72 rORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



But it is only on special occasions that it is desirable 

 to have green wood, and it should at all other times be 

 not only dry but very dry. Nothing- is better as a stand- 

 ard fuel than sound hard wood sawed into proper lengths 

 and split up into pieces about a quarter of an inch thick. 

 The only objection is that such wood is rather expensive, 

 for it takes a great deal of time to prepare it. Much the 

 same thing without the cost of preparation may be had at 

 any woodpile where hard wood has been chopped — I 

 mean the chips to be found there — and that has been the 

 favorite smoker-fuel "in this locality" for some time. 

 When the weather is dry, the chips may be picked up in 

 the chip-yard and filled directly into the smoker, but a 

 stock is always kept on hand well covered up, ready to 

 use immediately after the heaviest shower of rain. 



SMOKER-KINDLING. 



When live coals are at hand in the cookstove, noth- 

 ing is handier than to put a few of them in the smoker 

 to start the fire. These are not always at hand. I have 

 used for kindling carpenter's shavings, kerosene, rotten 

 wood of some hard wood, especially apple, that kind of 

 rotten wood that is somewhat spongy and will be sure to 

 burn if the least spark touches it — all these have given 

 more or less satisfaction, but nothing quite so much as 

 saltpeter-rags. Like the right kind of rotten wood, the 

 least spark will light a saltpeter-rag so that it will be 

 sure to go, but it is not so slow in its action as the rotten 

 wood, and makes a much greater heat, so that chips of 

 sound hard wood will be at once started into a secure 

 fire. 



SALTPETER-RAGS. 



To prepare the saltpeter-rags a crock is kept con- 

 stantly standing, containing a solution of saltpeter. The 

 strength of the solution is not a matter of great- nicety. 



