AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



531 



of its construction and use. One needs 

 only to give it a trial to be convinced 

 that it possesses all the valuable points 

 the Doctor claims for it. 

 Doogan, Ga. W. A. Campbell. 



[The description of the "shoe-string 

 binder," as given by Dr. Miller, is as 

 follows : — Ed.] 



I don't know how many ways of bind- 

 ing I have used, some of them very sat- 

 isfactory, but they have all contem- 

 plated leaving the pamphlets to be 

 bound when the volume was completed ; 

 and before that time, too, often some of 

 the numbers were mislaid, and then 

 there was a big time hunting up and 

 arranging. I tried the self-binders — got 



The ''Shoe-String" Binder. 



one for Oleanings, and one for the 

 American Bee Journal. I used them 

 less than six months, and they are for 

 sale cheap. 



The beauty of the arrangement I now 

 use is, that each bee-journal or maga- 

 zine of any kind can be bound as soon as 

 received, with the previous numbers of 

 the year ; or you can do as I do — throw 

 them into a drawer, and bind once a 

 month or so. Indeed, two of the jour- 

 nals I get are not sewed together in any 

 way, and one of them not even cut, in 

 which case it is very handy to bind them 

 before I cut the leaves, for it is about as 

 handy to bind them as it is to hunt up a 

 needle and thread and stitch them to- 

 gether. 



I'll tell you how to make the binder: 

 Of common % pine stuff, cut one piece 

 16x8, another 12x5, another ISj^xl, 



and another 8x1. That's all the stuff. 

 By looking at the cut you'll see how to 

 put the pieces together. Nail the 8x1 

 piece on the end of the big board ; nail 

 the other stick on one side of the board 

 (be sure to get it on the same side as it 

 is in the cut), and you will thus have a 

 kind of little box closed on two sides, 

 and only one inch deep. 



Now you are to make four holes in the 

 other board, and that's the most particu- 

 lar part of the job. Make these holes 

 5/16 of an inch from the edge, the first 

 one 2 inches from the end, then 1% to 

 the next, then 2 inches to the next, and 

 1% to the lasfc. It is of first importance 

 that there be no slant to these holes, so 

 take a try-square and make a mark 

 clear around the edge of the board, 

 where each hole is to be — that is, on the 

 three sides, so the mark on one side will 

 be exactly opposite the mark on the 

 other. Draw a line on each side, 5/16 

 from the edge. With a very small bit 

 bore a hole half way through on one 

 side, and then bore clear through on the 

 other side, thus making sure that each 

 hole shall come out at the right place. 

 If you haven't a bit to suit you, you can 

 drive a nail in at each side to make the 

 holes. 



Now get a pair of long shoe-strings for 

 each book you have to bind. Put the 

 bee-journals on the big board, right side 

 up, taking pains, as each one is laid on, 

 to push the corner of the book close up 

 in the angle ; lay on this the smaller 

 board, crowding its corner tight up in 

 the angle, and through each nail-hole 

 drive a two-inch No. 13 wire nail. Draw 

 the nails with a claw-hammer. Push 

 one end of a shoe-string through the 

 hole nearest the top, making it go in 

 from the same side the nail entered, and 

 from the same side push through the 

 other end of the same string. The two 

 ends of the string can now be tied to- 

 gether, and another string must be put 

 through the other two holes. From five 

 to ten journals can be put on the board 

 at the same time, and it doesn't matter 

 if they are all of different kinds. 



The expense for shoe-strings is very 

 little. You can get them more than 

 three feet long for a cent or two a pair. 

 When the year is up, tie your strings 

 together in a hard knot, cut them off, 

 and then you can tie the cut ends to- 

 gether and use them over again. 



C. C. Miller. 



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