FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 53 



stature and frail of build, she yet has a remarkable capacity for 

 work, perhaps partly owing to the fact that she is full-blooded 

 Scotch, and she will go through more colonies in a day than I 

 can, do my best. I think, however, that the bees prefer just a 

 little to have me work with them. They ha\e more time to get 

 out of the way, and not so many of them get killed. 



T-SUPER SEAT. 



AVell, I started in for a digression, but I didn't mean to 

 write a history. We were talking about seats. Another kind of 

 seat is made of an old T-super. A piece of lath is nailed to two 

 opposite diagonal corners, and another piece nailed -to the othex 

 two corners. That stiffens and stretit;thens it, so it makes a 

 good seat for one who doesn't like a low seat. 



HIVE-TOOLS. 



Of all the hive-tools I have tried, I like best the Muench 

 tool (Fig. 20). Its broad semi-circular end with sharp edge can 

 hardly be excelled for the purpose of raising covers and supers, 

 and when the other end is thrust between two frames, a quarter 

 turn separates the frames with the least possible effort. Miss 

 Wilson has a liking for the Root tool. I have not used it much, 

 but it has the special advantage that it is a fine scraper. Beside 

 the hive-tool for opening the hive and starting the frames, if the 

 hives are to be cleaned out another tool is needed. 



After trying a number of different things for hive-cleaners. 

 I have been best satisfied with a hatchet, the handle sawed short, 

 so that it will not be in the way when working in the bottom of 

 the hive, the edge dull and a perfectly straight line, and the 

 outside part of the blade also ground to a straight line and at 

 right angles with the edge. This right-angled corner is to clean 

 out the corners of the hive. In cleaning, the hatchet is moved 

 rapidly back and forth, or rather from side to side, the blade 

 being held at right angles to the surface being cleaned. The 

 weight of the hatchet is quite a help, something like a fly-whe2l 

 in machinery. 



It would be a nice thing to clean the propolis out of all 

 hives every spring, because I am in a region for profitable 



