1877 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



a good pile, saw a part of them into 3 inch 

 strips, that is if yon have decided on 3 inches 

 as ttie proper distance of your section boxes 

 from centre to centre. This i«i the distance 

 we shall use, and we will fio ahead aecordinij- 

 ly. Tarn these strips up edy;ewise, and saw 

 off thin strips, just ly in thickness; perhaps 

 the ijj had better be pretty plump, but we can 

 work that thickness very well. After you 

 have (juite a lot, pile them np in bunches of 

 perhaps 40 or oO, and take some strips of stout 

 paper, flour sacks for instance, and with small 

 tacks, fa-:t'Mi the strips so they can be handled 

 like a solid 3 inch plank. The idea is, to have 

 this l>undle of strips so tirm, that you can lay 

 it on your saw table, and cut off lengths just 

 as if it were a solid plank. We use strips of 

 paper about 1 inch wide, and tacks so small, 

 that they can be pushed in to the heads, with 

 the thumb iinil. Now put on these strips at 

 such distaivos that in cutting ott" the lengths 

 for sections, the saw will noi strike the tacks, 

 and that each bundle may be tied with a stri[) 

 of paper. A part of the advantage of this way 

 of working is that we get 450 pieces by run- 

 ning the saw through 50 times one way, and 9 

 tirai s the other, and moreover our stuff is put 

 up in ueat bundles and counted when we get 

 done; in fact the individual pieces that make 

 the frame or section are never handled singly 

 at all, by the one who makes them. All kinds 

 of frame and l)ox stuff can be made in the same 

 wa3% and the pieces are of an e.>c:actness in di- 

 mensions, that can never be attained by the 

 method of sawing them out singly. We will 

 call this invention No. 1. 



The former is for nailed fram.'s, and our 

 next "bright idea" is to shovv you how to put 

 these together without nails. Well, set your 

 saw table so that it will allow the saw to cut 

 just ijj inch in depth and then tix a steel blade 

 in the saw table so that it will project above 

 the surface just ig of an inch. This blade is 

 to be parallel with the saw, and just ig of an 

 inch from it. Very well, now take one of 

 those bundles of side pieces — 4^4 inches long 

 we make them — and stand them on end with 

 one corner against the steel strip. We will 

 call this steel strip a track, for convenience ; 

 push the stuff through, and you v,riii have a 

 single groove across all, 'g deep. Now set 

 this groove on the steel track — the track is 

 perfectly straight, and just fills the groove cut 

 by the saw — and saw the next and .so on ; the 

 last saw cut being set on the track to saw the 

 I'ext by, every time until the whole bundle is 

 grooved, as we have explained before, on both 

 ends. Anyone can do this, and it requires 

 very little machinery. To be sure we can not 

 work as fast with one saw as we could with 

 a dozen, but if we do 50 pieces every time we 

 go through, it is not so very slow after all. 

 Bv using a wabbling saw — see page 103, Vol. 

 IV— you can cut these grooves of any width, 

 and thus make this kind of dovetailing suita- 

 ble for large boxes and even bee hives. Sucii 

 a hive with the tenons miled, would be very 

 strong indeed. 



FDN., now TO P.\STEN IT IN Tllli SECTIONS. 



Our third and last "invention," is the 

 rr. atest of all, and it has occurred to us 

 many timc'S.that it would make a most beau- 

 tiful patent; the trouble is that <'verybodv 



after once seeing it would adopt it forth 

 with, and Oh, dear, what a time I should hav. 

 in collecting my just dues. Now I most, po^i 

 lively forbid anyone using it who is not a sub 

 scriber to Gr.E.\NiNGS, for it is for our readers 

 alone. If any of you that borrow your pap-r 

 (h use it, I don't know what I shall do, but 

 it will certainly have something to do with 

 the "U. S. courts." 



Now the great problem was to attach a shei-i 

 of fdn. to the centre of one these i^ strips, ti> 

 have it so secure it would bear shipping, and 

 yet have the device so simple, that vve could 

 still sell the section boxes for one cent each. 

 "Can't be done V" Wf^U we thought so a ^reai 

 many times, but we would not give it up, and 

 we "licked" after all. Did you never get your 

 finger pinched in a door, or in the hinge to tU';' 

 table Icafr' Well, if you were to put a stri)> 

 of fdn. in the crack of the table leaf and then 

 lift the leaf up, it would probably sticc. Now 

 you have got the principle; the top aufl 

 bottom bars to our sections are 1?^ incites, oi- 

 '4 narrower than thi uprights ; we vvill 

 take these long strips — 88 inches long — and if 

 there is a difference, we will sort out the best 

 half of them. Now take them and run them 

 over the saw so as to cut a groove lengthwise 

 exactly in the center, and so nearly througli ' he 

 stick, that it will bend somewhat like a liinge. 

 Very likely you will pronouce this a flim- 

 sy arrangement, and I really thought oi rhe 

 plan weeks before I had courage to try it — but 

 it really works beautifully when you once 

 learn how. At flrst one is very apt to br.nik 

 the sticks in tvvo at the "hinge," but if you will 

 lay one of the sticks on the table and the fop 

 bar on it so that one-half projects over, you 

 can bend it l)ack safely until the fdn. can be 

 slid clear to the bottom of the groove. Now- 

 lay it on the table, and as you push th-:- u;;- 

 rights into place, you will find the fdn. so miicli 

 of a fixture that it can be torn in two, before 

 it will come out If you are awkward and 

 break the top b ir clear in two, you have done no 

 harm except making yourself a little more trou- 

 ble; put iu the fdn., and press the picc-is to- 

 gether when you put in the uprights, and it 

 will be all right. ' . 



HOW TO PUT THE SECTION FR.\MES IN Till 

 HIVE. 



The fourth great invention — you see I am 

 "prolific'' — is hardly mine, for it has been bor- 

 rowed from several of you; eight of these s( < 

 tions, 41^ square, just fit inside of an L. fr;iiiie. 



Now a common frame is not a good thinu: to 

 hold sections for several reasons., principally 

 because the bees would cover the exposed por- 

 tions with wax and propolis, and as we mean 

 to stop this entirely, wc will make a f?rinc 

 with top and ends, 3 inches wide, and botioin 

 bar 1^. As such a frame will have to )k- 

 nailed, we shall have to use stuff about 5 Ifi 

 in thickness all around. The pieces we sawed 

 out 88 inches long, will be just right for then), 

 for each piece will make a top bar and 2 

 ends, or 3 bottom bars. These frames filled 

 with sections, can be used entirely in the top 

 story, or we can have one on each side in the 

 lower story, thus securing the advantages ol 

 side storing, without any fuss or bother, and 

 we can at any time remove the who'e top sto- 

 ry, when we \\]<h to get at the brood combs. 



