268 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



one hand under the under board and the other over the upper 

 board he turns the whole upside down, the super resting on one 

 end on the table as he turns it over. The knife and sandpaper 

 now do their work on the tops of the sections. Then the 

 wedges are taken out, the box removed, arid the boardful of 

 sections is slid along the table to the one who is scraping. 

 This table, which is very convenient, is 8 ft. long and 3 ft. 

 9 in. wide. 



FINAL SCRAPING OF SECTIONS. 



Miss Wilson generally does all the scraping; that is, all 

 the scraping besides what Philo has done, and sometimes his 

 part, as in Fig. 98. She sometimes scrapes on a board on her 

 lap, but usually on one of the small tables heretofore mention- 

 ed (Fig. 99). If the section should rest upon the table, the 

 knife used in scraping could not freely reach the lowest parts, 

 so a loose block lies on the board, on which the sections rest. 

 Another advantage of the block is that the accumulation of 

 propolis is not so much in the way. The size of this block is 

 not material; it may be an inch thick, four inches long or 

 longer, and two inches wide or wider. The block could be 

 nailed down, but it is more convenient to have it loose, so as 

 to scrape the propolis off the table from time to time. The 

 scrapings have generally been thrown away, but with a steam 

 wax-press it may pay well to get the wax out of it. Possibly 

 propolis may yet be a marketable commodity. 



The knife us^d is a steel case-knife kept very sharp. The 

 sides and edges of the sections are to be scraped, and, if neces- 

 sary, sandpaper follows the knife. The finishing touches are 

 put on Philo's work, knife marks, pencil marks, and any dis- 

 colored spots being carefully removed. 



If it is cool enough, so that the bee glue is brittle instead 

 of being sticky, then sandpaper replaces the knife. The sand- 

 paper is not rubbed upon the section, but the section is rubbed 

 upon a sheet of sandpaper lying flat. This makes more rapid 

 work than the knife, especially in scraping the edges, for four 

 edges are sandpapered at one operation. 



A scraper should be a careful person, or in ten minutes' 

 time he will do more damage than his day's work is worth. 

 E\en a careful person seems to need to spoil at least one sec- 



