273 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



Cheshire, giving the alcohol test. But he 

 seems to assume that it is valuable only for the 

 detection of grease; but we find that it will 

 apply not only to grease, but to wax and par-- 

 affine as well. We procured a large Mason jar 

 — one holding two quarts; and in the bottom 

 were put several pieces of wax of known purity. 

 Water was poured in, to a point say half full. 

 Of course, the wax would all rise to the top. 

 Alcohol was then added until the wax had set- 

 tled to the bottom; then we took a piece of No. 

 fi, half paraf'fine and half wax, and found that 

 it floated readily; also a piece of No. 2, half 

 wax and half ceresin, did the same. Pure par- 

 affine and pure ceresin seemed to be more 

 buoyant on the surface of the liquids, as a 

 matter of course. Later on we took a sample 

 of wax containing 10 per cent only of ceresin. 

 It hovered nearer the top of the liquid, but did 

 not seem inclined to come entirely into the 

 "bad company " of the pure ceresin and pure 

 parffine, and the mixtures, 50 per cent of each. 



The alcohol (or specific-gravity) test is not 

 entirely reliable, but sufficiently so to put the 

 wax-buyer on his guard, and cause him to have 

 a chemical analysis made. I think there is 

 no question but that the mixtures of half cere- 

 sin and half paraffine can be readily detected 

 by the above test; and it is to be assumed that, 

 if adulteration is practiced at all, the mixers 

 will put in at least .W per cent of the cheaper 

 article, and that, likely, would be either ceresin 

 or paraffine. 



These experiments were performed in my 

 presence by our Mr. Kindy, foreman of the 

 wax-working department, and Mr. Karl Ru- 

 dolph Mathey. who, I found, is quite an expert 

 in the wax business. He tells us that the Ger- 

 mans make ceresin foundation, two-thirds cere- 

 sin and one-third wax— that is, they sell it for 

 what it is; but from what experiments we have 

 made, I am rather of the opinion that the bees 

 will not work this article nearly as well as they 

 will pure wax; indeed, we find it impossible to 

 roll foundation from pure ceresin. It is too 

 hard and brittle, and is lacking in that ductile 

 quality so necessary in hive-work, and would 

 not, I imagine, be very suitable in the hive, 

 even when mixed with pure wax. 



The ordinary paraffine of commerce has a 

 beautiful milky whiteness, and, as explained, it 

 has a lower specific gravity than pure wax. It 

 is more ductile, and has a lower meliing-point. 

 Ceresin, in color, may be milky white, or so 

 nearly resembling the color of wax, as to deceive 

 the most expert, from its mere appearance. 



We are now buying our supply of wax through 

 a New York inspector, who has made this busi- 

 ness of sifting the adulterated from the pure 

 almost a life-study. To give you an idea of 

 how the fakirs are trying to palm their adul- 

 terated goods off on the unsuspecting, let me 

 give you an instance. Out of 23 sacks of wax 

 that were inspected by him, only 17 were ac- 



cepted, and were subsequently shipped on to us. 

 I can hardly think that any of the foundation- 

 makers have been deceived. The adulteration 

 of wax has seemed to spring up within a year; 

 and I trust that the simple tests above given 

 will assist our co-workers or others to "spot" 

 the spurious at once. 



ROOT brothers' HOME REPAIRING OUTFIT. 



Let me explain, to begin with, that the Root 

 brothers are no relation to A. I. Root. That is, 

 they are no relation without going away back. 

 Their celebrated repairing outfit was first 

 worked up by George A. and C. F. Root, in the 

 middle of the year 1890; and I remember of 

 being greatly pleased to see the unique engrav- 

 ing of the cast-iron lasts, clinch-nails, etc., 

 when they first put it out upon the world. You 

 now can readily understand how vexed I felt 

 when I saw unscrupulous imitators come out and 

 copy even their advertisement before the idea 

 had been out in print much more than a year. 

 One of the first men to copy their idea entire, 

 without so much as saying " by your leave," 

 was one John H. Grant, of Chicago. I have 

 had in mind, for a year or two past, holding 

 these imitators up to public gaze; but I finally 

 decided that the man who would appropri- 

 ate ideas would, sooner or later, take other 

 things, and so I let him alone, thinking it was 

 not really my affair, any way; but the para- 

 graph which I give below, from the Rural 

 New-Yorker of March 9, seems to open the way 

 to give Mr. Grant a little free advertising. 

 Read it, and then give the gentleman a wide 

 berth. 



There may be a less satisfactory business man in 

 this country than Jolin H. Grant, of Chicag-o; but if 

 there is, the R. N.-Y. has yet to find him. We con- 

 tracted with liim recently to furnish a kit of tools 

 for our subscribers, at a certain fixed price. When 

 we sent him the orders, lie shipped about one-half 

 the tools promised; and when we complained, he 

 assured us that we had made a mistake— that he 

 had two sets of tools, and that he had given us 

 prices on the small kit. His story seemed plausible, 

 and we accused ourselves of a blunder, and told 

 him to send the rest of the tools at our expense. 

 We also ordered the large kit sent to 27 more per- 

 sons. This he promised in writing to do at once, 

 six weeks ago, and sent us a bill for the same. We 

 then supposed that he had sent them; but finding 

 that the tools were not delivered, we kept writing 

 to find out why. He now has the impudence to 

 write that the orders are not filled, and that they 

 will not be uulil we comply with unreasonable de- 

 mands, which he now mentions for the first time. 

 Fortunately, we are able to get the tools elsewhere, 

 and we have sent the orders to another factory, 

 where they will be filled promptly, and where we 

 will get our future supply. Tliis explanation seems 

 due to the subscribers who have been so long 

 and patiently waiting for the tools which they 

 should have received weeks ago. All the orders 

 will now be forwarded at our expense to those who 

 received only a part of the set. The full set will 

 also go promptly to those who have received none. 



