64 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOLHMAL. 



Jan. 28, 1904. 



heated. On top of that I put a board that I cut round so as 

 to fit inside loosely, and took an ordinary gunny-sack and 

 wrapped it over that so it would be around the edges, and 

 pushed that in sung. I boiled this about ij^ hours while I 

 w?nt on about my other work. I took an ordinary Lang- 

 stroth frame, and from a point three or four feet from there 

 I put a board about the same height. This frame would go 

 inside the boiler, and the board rested on something else to 

 prevent it from falling over sidewise, and to prevent it from 

 breaking down, and whatever happened to be handy I threw 

 on top of this board and this frame pressed the board down, 

 that I had the gunny sack on. and when I came back it had 

 gone down within six inches of the water, and the water had 

 risen above the slumgum and board. I simply threw off the 

 weight and poured it in Simplicity bee-hive covers — they will 

 hold about 14 pounds of wax ; I poured out 24 pounds of wax 

 from this rendering. I didn't spend more than ?4 of an hour. 

 I got very little wax from the slumgum. That would be 

 about as simple, and take less time to get the same amount 

 of wax. _ I have used the German wax-press and I like it, 

 and I think it is a very handy thing to have, but I can get 

 along so easily the other way that I wouldn't think of buy- 

 ing one. 



A Member— You simply used Mr. Abbott's sieve in an- 

 other form. 



Mr. Starkey— The weight is so light that the water boil- 

 ing would stir up the cocoons that would hold the wax, and 

 allow the wax to escape, which it would always do, to the 

 top, the water being very heavy. The water is a very im- 

 portant element. It is heavier and it gets through the cloth. 



Mr. Root — Your method would take a great deal of time 

 compared to these other methods. 



Mr. Starkey— In what way? I did nothing but fill the 

 kettle and pour ofif. I would go and put in more as it cooked 

 down, as it melts. 



Mr. Root — Your actual work was little. 



Mr. Starkey— Very little. 



Mr. Root — That might be a very gofid way. 



Mr. France— Did you clean that boiler or let the house- 

 wife do it? 



Mr. Starkey — I cleaned it. There was some slum. My 

 wife don't use this boiler. I never let her look at it, eveii. 

 I scraped the slum out when it was dry. I had no trouble 

 doing it. While I am speaking on this subject I want to say 

 that I wouldn't even ask my wife to let me cook it in her 

 kettle. 



Mr. Niver— When Mr. Coggshall is getting old combs 

 and scrapings off of the floor and everywhere else that he 

 gets them from, he puts them into gunny-sacks as fast as he 

 gets them, and at some time when he has not too much to do 

 he puts them in a kettle, sinks in several gunny sacks of this 

 comb, and puts under a long lever with weights on it. and 

 then he goes on out to the barn and presses a carload of hav ; 

 then comes back and takes out what wax there is. and com- 

 mences over again. That is his method under the lever pres- 

 sure in a qaldron kettle with fire under it. That gives heat 

 and pressure. 



Mr. Root— Do you think he gets all the wax? 



Mr. Niver — He hasn't time to worry much about that. 



Mr. Roo't— That's the question. I don't think the wax 

 can be gotten that way, so much of it, compared to the pres- 

 sure. In my experiment I found that if I put a great deal 

 under pressure I didn't get it all. The question is whether 

 you want the wax or the time. If your time is valuable, I 

 would by all means use some method as that, or the press 

 when the wax is heated in some other place. If you want the 

 wax. I still insist my method gets it. 



Mr. Wilcox— Do they leave it in the kettle cold? 



Mr. Niver— It rises to the top of the can. He will have 

 several hundred pounds at a time at work. 



Mr. Wilcox— You leave it there to cool. I think I have 

 observed others who have tried it, and there is danger of a 

 little iron-rust coloring the wax. 



Mr. Thompson — Has anyone ever used additional screens 

 in the solar extractor for turning after it had gone to the 

 bottom once? I had an extra screen made for mine last 

 sumrrier and I think it was satisfactory. I couldn't find any 

 wax in the refuse after that, where if allowed to remain in 

 the bottom there would be wax on the edges and around the 

 bottom. 



