ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



129 



President Miller — Mr. Stewart? 



Mr. Stewart — Mr. Chairman, I am 

 as lazy as a beggar. You could not 

 give me a press. Out in our country 

 we fin^ the wax close to the top of 

 the water. You take a wash boiler and 

 put a pail or two of water in and throw 

 in your cappings — and we have no 

 trouble at all; the same way with 

 combs of all kinds; you get every 

 particle of wax without all that 

 trouble. 



President Miller — Do you all agree 

 with Mr. Stewart that all of the wax 

 comes to the top when you boil it? 

 I am afraid Mr. Stewart is mistaken 

 in regard to that point. 



Mr. Stewart — I will take that chunk 

 of wax, chip ofC that slum gum and 

 you have as nice a chunk of wax as 

 I have ever seen; take that slum gum 

 and put it into the boiler. 



President Miller — ^What do you do 

 with a wagon load melted up in that 

 way? 



Mr. Stewart — Most assuredly I would 

 melt it that way; take a couple of wash 

 boilers; I would do that if I had a 

 thousand hives of bees. 



President Miller — I have had some 

 experience in buying up slum gum that 

 was melted in that way and melted it 

 over again. 



I think the only way that is prac- 

 tical, so far as is known at the pres- 

 ent time, to get all of the wax out 

 of the slum gum — that is the combs 

 that have had brood in them — is to 

 press it under water as this gentle- 

 man suggests. The Hershier press 

 does that. I am not using that press, 

 but I have found by heating it and 

 skimming the top, as Mr. Stewart does, 

 you do not get nearly all of the wax. 



Mr.. Stewart — You get every particle 

 of wax. 



Mr. Baxter — ^I do not think there is 

 any faster process and do the work 

 as well as the Hershier. 



A member — ^Everybody agrees that 

 it will get the most wax but I have 

 feared it was too slow. 



Mr. Baxter — A person can get one 

 hundred pounds of it out of the worst 

 old comb. A person ought to run 

 about three meltings; it depends upon 

 what method of heating you have; 

 with a steam heating equipment a per- 

 son works faster, but with a stove as 

 I have I can run off three meltings a 

 day, 25 to 35 pounds each heating. 



—9 



Mr. Muth — I might as well unfold 

 a method: We have a large barrel, 

 and first we throw all of our old 

 combs into this barrel — we turn in 

 the steam until the comb is very soft; 

 then we put in one of these wax 

 presses; we put it between burlap and 

 keep it from the bottom of the tank, 

 about six inches; put a foundation of 

 boards and a wire screening at the 

 bottom, and wire screening on top of 

 the burlap; then another foundation of 

 boards and fill that up with water and 

 squeeze it; and your wax will come to 

 the top; on the top of the tank we 

 have a wide mouth; the beeswax runs 

 out of the mouth and we catch it in 

 below. We have a hydraulic press, but 

 we find the first way is better. After 

 we get done squeezing the wax you 

 can break it apart and there is no 

 more wax contained in that. 



President Miller — Any further dis- 

 cussion? 



Question — What is a first class, up- 

 to-date bee-keeper? 



Mr. Wheeler — Take a rising vote. 



A member — One who practices all 

 he knows how. 



Mr. Davis — One who is not too lazy 

 nor too stingy nor too ignorant to do 

 his work. 



Mr. Stewart — My definition of a first 

 class, up-to-date bee-keeper: One 

 who can produce gilt edge comb honey 

 in paying quantities. 



A member — A word more is needed.- 

 That question was asked evidently in 

 good faith because we hear frequently 

 of the up-to-date bee-keeper. We 

 presume that the man who is well 

 posted on everything that is written 

 and on what is said at conventions — 

 knows pretty nearly, at least has a 

 definite idea in his mind, what is the 

 best method for him to adopt in his 

 circumstances, and if he has the de- 

 termination to use those best methods, 

 he is an up-to-date bee-keeper, but 

 he must first know the modern meth- 

 ods and keep up with the times. ^ 



There was a time when I thought I 

 was several degrees ahead but I know 

 now I am several degrees behind. 



Mr. Wheeler — I would like to ofifer 

 an amendment and have it understood 

 an up-to-date bee-keeper gets honey 

 in good shape and then sells it at a 

 good price. 



Question — Why is it that the 

 honey market is the same for years 



