THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



15 



CANADIAN DEPARTMENT. 



R. H. HOLTERMAX, EDIIOR. 



It affords us no ordinary degree 

 of pleasure to be able, in a measure, 

 to speak for our Canadian brethren 

 through this department upon the 

 Experimental Station established by 

 the Department of Agriculture at 

 Aurora, 111. We no doubt all felt, 

 and all when hearing of the establish- 

 ment will feel, that, as members of 

 the North American Beekeepers' As- 

 sociation, all have equal rights and 

 privileges ; but when we learned that 

 your government had seen fit to es- 

 tablish such an experimental station, 

 there was a feeling among Canadians 

 of our indebtedness to them for such 

 a step. We felt that, while in no fi- 

 nancial way contributing to the sta- 

 tion, we should share the benefits of 

 the step ; but we are sure that, if our 

 pockets are not drawn from, we none 

 the less extend to those who have 

 had the wisdom to take such a step, 

 our warmest sympathies and our best 

 wishes. And while, as Canadians, we 

 may for a moment have regretted 

 that our country will not have the 

 honor, which yours doubtless will 

 have, of so materially assisting api- 

 culture, we feel that individuality, 

 nationality, all sink into insignifi- 

 cance, and the love for our chosen 

 pursuit should outweigh all other 

 feelings. As beekeepers we all real- 

 ize the important place apiculture 

 holds as a branch of agriculture ; but 

 we cannot expect every man to see 

 with the eye of a beekeeper. The 

 beekeepers of a land may well con- 

 gratulate themselves when they have 

 gained the ear of that department 

 which is able to give them assistance 

 to develop when it sees the just 

 claims their pursuit has upon the 

 public funds. 



C ORRESFONDENCE. 



Editor Am. Apiculturist : 



Dear Sui : 



On reading under "Questions and 

 Answers, Questions by Henry Alley," 

 it appears that neither Mr. Alley nor 

 any one who answered the question, 

 " Which do you prefer, a dovetailed 

 or a nailed section?" thought of 

 using glue, or had ever seen a "light- 

 ning gluer " for driving and gluing 

 section boxes together. The "light- 

 ning gluer" is a machine for driving 

 section boxes together by foot-power 

 and also has a glue dish attached 

 with a wide flat brush so attached to 

 the machine that it goes down into 

 the glue and is raised by the same 

 spring that raises the hammer or 

 pounding attachment of the machine. 

 Place the ends of the section box 

 pieces against the brush, and a suf- 

 ficient quantity of glue adheres to 

 thoroughly stick the joints, then put 

 the box together with the hands, 

 place it in the machine and with four 

 or five strokes of the foot on the lever, 

 the box is driven together in a per- 

 fectly square form and when dry is 

 sti-onger than when put together any 

 other way. As Mr. D. D. Marsh says 

 in his answer, " a dovetailed, because 

 it looks more attractive and can be 

 made of thinner stock ;" a section 

 box put together in that way can be 

 made of thimier stock and at the 

 same time be much stronger and 

 more durable, I make that asser- 

 tion from having had experience with 

 all three kinds, dovetailed, with and 

 without gluing, nailed, and the all- 

 one-piece section boxes. 



I cannot agree with Mr. L. C. 

 Root, for I think the " average per- 

 son " would make a much better box 

 with the " lightning gluer," and put 

 them together faster than they could 

 nail them. Neither can I coincide 

 with Mr. G. W. Demaree, for I can- 

 not understand why he should call 

 the dovetailed sections too "cranky" 

 for his use and patience. I consider 