Mr. Moore — How many have the German wax-press? 

 [Four.] 



Pres. York— Mr. Wheeh.T tell us about it: you raised 

 your hand. 



Mr. Wheeler — I think of nothing but what has been 

 spoken of. 



REPORT OF THE FOUL BROOb COMMITTEE. 



Pres. York — We will have the report of the foul brood 

 committee. I think they are here now, and perhaps ready 

 to report. 



Mr. Moore — A year ago Pres. York appointed three of 

 us as a foul brood committee to co-operate with the com- 

 mittee from the Illinois State Association to get a law 

 through the legislature. Your Secretary, Mr. Kanenburg, 

 and Mr. Clarke, were appointed to act as such committee. 

 I will simply say we did a lot of work, and we got the law. 

 The two associations working together seemed to carry 

 weight with the legislature, and it didn't seem to be a hard 

 matter to get that law through. The law is now on the 

 statute books, for an appropriation of $2,000 for the Illinois 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association. It had to be in the name 

 of the State Association, first, because it is a State organiza- 

 tion, and second, because it is incorporated. The proceedings 

 were very interesting, and if there was lots of time we might 

 tell you about it in detail. There was a lot of work done. 

 Letters and circulars were sent out to every bee-keeper we 

 knew of. to every member of the legislature, especially, mem- 

 bers of the committees to which our bill was presented, and 

 representatives of the House and the Senate, telling them the 

 strongest things we could think of on the subject. We told 

 them we had just as good a right to have a foul brood law 

 as we had to have a law against smallpox being carried 

 around in the public schools and along the street. The re- 

 sult is we have the law. And there don't seem to be any 

 reason why the Association should not have this money ap- 

 propriation every year as long as they choose to ask for it. 



Mr. Starkey — I would like to know if any arrangements 

 or provisions have been made for the members of the bee- 

 keepers' association to get copies of that law or enactment? 



Pres. York — It was published in the American Bee 

 Journal. 



Mr. Smith — I will just state that a great many bee- 

 keepers think that there is a compulsory clause, and there 

 is not. It simply says: "To be used by the .Association for 

 the extermination of foul brood." Of course, if a man has 

 foul brood in his apiary we can go there and tell him so, but 

 we can't make him clean it up unless he chooses so to do. 

 What we would like when the next legislature meets is to 

 have a compulsory clause, so we could do something with 

 the people who are notified that their bees have foul brood 

 and will not clean it up. In my last fall's experience in going 

 over the State, I found people paying no attention to it at 

 all. Some people's bees had it and they were cleaning up 

 their bees but. their neighbors across the lots had it and 

 wouldn't do anything. Now there is where the trouble comes 

 in. and at the next legislature we propose to have an act 

 submitted, and we would like the co-operation of this Asso- 

 ciation to get that passed, because that will be the only way 

 by which we can get relief in the proper way. 



Mr. Moore — Have any bee-keepers having diseased bees 

 refused to let you examine them? 



Mr. Smith — No. sir : but some might. We would like 

 soon to have a law so that the foul brood inspector can go 

 there and demand the right to inspect all their bees. I guess 

 Mr. France knows something about that. 



Mr. Moore — Did you ever suggest to them that there 

 was a way that they could be got at : that they were harbor- 

 ing a disease? 



Mr. Smith — They want to know the law right away. I 

 haven't any law. The first question is, Have you a law? If 

 so, I want to see it. 



Dr. Miller — I am exceedingly thankful for the appropria- 

 tion, but the truth is we haven't any foul brood law. There 

 is an appropriation for the State Association, but we haven't 

 anything in the shape of a foul brood' law in the State, and 

 we need one. I would like to ask Mr. Franco how much he 

 thinks he would be helped in the matter ; how much difference 

 would it make in your work in the State whether you go 

 with the law back of you, or simply with enough money back 

 of you to bear expenses? 



Mr. France — I would feel like resigning my work. I go 

 lo A : his bees have foul brood. He is glad to take care of 

 it. B, C and D have a few bees and they don't care, and 

 they are not going to take care of it. Now in Mr. Smith's 

 position he has no authority, and it is pretty bad. It doesn't 

 make any difference whether one colony or 100 colonies have 



