20 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



I feol sure of good cells if they are started in 

 strong colonies; but after the cell is sealed, is it 

 any better off in a sti'ong colony than in a nu- 

 cleus, if it is kept just as warm in the nucleus? 

 There may be a difference. At any I'ate, I look 

 for a queen to lay a little sooner in a full colony. 



If, however, two nuclei be in a double hive, 

 and a thin partition between them. I do not see 

 why a queen may not be raised just as well in 

 either as if the partition were taiven away and 

 the two thrown into on(\ And if that partition 

 is no detriment, may not more than one parti- 

 tion or division-boai'd be used without hurt. 

 thus increasing the number of nuclei in the 

 hive? 



GETTING RID OF LAYING WOKKEKS. 



Very often it isn't worth while to fuss much 

 with a colony having laying workers. It's 

 likely to be a weak thing at best, the bees most- 

 ly old: and if honey is yielding well. I've had 

 no trouble in distributing the combs and bees to 

 colonies needing them. 



Lately I have found a way to get rid of lay- 

 ing workers in a very easy manner. I take a 

 young queen just hatched, or one that I have 

 just pulled out of a cell; drop her right among 

 the bees, and in the usual course of time I find 

 her laying, and the laying-worker business is 

 stopped. I have not had a single failure; but I 

 have not tried enough cases to say that it will 

 always succeed. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111., Dec. 6. 



[Friend M., your italic if, when speaking 

 about putting cells in a nucleus or in a strong 

 colony, is just where the point is, especially if 

 you have cells started very early in the spring. 

 The nucleus may seem all-sufficient to cover 

 and keep the cell warm, until a heavy frost or 

 a cold storm comes along. Then I think the 

 queen is oftentimes injured by the cell being 

 chilled or partly chilled. I am sure your plan 

 of getting rid of fertile workers will not always 

 work. When we first got our queens hatched 

 in the lamp-nursery, we fondly hoped that it 

 would help us to get rid of fertile workej-s. But 

 on several occasions we saw the bees cling to 

 their fertile-worker queen, and refuse to ac- 

 knowledge the one newly hatched. She would 

 get out around the entrance and '■ go dead," 

 sooner or later.] 



HOW TO BE YOUR OWN CARPENTER AND 

 JOINER. 



SOME PRACTICAL HINTS TO THE YOUN(i WOOD- 

 WOKKEi:. 



The above sounds sometliing like the title of a 

 book, doesit not? Well, I am not going to write 

 a book on carpentry and joinei-y — just yet, at 

 least, although I have often thought that I 

 should like to do it. Several things have re- 

 minded me of the importance of such a work 

 just lately. By the way, did you ever have a 

 carpenter or a joiner work for you? and did you 

 ever feel disgusted because he took a great 

 amount of time, and made a botch of his work 

 after all? If you have not, pci'haps your »'//<; 

 has had some such experience. Yes, very likely 

 you have at some time in your life tried your 

 own hand at carpentry: and may be your wife 

 has tried the same thing. P<M'haps you have 

 felt your own helplessness in so doing. Well. I 

 have pass(Kl ihrough these exiK'riences again 

 and again. In later years I have had a good 

 deal of experience in hiring carpenters and join- 

 ers, and wood-workers generally; and I liave 

 been many times greatly disappointed to find 

 that experienced wood-workers, many of them, 



had never learned common -sense short cuts, or 

 little •' tricks of the trade," that enable one to 

 make veiy pretty-looking work, oftentimes, 

 without very much time or expense being re- 

 quired. I have so often felt this, that it occurs 

 to me that I should like to give a few simple 

 hints to those who like to do their own car- 

 pentry. 



In the first place, you need some tools, al- 

 though not very many, for most ordinary jobs. 

 These tools need not be very expensive, nor very 

 elaborate; but they must be in good working 

 order. In fact, you must hecp tliem in good 

 working order; and you must learn better than 

 to run your saw or plane against nails. Do not 

 be guilty of such blunders, whatever you do. 

 In the first place, you want a good pocket-knife, 

 and you want to keep it perfectly sharp. How 

 many of the hundreds I have working for me, 

 do you suppose, have a sharp knife in their 

 pockets, whenever I tell them what is wanted ? 

 Why. lots of great big men and tolerable work- 

 men do not have any knife at all. Others have 

 a knife that is so dull it is almost as good as 

 none. If you find your knife dull when you are 

 in a hurry, and no whetstone is near, go to the 

 nearest stone you can find, of any sort. I some- 

 times sit down on the doorstep and give a knife 

 or other tool a rough sort of sharpening that 

 will make it take hold of certain kinds of work 

 even better than a fine smooth edge. Even 

 garden tools can be greatly improved, often, in 

 a very few minutes, by sharpening on tlie near- 

 est sandstone. A good many say they can never 

 keep a knife. WHiy, my friend, you ought to be 

 ashamed of yourself. If you can't do any bet- 

 ter, do as I do. Put a ten-cent knife in each 

 pocket. If you lose one you will have another; 

 or if you lend one you will have another. After 

 your pocket-knife you want a saw, or, rather, 

 two saws. Almost any sort of saw will answer 

 if you keep it in order, oi' away from nails or 

 gritty lumber. Then you want a good hammer 

 and a good assortment of nails. Be sure you do 

 not spoil what might otherwise be a good job 

 by driving a big awkward nail into a light piece 

 of wood. When you get a hammer that suits 

 you, with a good assortment of nails, you want 

 to practice until you can drive a nail exactly 

 where you want it. If the nail is right, and the 

 hammer is right, and the man a liold of the 

 handle is right, the nail can be made to go with- 

 in a hair's breadth of where it ought to go. 

 You also want to learn by experience (by look- 

 ing at the nail and looking at your work) when 

 there will be"a liability of splitting. I can en- 

 dure almost any thing better than boards split up 

 by unskillful nailing. If there is any doubt about 

 it, have a brad-awl handy, and make a path 

 for your nail so it must go right. A great many 

 times, screws and a screw-driver must take the 

 place of nails. You also want a good sharp 

 hatchet, to be kept sharp like the saw; a chisel 

 or two. and a couple of planes. In these days, 

 when mechanics handle nothing but planed 

 lumber, it is very seldom that there is any need 

 of planing rough boards by hand. Still, you 

 want a smooth-plane and a jack-plane. Then 

 you want a try-square, a carpenter's square, and 

 a bevel square. The two former must be ac- 

 curate. If they are not so when you buy them 

 you must hie them vnitil they are accurate. See 

 directions in the A B C book. Then you want a 

 sharp lead-pencil in each pocket. For very ac- 

 curate work, use the point of your knife instead 

 of a pencil. Learn by practice until you can 

 saw so close to the mark made by the point of 

 your knife that the path of the saw is just level 

 with the knife-cut. after your board is cut off. 

 Never saw a board off' without a mark made 

 with your try-square. Lay the try-square on 

 the edge of the board, so as to have it square 



