366 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



falling Fomndati©!!. 



G. W. DAYTON. 



NOTICE your account on pag-e 307 

 of Mr. Rickert's rendering wax by 

 the use of a cider press; and, that it 

 worked like a "charm." 



Now what puzzles me is to know what 

 is meant by "charm." How much of a 

 "charm ?" I see that the presses may 

 be had of Sears, Roebuck & Co., for 

 $3.37. I might have engaged some of 

 your convention folks to have brought 

 a press as baggage as far as San 

 Antonio, and then sent it on to Los 

 Angeles by some one coming this way, 

 but, really, I have not yet decided 

 about ordering it. I have not figured 

 out the "charm." I was at a neigh- 

 bor's recently, and he had just gotten 

 through rendering his wax and was 

 also quite "charmed." He had about 

 30 pounds of slum gum ready for the 

 stove. I paid him 30 cents for it — 30 

 pounds. At the first melting I got 12 

 pounds, or $3.00 worth. In a few days 

 I will give it another turn, and I ex- 

 expect to get 10 to 12 pounds more. I 

 want to get enough to pay fair interest 

 on my speculation; see ? 



WHAT REPEATED MELTING WILL DO. 



I had almost finished rendering my 

 own wax, consisting of cappings, old 

 combs and a quantity of old slum gum, 

 and there were 220 gallons, or about 

 1,200 pounds. There were about 70 

 gallons of honey that was in it that 

 had been too dry and hard to drain 

 out. When I got out all the clear yel- 

 low wax, there were about 20 gallons 

 of slum gum. It showed no wax until 

 it was dry. Then it showed wax by 

 rubbing on a board with a knife. I 

 put it to melt again, and got about 50 

 pounds of darker wax. It would 



answer very well for brood foundation. 

 Then there were about eight gallons of 

 slum gum; still it showed wax. So I 

 melted it up and got out six pounds 

 more of wax that would do for fasten- 

 ing foundation to top bars. There 

 were about 6 or 7 gallons of slum gum 

 and it still showed wax. Another 

 melting turned out about 3 pounds of 

 very dark wax. There were at this 

 time, about 6 gallons of slum gum 

 which weighed 8 pounds when dry. 

 Well that is now. It is not quite dry 

 yet or it would weigh less. I expect to 

 get more wax at the next melting. 

 Possibly a pound or more. I have not 

 used any sort of pressure at any time. 

 Now I would ask Mr. Rickert if his 

 "charm" is equal to this ? Of course 

 it always charms to have things work 

 out nicely. But my neighbor is sort of 

 "blue" since I got $5 00 off from him 

 for 30 cents. 



This is not the end of my story. It 

 is not a very good story either, unless 

 it is clinched somewhere. 



When I first melt up the comb and 

 hone}' I pour it out together in a dish. 

 The honey goes to the bottom and the 

 wax stays at the top. I get lumps of 

 wax weighing from 5 to 7 pounds out 

 of a S-gal. can of comb and cappings; 

 when there is enough of these to make 

 a cake the size of a 5-gal. can, or 

 nearby, I melt them all together. 



Here is a kink, now don't miss it. I 

 own a foundation mill, in fact, three of 

 them. They eat only once a year. In 

 the spring, about swarming time. 

 There is no law yet against feeding 

 wax to foundation mills. So I am 

 "strictly in it," for awhile, at least, 

 until more laws come. 



