circular 

 saw. cut grooves clear through the thin 

 board until the saw just strikes the thick one. 

 These grooves are of such a width that three 

 of the afore-mentioned strips of veneer will 

 drop into each groove, the strips running 

 lengthwise of the frame. When this is 

 done, three short pieces of veneer are drop- 

 ped into the grooves crosswise. But to 

 make these bits of wood stay in place when 

 the frame is pulled up, a little glue is put in- 

 to each corner, with a camel's-hair brush. 

 You want to be careful, so the glue will not 

 run in too far, and stick to the form. Before 

 you put in the glue, however, drop some lit- 

 tle squares of foundation into each little 

 sections. The glue should just catch each 

 corner of the foundation. When the whole 

 thing is dry, lift it off and hang it in the 



hive. When the little sections are full and 

 sealed over, take frame and all to the gro- 

 cer ; slip oft the outside, and show him that 

 he can separate the squares into long strips. 

 With a sharp knife he can now cut them up 

 into little cakes as wanted. If a customer 

 wants two, four, six, or eight, let him have 

 them all in a slice, to save handling so many 

 loose pieces. 



Well, I got as many ideas as my head 

 could well contain, for the time being, and 

 got around to my sister's just in time to 

 have a nice dinner of fried oysters. She 

 presided, while I ate and did what talking I 

 could. I came pretty near missing the 

 train, as I told you on page 9-51, Dec. loth 

 issue. When the tiain was well under way, 

 T was so busy thinking of what 1 had glean- 

 ed for Gleaninos, that I did not notice 

 the individual who came in a little time aft- 

 er, and sat down by my side. I noticed he 

 had an oblong package in his hands ; and 

 when he addressed me familiarly I looked 

 him full in the face, and could not then 

 quite remember where I had seen him. I 

 hope you will have charity for me when I 

 tell you it was my new-found friend of just 

 about an hour before. He had taken off his 

 working suit, put on his Sunday clothes, and 

 this, with the fact that 1 did not dream of 

 seeing him there in that car, made me slow 

 to comprehend. He laughingly explained 

 that he felt something as I did — so loth to 

 have our conversation broken off that he 

 decided to take a trip of ten miles and back 

 for the sake of having a little longer talk 

 with the editor of Gleaxings. It was very 

 kind of Iiim, and I shall always remember 

 it. Tlie bundle under his arm was the form 

 and frame I have illustrated above, and he 

 gave me a lot of the veneers made with a 

 jack-plane, to carry home. Below^ is a 

 further explanation which he kindly fur- 

 nished : 



WHY I WAS INDUCED TO EXPERIMENT IN THEIK 



CONSTRtrCTION. 



Getting- small sectinns filled, never troubled me; 

 for I knew that bees would fill spaces with comb 

 honey that are a little more than a quarter of an 

 inch, so that, with a good honej'-flow, I was not 

 afraid but that they would fill a two-inch space. I 

 would say just here, that I have had sections well 

 filled, only three-fourths of an inch square, so that, 

 in this particular, T was all right; and I have proved 

 to my satisfaction, and, I thinli, to the satisfaction 

 of the few bee-kf^epers who have called on me, that 

 I have developed a practical system for making 

 small sections out of shavings from a common 

 hand-plane, and will suit any size of sections for 

 less than 1 lb. of honey, with the proper mold or 

 form for adjusting them. 



The reasons why I wanted them are, first, be- 

 cause I have seen comb honej- cut in pieces, mak- 

 ing it leak in every instance, often being a nui- 

 sance, daubing every thing, causing considerable 

 trouble, and making it difiicult to give a customer, 

 perhaps a boy or small child, a few cents' worth of 

 comb honey; for everyone has not 'ZO cents to spare 

 to buy a whole section; and if they had, they do 

 not always want so much. I think there are very 

 few grocerymen who would cut a comb to suit such 

 customers; and there are thousands of children 

 around us that do not know the taste of comb hon- 



