THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



from a solar wax extractor having no wax 

 left in it, I will back your assertion by giving 

 my experience concerning solar wax extrac- 

 tors, for I uped a large ore in Cuba, where 

 the sun does shine even hotter than here. 

 The size of it was 2Gx44 inches, and for melt- 

 ing cappings it was good enough; but when 

 it came to melting up old foul-brood combs, 

 or any other comb that had been used in the 

 brood-chamber, it was not what I wanted, 

 for it would always leave from 25 to 40 per 

 cent of the wax in the slumgum, or so much 

 that a hired man did all, or nearly all, of his 

 cooking with it while it was in constant use. 

 And some piles of the same slumgum from 

 the solar extractor had been thrown out, and 

 had been in the weather for perhaps as long 

 as three or four years, until it had been 

 burrowed through by ants, and soaked by 

 rain, and heated by sunshine until the time 

 I took it up and cooked it in a 300-gallon 

 brass sugar-kettle; and, to be sure, I secured 

 a fine lot of very good dark wax that the 

 solar extractor had lost in slumgum. In 

 fact, I consider, after using a 300-gallon 

 brass kettle to render over a ton of wax in, 

 that any solar extractor is very wasteful, 

 except in cappings ; for experience has 

 taught me that, to get wax out of old combs, 

 they must be soaked thoroughly, then boiled, 

 and stirred and skimmed of all floating 

 wax, then stirred and left to simmer down 

 and cool. When cool, and soaked on top, 

 take the cake out and set it up edgewise; 

 then with a sharp hatchet or ax peel oft or 

 divide the cake as near the top as you find 

 little round shot-like lumps of wax. When 

 divided, break up, resoak, and again boil 

 the half containing wax, with acid; and 

 what is lost I'll guarantee will not be suffi- 

 cient to run a thresher-boiler, as Mr. Board- 

 man did, in place of coal." 



The Future of Bee-Keeping. 



Mr. C. H. Dibbern has seen many years 

 of the ups and downs of bee-keeping and he 

 sends to the Western Ploivrnan his views of 

 what bee-keepers may expect in the future. 

 The A. B. J. copies some of the paragraphs 



from his article and they are so appropriate 

 for this issue of the Review that I copy them. 



" What about the future of bee-keeping? 

 It is true the last few years have been rather 

 poor over a part of our country, and no 

 doubt many have become discouraged, and 

 turned to something else. There has been 

 plenty of hard work, and great fortunes have 

 not been made, and yet the future is bright 

 with promise. The seasons certainly will 

 not always fail, and the 'good old years' 

 will surely come again, when "the fields will 

 laugh with a harvest.' 



The bee-keepers who have studied the va- 

 rious problems of the business, have learned 

 much during the last few years that will be 

 turned to some account hearafter. In our 

 locality there is no reason why the seasons 

 should not be as good as they used to be. 

 In fact, there are many reasons why they 

 should be better. More laud is being used 

 for pasturage year after year, giving the 

 white clover a chance. Alsike clover is also 

 being cultivated to some extent, and sweet 

 clover has 'come to stay' in all the out-of- 

 the-way nooks and corners. More bass- 

 wood and honey-locusts are growing up 

 than are being cut down, and yet the last 

 few seasons have been poor for some cause. 

 Climatic causes have had more to do with 

 these failures than any other one thing. 



We believe it was the late M. Quinby who 

 said: 'Get the bees, and at sometime every 

 year they will furnish the honey.' That has 

 not proved true in late years. For several 

 years we had hives overflowing with bees all 

 summer, only to be obliged to feed them up 

 in the fall for winter. But all this will be 

 changed again. Those who stick to the bus- 

 iness through thick and thin are the ones who 

 will succeed. 



Just now some are anxious to get out of 

 the business; others are going to California 

 and other favored climes, and offering their 

 bees at ridiculously low figures. This will 

 be a good chance for some to get a start, and 

 no doubt some one will take advantage of 

 it. After more than 25 years' experience we 

 know of no other industry that offers so 

 many opportunities to a poor man as bee- 

 keeping to get a start in life." 



GenetT^al Inde:>^ to Volutne V. 



IISTDEX: TO SXJBJE30TS. 



Abbott Cold-blast Smoker 176 



Absorbents 184 



Absorbents in Wintering Bees 157 



Adulteration in Paint, how to Detect 133 



Adulteration, Chemical Analysis and Honey, '375 

 Adulteration of Honey, the Detection of 187 



