328 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



April 15 



buds or blossoms before the seed-balls were set. Of 

 course, for this I used Paris green I also used the 

 atomizer with clear kerosene oil for .'praying cabbage, 

 with good re-ults. One day, noticing that the flies 

 were tormenting my caves, I thought to try the 

 kerosene spray on them. I found it worked charm 

 ingly, as no flies would remain on the calves to annoy 

 them, after which we sprayed them every morning. 



The men, noticing the good effect of the spray on 

 the calves, tried it on the cows ju't before milking, 

 with equally good results. I found it would last all 

 day on the calves if one-fourth sweet or lard oil was 

 added to the kerosene. I am using the sprayer with 

 clear kerosene on my orchard, to kill the oyster-shell 

 bark-lice that are now hatching. This year I shall buy 

 an atomizer for each kind of mixture, to avoid the 

 trouble of so many changes. They are so cheap one 

 can afford to have all he wants. A. E. Mancjm. 



Bristol, Vt., Apr. 5. 



I used last season a sprayer something like the 

 Faultless, but I had to blow into the tube. I put ker- 

 osene oil into it, and spraved my cow before I com- 

 menced to milk, when flies were so troublesome. 

 Every fly is dead instanter. I know of several who 

 used them, and thev say they are just grand for that. 

 It takes but the least bit of oil each time. Just fill it 

 part full, and have it handy where you milk. It will 

 save time, possibly some strong language, and the 

 milk-pails will be better filled. It is like oil on the 

 troubled waters. A. A. Harrison. 



Mct,ane, Pa., Jan. 25. 



My impression is, at the present writing, 

 that the little low-priced machines are going 

 to be more used for the above purpose than 

 for destroying potato-bugs. Flies on domestic 

 farm animals not only annoy the animals 

 themselves as well as the driver, but they ac- 

 tually cost thousands of dollars in hard cash, 

 sometimes resulting in accidents that end in 

 the loss of life. If one of these cheap sprayers 

 with a little common coal oil will do the work, 

 thousands can afford to keep them for this 

 purpose and nothing else, even if the applica- 

 tion is to b- made every morning before start- 

 ing out. The cheap tin ones will be all right 

 for kerosene. 



THE WEATHER ALMANACS AND THE ZERO 

 WEATHER IN FEBRUARY. 



On page 195, March 1, I suggested that 

 here was a chance for the almanac-makers to 

 immortalize themselves, if they had any 

 glimpse ahead of the terrible cold spell in 

 February. There has been just a faint at- 

 tempt to make out that ' one of the prophets" 

 did tell us what was coming in February. Of 

 course, there is a good deal said about storms 

 and blizzards ; but the prediction would fit 

 any February very well. Had the prediction 

 been that the middle of February would be all 

 over the United States more zero weather 

 than had been known for years, and, in fact, 

 that zero had gone down into the Southern 

 States, where it was seldom if ever known be- 

 fore, then we might have a little faith, and so 

 on through the rest of the winter months. If 

 any record was made last fall to the effect that 

 December would be unusually severe, especial- 

 ly during the fore part, all over the land, and 

 that January and March would change places, 

 and that the middle of February would be re- 

 membered for years to come, from Canada to 

 Florida, then we might have had some reason 

 to believe in " inspiration " in regard to the 

 weather. The severe period in February was 

 somewhere from the 8th to the 16th Below is 

 a clipping from the most popular weather al- 

 manac concerning this period: 



A marked storm period runs from the Sth to the 

 12th, in which a Venus equinox will be at the center 

 of its p wer. Very warm days will be followed by 

 rain and thunder, turning to snow, blizzards, and a 

 cold wave. About the 14th to Kith, cold wil. moderate, 

 and more storms of rain and snow will occur, follow- 

 ed again by change to much colder. 



Now, wouldn't the above fit very well for 

 almost any February ? and does it hit at all 

 what actually occurred all over the United 

 States last February ? The closing prediction 

 for the month is, "Watch your stock; many 

 will perish;" and because many did perish, we 

 are called upon to note the wonderful accura- 

 cy, etc. But this same thing has been said in 

 regard to stock for every February and March 

 for years past; and it is not at all wonderful 

 that it came true every time. 



SHARPENING SAWS BY MACHINERY ; THE 

 INERTIA OF HUMANITY. 



Every progressive man and woman has felt 

 that peculiar pain that comes to one who is 

 trying to help people who will not be helped. 

 We find this not only in spiritual and moral 

 things, but all through life, and even into the 

 mechanical world. More than 20 years ago I 

 was fully satisfied that sharpening saws by 

 hand was a clumsy and wasteful way of doing 

 the work. It was when I first began to make 

 bee-hives ; and circular saws sharpened just 

 right were beginning to be much in demand. 

 I got an emery wheel made specially for the 

 work, and rigged up a machine of wood, and 

 this machine sharpened the saw without the 

 use of any file whatever, so that it did prettier 

 work, and did the cutting with less power than 

 any saw I had ever before used. The reason 

 was, the teeth were exactly alike, and ground 

 at just the right angle, with the right amount 

 of ' ' throat ' ' to let the dust out, etc. I got 

 my ideas of how it should be done from Diss- 

 ton's book on saw-filing. My machine was 

 crude, and soon got out of adjustment; and 

 after I had spent considerable time I decided 

 that a better machine was needed, made all of 

 metal. 



Soon afterward, at the Centennial Exposi- 

 tion, at Philadelphia, I saw a machine made 

 for that very purpose ; so you see my first ex- 

 periments in this line were about 23 years ago. 

 Some time afterward we purchased one of 

 these machines, but it did not w r ork satisfac- 

 torily. The inventors explained that they 

 had gotten out a better one, and we swapped, 

 paying the difference. But all these machines 

 seemed to have defects. I sometimes thought 

 /could make any of them work, because my 

 heart was in it ; but different men in our saw- 

 filing department sooner or later dropped the 

 machine, and went back to hand work. In 

 spite of all I could say or do (or at least it 

 seemed so to me) our men would always per- 

 sist in cutting down the outside (or top) of 

 the saw-tooth, instead of doing their filing on 

 the under side. If the regular saw-filer was 

 sick or away, the new man was sure to file 

 down the points of the teeth the first thing 

 he did. Now, the point of the tcoth is what 

 does the work. If it needs to be made sharper, 

 cut away the steel on the under side, but never 



