1883 



GLEAl^INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



403 



Once more, friends, the season has come around 

 when doUai- queens are one dollar apiece; funny, 

 isn't it? but when wo buy them we pay only 75 cents. 

 For the last month we have been so fortunate as to 

 be able to fill orders almost as soon as received; 

 that is, the supply has been just equal to the demand. 



We now have the American Express Co. at our 

 station, instead of the old Union Express Co. which 

 we have had here for so many years. This is good 

 news for our patrons, as it does away with having 

 express matter pass over more than one company, 

 when you are located on the line of the American. 



Big troubles are coming again, because the friends 

 will not remember to put on the county, as well as 

 the town they live in. I do not know but that we 

 shall have to keep saying every month, "Put on 

 your county," or we can not be responsible for the 

 mistakes that icay cccur in directing. H it is too 

 much trouble to do this, have your full address 

 printed on : II your stationery. 



HONEY PEAS. 



We have quite a trade in the honey peas, and have 

 considerable many left yet. If sown in July they 

 will produce honey just as well as if sown in June; 

 but the peas may not be fully ripened for seed an- 

 other year. However, since the honey will come in 

 a time when most needed, perhaps it will bo well to 

 sow enough during this month to give them a good 

 test at least. For prices, see page oGl. 



Ox another page we speak of apple-tree honey. 

 The tumbler of it that our friend sent us was taken 

 over to the house with a lot of other samples, and 

 submitted to the family. Ail united in declaring it 

 the finest honey they ever tasted, and far ahead of 

 the other samples. Not only was the flavor beauti- 

 fully suggestive of apple-tree blossoms, but it was 

 so clear and limpid that one could read print through 

 the tumbler, and yet it was so thick it would hardly 

 run in hot weather. Will those who have any apple- 

 tree honey to sell, send me sample with price they 

 will take for it? 



If you are too busy to keep a copy of the order 

 you send us, please do be a little careful about cen- 

 suring us for what you meant to order, but did not. 

 A few days rgo I thought I would send at once, 

 without loc'king the matter up, every thing that 

 people said was left out of their orders, and then 

 look the matter up. after we got over the rush. 

 Well, the first three or four complaints we got, it 

 happened the clerks were in no way at fault, for the 

 missing articles were never ordered at all ! In some 

 cases, the writers insisted on having the order back 

 before they could believe they were so careless. 

 Shall we not try again to be "slow to anger," and 

 cultivate a little more the spirit that "thinkethno 

 evil"? 



BEES AND HUMANITY. 



If you look through the glass of a densely populat- 

 ed observatory-hive during the height of the clover 

 season, you will see so many bees hurrying to and 

 fro, passing and repassing, crooking here and crook- 

 ing there, with such eager zeal that you fall to won- 

 dering whether it be really possible that each indi- 

 vidual bee knows what he wants, or what he is after. 

 Well, that is just about the way our olfico looks 

 now, say toward ten o'clock in the morning. Some- 

 times three or four will be apparently chasing one 

 after the other; then they turn, one this way, an- 



other the other; then others come along, and they 

 dodge, twist, turn, and crook; one grabs one thing, 

 the other another. Some have both hands full of 

 goods; others have an armful, and still another has 

 letters and goods in his hands, and something in his 

 mouth, so he won't forget or lose it. Girls come 

 along with postal cards and letters pinned on their 

 dresses; books are grabbed and pulled open, figures 

 taken down, and books put back, and thus it goes 

 until night begins to thin them otf again. The saw- 

 room below is almost a repetition of the scene 

 above, only it is all sticks and lumber. The rooms 

 below the saw-room, where wax, tin, and iron are 

 handled, show the same activity again, and an out- 

 sider might think for the moment the whole build- 

 ing \Yas a Babel of sprites and elves (there are 140 of 

 us now) cutting up antics just for the fun of the 

 thing. Does each one know what he is doing? In- 

 deed he does, and I begin to think perhaps the bees 

 are following a regular business, each one doing his 

 own appointed work, knowing what he wants, and 

 what he is after, just as we do. I look on and won- 

 der, and the feeling is much the same in either case. 

 As I continue to gaze, I seem to see God in his great- 

 ness and majesty through this, the work of his hands. 



SAAVS. 



We have just received from the Induslrial Publi- 

 cation Company, of New York, a very pretty little 

 book, entitled " Saws," cloth bound, with 75 illustra- 

 tions and j pages. The matter contained in it is, 

 very much of it, quite valuable, especially to bee- 

 keepers; for where is the bee-keeper who has not 

 more or less to do with saws? I suppose, friends, 

 you are well aware that a good man with a good saw 

 will do more work in an hour than a good man with 

 a bad saw will do in a half or even a whole day. It 

 just occurs to me, however, that a good man would 

 never have a bad saw; at least, a good man never 

 ouofit to have a bad one. The price of this little 

 book is f 1.00, which, if I may bo excused for the 

 liberty I take, seems to me to be just about 50 cents 

 too much. Perhaps I may be able to make some ar- 

 rangement with the publishers whereby I can fur- 

 nish them at a less price, if I take a large number. 

 The closing paragraph of the book is as follows: 



There can lie no doubt about there being too many teeth in 

 the modern saw, as generally used, for ripping purposes-, and 

 I am satisHed, that it' two-thirds ot the teeth now employed 

 were dispensed with, the same amount ot work would be turn- 

 ed out with thein as now, but with less labor, and the saws 

 would be liept in better order at halt the expense. 



Now while we are on this subject, I want to remark 

 that we have wasted perhaps many hundred dollars 

 in labor by having our grooving saws for sections 

 made with too many teeth. A few weeks ago Mr. 

 Gray thought he would experiment a little in the 

 matter, and the result is that one man now does our 

 grooving easier than two men have done it formerly. 

 All he did was to take out every other tooth in the 

 saws, and make the under side of the tooth a little 

 sharper pitch. While I think of it, I believe I will 

 give you a little woodcut to show the shape and dis- 

 tance apart the teeth ought to bo for gang-saws for 

 dovetailing the end of basswood planks. 



PROPER SHAPE OF SAW-TEETH FOR CCTTING IN THE 

 END OF PLANK. 



Now, not only will the sawyer do more work, but 



