50 THE BLESSED BEES. 



smoke from. Old cotton cloth tied into rolls large 

 enough to fit loosely in the barrel of the smoker is 

 often used for this purpose. But rotten wood, es- 

 pecially decayed sugar-maple, is by far the best 

 material. For this I should not have far to seek in 

 the great maple woods near us. I went one day 

 with the wagon, and in two hours came back with 

 fuel enough to supply the smoker for several years, 

 — clean, sweet maple, rotten enough to cut like 

 cheese, but still retaining its shape perfectly. 



There would be needed, also, molasses-gates, or 

 rather honey-gates, for drawing honey from the 

 barrels, and an auger to bore holes in barrel-heads 

 for putting in the gates. I made a drawing of a 

 comb-carrier to be made of tin, large enough to hold 

 six frames, the frames to hang in the carrier just as 

 they hang in the hive, the carrier to have two bails 

 so as to carry easily without tilting, even if it 

 chanced to be loaded more heavily at one side than 

 the other. I went to Howard and instructed a 

 tinner to make two of these carriers ; then made the 

 other purchases, including a pair of good scissors ; a 

 small butcher knife for trimming combs when trans- 

 ferring ; a kind of chisel-knife, being merely a broad, 

 thin chisel, twenty inches long, having a square end 

 sharpened for cutting combs from the sides of the 

 old hives before taking to pieces ; a ball of strong 

 cotton twine ; and an atomizer, the use of which 



