THE COTTAGE AND FARM BEE KEEPER. 103 



each of -which -will greatly facilitate the processes of comb renewal, 

 extraction of brood cells, and excision of the cradles of royalty; not 

 to speak of their use at the time of the 



honey harvest. These may be of two |^™~ ■— Q 



kinds if thought necessary ; of which the — m 



one is in shape like a cheese knife. The I 

 other, (and the most useful,) is a piece of 



metal, say a foot long exclusive of the handle, not thicker of necessity 

 than a goose quill, but having a kind of thin blade at the end, turned 

 at right angles to the staff, and sufficiently flat and sharp to cut through 

 the combs without bruising or breaking them. It must be pushed in 

 between the combs, pressed firmly against the roof of the hive, and 

 twisted round ; this will bring the blade in contact with the combs on 

 one side or the other, according to the intention of the operator. 



An instrument of very great importance to a large out-door apiary 

 I have had constructed for my own use, and I can confidently recom- 

 mend it to the practical apiarian. It is a weighing machine, and it 

 consists of three poles of stout wood, equal in length, and seven feet 

 high, fastened by hinges to a triangular block of wood four or five 

 inches thick. The sides of the triangle may be severally six inches 



wide. The poles must have spikes at the other end, to keep them 

 immovably fixed in the ground. This tripod, (if I may so call it,) is so 

 contrived — the legs closing together — that, when not wanted, it 

 can be easily stowed away ; at the same time that it is readily re- 

 moved from one hive to another. To the under side of the trian- 

 gular block is fastened a pulley wheel attached to a screw, which 



