THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



351 



"Of course it must not be understood that 

 slow cooling changes the color of the wax, 

 only as it gives lime for the impurities to 

 settle." 



Particles in wax that will settle if the 

 wax is kept in a liquid state do not great- 

 ly effect the color of the wax; at least, 

 this has been my experience. While I 

 have not rendered large quantities of wax, 

 I have used many different methods, and 

 worked a great many batches of refuse 

 comb into wax, and time and again 

 have I seen the brightest, yellowest wax 

 fairly loaded with particles of dirt. If 

 kept liquid a long time these particles 

 settle to the bottom, but the color of the 

 wax is not changed one iota. In render- 

 ing wax with a steam extractor the wax 

 will run out of the spout into a vessel 

 placed underneath, and, if the wax comes 

 only in a small stream, a crust will form 

 over the wax and against the sides of the 

 vessel, and this crust will be of the bright- 

 est yellow, although it is the first to cool 

 — long before the mass of wax underneath 

 is cool. Such little flakes will often be 

 found full of dirt, because they have 

 cooled so quickly, but the color of the 

 wax itself \s of the brightest. 



I buy quite a little wax each season 

 from local bee-keepers who bring it in to 

 exchange it for supplies. Some of thi« 

 wax is very dark — some gray and some 

 almost black. Time and again have I 

 put these cakes of dark wax into a tall 

 tin can and melted the wax and kept it 

 melted for hours in order that the dirt 

 might settle. A lot of dirt it'ould settle, 

 too, and the wax was cleaner, but the 

 color remained the sa))ie. All of the wax 

 that I have ever rendered myself has been 

 of a bright yellow. I have always render- 

 ed wax in a tin or galvanized iron vessel, 

 while much of the dark wax that come§ 

 to me is, I find upon inquiry, rendered in 

 iron vessels. If this isn't what causes 

 dark wax, then I don't know what it is. 

 Some of the brightest, yellowest wdx I 

 have ever made was rendered from old, 

 black, dirty combs; in fact, the yellowest 

 was can not be obtained from neiu combs. 



Wax from such combs is of a cream}' col- 

 or Just what causes the yellow color in 

 wax I am unable to say. Combs when 

 first made are white, and the wax from 

 them is nearly so; after they have become 

 old, and brood has been reared in them, 

 the wax from them is yellow if rightly ren- 

 dered, and the quick cooling of this yel- 

 low wax does not change its color, al- 

 though it may leave it full of impurities. 



•ni^*nM^rf»jr» 



THE NEED OF Al'ICULTUR.\Iv EXPERI- 

 MENTS. 

 Mr. Arthur C. Miller, in this issue of 

 the Review, calls attention to the need of 

 more systematic work in apicultural ex- 

 periments. Apicultural experimental 

 work, under the auspices of State or Na- 

 tional government, has been of a tran- 

 sient character. J. H. Larrabee work- 

 ed a year or two at the Michigan Agricul- 

 tural College; then the bees were taken 

 over to Lapeer, and Mr. R. L. Taylor 

 made experiments for two or three years. 

 Then the bees were taken back to Lan- 

 sing and put in charge of one of the stu- 

 dents, Mr. J. M. Rankin, who has neith- 

 er the time nor the salary to enable him 

 to do what ought to be done in the exper- 

 imental line. I believe that Mr. Samuel 

 Cushman,of Rhod2 I 1 nd, was employed 

 a few years ago by the State to make some 

 experiments in apiculture and poultry 

 raising. There is an occasional experi- 

 ment at some of the experiment stations. 

 Prof. Gillette of the Colorado station made 

 an experiment last season with comb 

 foundation. Over in Ontario there has 

 been an occasional apicultural experi- 

 ment. Yes, and I believe that Prof. Mc- 

 Lain of Illinois made some experiments 

 in getting queens fertilized in confine- 

 ment. All these things have been spas- 

 modic. Something permanent is what is 

 needed. Bee-keeping experiments ought 

 to be made at each State Kxperiment sta- 

 tion. The difficulty is that bee-keeping 

 is looked upon as rather a small affair, 

 and other interests crowd it out. The 

 appoiutment of 3Ir. Taylor as au experi- 



