38 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



from the ground up through the house, a stovepipe hole open- 

 ing from the cellar into each. But the only way to warm the 

 cellar was by keeping fire in the rooms overhead, and by open- 

 ing the inside cellar-door. One day when I came home from 

 school — I think it was in December, 1870 — I found my wife 

 had decided to hurry up the manner of w,^rming the cellar, 

 and had a small stove set up, and throughout the winter there 

 was a fire there a good part of the time. 



FIRST SECTION HONEY. 



In 1877 I gave up extracted honey, the introduction of 

 sections having made such a revolution that it seemed better to 

 go back to comb honey. The sections of that day were crude 

 compared with the finished affairs of the present day. One- 

 piece sections were then unknown, four-piece sections being the 

 only ones, and there was not a remarkably accurate adjustment 

 of the dovetailed parts, so that no little force was required to 

 put the sections together. When a tenon and mortise did not 

 correspond, pounding with a mallet would make the tenon 

 smash its way through. 



In order to fasten the foundation in the section, the top 

 piece of the section had a saw-kerf going half way through the 

 wood on the under side. The, top was partly split apart, the 

 edge of the foundation inserted, then the wood was straightened 

 back to place. I was not well satisfied with my success in fast- 

 ening in the foundation, and in 1878 wrote to A. I. Root for a 

 better plan, describing minutely the plan I had been using, giv- 

 ing a pencil sketch of the board I used on my lap, with the dif- 

 ferent parts upon it. In June Gleanings in Bee Culture my let- 

 ter appeared in full, pencil sketch and all,. and he sent me a 

 round sum in payment for the letter, but no word of instruction 

 as to any better way ! I hardly knew whether to be glad or mad. 



WIDE FRAMES. 



The sections were put in wide frames, double-tier, making 

 a frame hold eight sections (Kg. 3). I had an arrangement by 

 which the sections, after having been lightly started together, 

 were all punched into the frame at one stroke, driving them 



