1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



779 



l^eepers may have oi)portunity to consider it 

 before it is brought up. I have written to the 

 president, asking him to present the matter. 

 The Central Michigan Association passed reso- 

 lutions respecting the matter at their meeting 

 yesterday. I shall also bring the matter up at 

 our State meeting, at Detroit. Jan 1, 1891. This 

 is certainly just the kind of work that govern- 

 ment can and ought to do. I hope other Stales 

 will also resolve and send resolutions to Secre- 

 tary Rusk. If we all move it will be done. 



A. J. Cook. 

 Agricultural College, Mich., Oct. 17. 



Well, friend C, if there be any better race of 

 loees on the face of the earth than those we have 

 already, we want them, sure. Friends Jones 

 and Benton, however, seem to have decided 

 pretty well that there is nothing much superior 

 to Italians. Our missionaries in foreign fields 

 will be great aids in this matter. 



RAMBLE NO. 31. 



JAPANESE BUCKWHEAT IN WESTEKN NEW 

 YOKK. 



We found in many of the counties in Western 

 New York, that farmers were generally sowing 

 Japanese buckwheat, and were giving it a high 

 recommendation, both as to productiveness and 

 quantity and quality of the llour. It was being 

 introduced largely in localities where but little 

 buckwheat had been previously sown, and bee- 

 keepers were accordingly rejoicing at the pros- 

 pect of a fall yield of honey where they had 

 none before. But in Chemung Co. we heard tlie 

 first adverse report. An old farmer with whom 

 we were riding said it might yield well, but a 

 bushel of it did not produce as much flour as a 

 bushel of the old kind, and he shouldn't sow 

 any more of it: but further inquiry revealed 

 the fact that the mill was to blame. The huller, 

 we believe, would not allow the large kernels to 

 go through: but with a proper apparatus, which 

 had to be used on the new buckwlieat, it was as 

 productive of flour as of seed. We presume, 

 however, that this old man and some of his 

 neighbors will refuse to be benefited by the 

 new-fangled grain. Japanese buckwheat has 

 ■evidently come to stay until something better is 

 found. 



From Chemung we pass into Schuyler Co., in 

 which is located Watkins Glen, famous for its 

 wild scenery, and a place of summer resort. 

 We greatly desired to feast our eyes on the act- 

 ual features of the glen we had so often seen in 

 photographs; but heavy freshets had recently 

 been making sport with bridges, stairs, and 

 ladders, and a general cleaning-out was the 

 result, and the Rambler had to content himself 

 by merely seeing where the glen was located, 

 and imagining the rest. 



The waters that come rushing down through 

 these rocky clefts soon find a peaceful resting- 

 place in the bosom of Seneca Ijake, anotiier of 

 those beautiful sheets of wat(M' found in VVest- 

 <n'n New York. One characteristic of this lake 

 is its freedom from fnnizing. Its surface is 

 scarcely ever covered with ice. On both sides 

 of the lake are fertile farms. Vineyards are 

 becoming quite numerous, and small fruits of 

 all kinds are largely grown. Black caps were 

 taking preference as a berry. What can not be 

 sold fresh from the bushes, are put through the 

 evaporator. 



KENDEKING WAX ON A I,AUGE SCALE. 



On the line of our travels through Chemung 

 and adjoining counties we found but little in- 



terest in bees. Our cousin Nat, however, had a 

 fi'iend who was quite an extensive bee-keeper, 

 having ;.'.")() colonies, and who had lost about 100. 

 and didn't want his name to appear in print; 

 but as he was getting out beeswax on a scah^ 

 never before witnessed by the Rambler, he had 

 no objection to our describing his method. 



MELTING AND PRESSING BEESWAX. 



About 1400 combs had been cut from the 

 frames, and were piled up in the cellar. The 

 oldest and most uneven had been weeded out, 

 and were ready for operations. A large iron 

 kettle, of over forty gallons capacity, was hung 

 to a stout pole and crotched sticks with a log 

 chain, and a rousing fire started. Two hundred 

 combs, about the size of an L. comb, were grad- 

 ually put into the kettle. In less than an hour 

 the mass was seething and foaming in fine style. 

 With a hoe. our bee-man kept agitating it until 

 every lump was melted. Near the kettle was a 

 press after the pattern of A. ('. Hatcli's, page 

 493, 1889, only a little more so. The forms of 

 this press were perforated all around, and were 

 left on to supplant the burlap. The contents of 

 the kettle were transfei'red to the forms, and 

 built up in cider-press style, with racks Ix^tween 

 the forms. Pressure was then applied with a 

 common bench-screw; and. how the wax did 

 hasten out! The hot liquid was run into a deep 

 wooden tank; and, when nearly full, a plug 

 was withdi'awn from the bottom, and the water 

 drawn otT. When no more liquid would run 

 from the press, and the water drawn from th(^ 

 bottom, the pure wax was run into square wood- 

 en boxes, making cakes of about .50 lbs., and 

 nice shape to ship. Four runs could be easily 

 made in a day, as our modest friend tei-med it, 

 and over 200 lbs. of wax i-endered: :v\i ccmilis 

 would render out a pound of wax. and the dross 

 seemed to be entirely free from wax. Our fi'iend 

 was enthusiastic over the rapidity of the big- 

 kettle plan, and regarded steam and solar ex- 

 tractors as mere toys. '" Then." said he, " I 

 have learned something about the nature of the 

 waste. I had a big pile of four of live husiiels; 

 and after it b(>came dry I happened to |»ut a 

 chunk in the lii-e, and it burned a long time. I 

 then raked the whole pile into the Mr.', and, 

 how it did burn! It kept burning nearly all 

 day. At night it looked like a i)ile of white 

 ashes, and I supijosed it was burned out. Five 

 days after. I noticed the pile again, and it was 

 much smaller; and upon thrusting a slick into 

 it. the center was still live coals. That night, 

 rain put it out. Had it not been for the i-ain it 

 would have kei)t tire several days more. Then," 

 said he. ■• Mr. Rambler, I lind' this big kettle 

 nuikes a splendid outdoor feeder. I put in 300 

 or 300 lbs. of honey or syrup, and put a moder- 



