118 



April, 1916. 



American Hee Journal 



PART OF THE WAX RENDERING EQUIPMENT 



eauiDment used by Langstroth when 

 he was making his experiments. 



The library of beekeeping literature 

 is also very complete and the student 

 has the advantage of a reference list 

 such as is to be found in few places in 

 this country. Dr. Gates is laying a 

 splendid foundation for a permanent 

 institution and the museum and li- 

 brary are very valuable features. 



APIARY AND GARDEN. 



There is nothing particularly strik- 

 ing about the apiary. It is much like 

 an..- other well kept apiary where up- 

 to-the-minute practice is followed. The 

 beos are in standard hives and the 

 students are thus able to become fam- 

 iliar, by actual practice, with the 

 equipment and methods of manipula- 

 tion commonly used in well regulated 

 apiaries. There is a well equipped 

 workshop where the student is given 

 (actual practice in nailing up hives 

 and assembling supplies. There i'.i 

 'the usual equipment in e.xtracting and 

 Jiottling honey so that all the oper- 

 ijations necessary to successful honey 

 production are followed out as part of 

 |the regular class duty. Both ou?-of 

 ;,door and cellar wintering are pract- 

 |iced. The bee cellar is as good as 

 can well be made and the packing 

 cases are of the four colony size. 

 After preparing the bees for winter by 

 both methods and noting results the 

 following spring, the student has re- 

 ceived the best possible instruction in 

 proper wintering. It is very apparent 

 that every step is followed in the 

 same practical manner. 



A earden of honey producing plants 

 is now being developed, where the 

 various plants to be found in that 

 section may be gathered and studied. 

 The time when each secretes nectar 

 can be noted, and the comparative 

 value considered. 



Since several short courses of vary 

 ing length are given, every facility 

 is offered to students to make the best 

 possible use of such time as is avail- 

 Sable. The winter students, of neces- 



sity, lack the opportunity of actual 

 work in handling bees, but apiary 

 work and hive manipulation are a 

 part of all the summer courses as 

 well as the regular full year courses. 



WAX RENDERING. 



The wax rendering station is a 

 unique feature of the institution. We 

 had intended to describe it somewhat 

 in detail, but this article is already 

 very long. The field work in connect- 

 ion with inspection and extension 

 soon convinced the college au- 

 thorities that thousands of pounds of 

 wax were being lost every year be- 

 cause the average beekeeper is not 

 equipped to care for it properly. The 

 man with but a few bees seldom has 



the necessary equipment for render- 

 ing wax thoroughly and the crude 

 methods in common use waste a large 

 part of the product. Wax is the high- 

 est priced commodity which the bee- 

 keeper has to sell and he can ill af- 

 ford to waste it even though the 

 amount is small. 



In order to meet the need which 

 was so apparent the wax rendering 

 equipment was installed. The work 

 is done entirely for the benefit of the 

 beekeepers of the state and without 

 any financial profit. The charge is 

 the actual cost of operation. By means 

 of the superior equipment they are 

 usually able to get enough more wax 

 than the beekeeper could get, to pay 

 for the cost of rendering. This is 

 quite an advantage since It saves the 

 producer a mussy job. While the 

 writer has never had the opportunity 

 to take advantage of such a station 

 conducted for the benefit of the bee- 

 keeper at cost of operation, he has 

 found that some commercial estab- 

 lishments are able to get enough more 

 wax than he can to make it un- 

 profitable for him to render his own 

 wax. Accordingly it is all carefully 

 gathered through the season and sent 

 to such a firm in kegs. The returns 

 have been very satisfactory. The 

 practice of shipping of combs, cap- 

 pings and refuse wax to commercial 

 establishments is becoming more com- 

 mon every year as beekeepers learn 

 of the saving in labor. 



For each shipment sent to the col- 

 lege there is a blank to be filled out 

 by the shipper. This gives full in- 

 structions for the disposition of the 

 wax. Sometimes it is sent to market 

 to be sold, sometimes returned to the 

 shipper and again it may be sent to 

 some supply dealer to be made into 

 foundation. The wax rendering ser- 

 vice is evidently very popular with 

 the beekeepers of the state. 



A BATCH OF WAX RENDERED FOR ITHE PUBLIC 



