ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



111 



wering this question. I have never seen 

 any difference between the wood and 

 the tin. We have had tin separators with 

 % in. perforated holes throug-h so that 

 the hees could pass through and they 

 ■worked very well. I do not think there 

 was as much bur comb attached to the 

 tin as there would have been to the 

 wood. 



Mr. Boyden — I believe that was the 

 reason the bee supply people discarded 

 the tin separator; that the bees would 

 not work quite as well as with the wood ; 

 with the plain tin separator the bees 

 are not able to go up and down in it 

 as they are on the wood. We used them 

 several years ago, but are not making 

 any at the present time. 



Mr. Whitney — Do you use perfora- 

 tions? 



Mr. Boyden — Xo, I think not. 



Mr. Whitney — Perforations I think 

 are a benefit. 



Pres. Huffman — I never used a per- 

 forator, but, as Mr. B'oyden says, one 

 reason the manufacturer or dealer dis- 

 carded them was because they consid- 

 ered them useless. I used 3,000 tin sep- 

 arators for two years, and then quit. 

 I could not get my bees to work up in 

 the upper story or super with them on; 

 but put in a frame without them, and 

 they would use the sections immedi- 

 ately; if kept on the tin they would 

 keep shy of it, so I cut out tbe tin 

 separator. 



Mr. Whitney — I never had anv trou- 

 ble. 



Mr. Dadant — Mr. York, who has been 

 President of this Association ever since 

 its organization, is, for the first time, 

 absent from this mieeting, and Dr. Miller 

 wiho has always been with us, is to- 

 day absent. We have a Committee on 

 Resolutions; I move you that the Com- 

 mittee on Resolutions draw up a set 

 of resolutions setting forth that we 

 miss both of these men greatly, and 

 are very sorry they cannot be with us 

 at this meeting. 



Mr. Pyles — I would spggest, Mr. 

 President, that a copy of such resolu- 

 tions be sent to the two parties, Mr. 

 York and Dr. Miller. 



Pres. Huffman — ^We will so order it, 

 without putting any motion. You can 

 go ahead and do the same; I think Mr. 

 Pyles' suggestion is a good one. 



Melting Old Combs. 



"What system do you use in melting 

 old combs?' 



Mr. Dadant — It would be a different 

 system for every one 'here, unless they 

 all used the same kind of presses. We 

 use nothing but the Hershiser press; 

 Outside of that, I could not tell you 

 about melting- old comibs, because we 

 nev*er melted them excepting- with the 

 solar extractor. Maybe some other 

 would be satisfactory to bee-keepers 

 and less expensive than the Hershiser; 

 but we consider that a very success- 

 ful machine. 



Mr. Dittmer — As a rule we refuse to 

 take old comb, sometimes we have to. 

 We have in use no presses except the 

 Kretchener. We use large tanks that 

 hold 500 pounds, in ^vhich the old 

 combs are placed packed in gunny 

 sacks, weigh it down, and fill it with 

 water; let it boil; after cooling we have 

 a cake of wax at the top; that is the 

 only way we have of melting old 

 combs; we have seen no need of a 

 regular wax press. 



Mr. Huffman — Do j'ou think that in 

 boiling Avax you hurt it any? 



Mr. Dittmer — Not if you pack it all 

 in a gunny .sack and weight it down; 

 the dirt remains at the bottom. You 

 have a clean cake of wax in that way; 

 it may need a little separating. 



Pres. Huffman — You did not notice 

 much wax in the waste? 



Ml-. Dittmer — Bj- the Hershiser press 

 you might have a little more. We don't 

 have very much; I do not keep many 

 bees; we don't care to have old combs 

 shipped to us. 



Mr. Kannenberg — Do you not find 

 that the wax cakes considerably on the 

 inside of the cloth? 



Mr. Dittmer — It may stick on the 

 inside, but if the combs are broken up 

 and soaked in warm water before it 

 is put into the sacks . you get nearly 

 all of it; if you put it in whole, the 

 wax will stay in the cocoons. 



Mr. Kannenberg — Won't the wax stay 

 in the inside of the cloth? 



Mr. Dittmier — No, not if you have it 

 hot enough; I have noticed it staying 

 ' in cocoons if not broken up. 



Mr. Cavanagh — Is it not injurious to 

 the wax to boil it too long? 



Mr. Dittmer — Yes, if you boil it too 

 long; I boil it long enough until I 

 think I have it all, and then I turn off 

 the fire and let it cool. 



:\rr. Cavanagh — I have rendered a 

 good many combs, occasionaly with the 

 Hatch press. I bought a Hershiser and 

 we figured 75 cents a day to a man 



