1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



203 



It is evident that something' is wrong. 

 Either the standard for the fancy grade is 

 too high or else the surplus-appliances are 

 not up to the standard required to produce 

 a really fancy grade of comb honey. I be- 

 lieve the standard for the fancy grade, as 

 originally adopted, is not too high; in fact, 

 it could be higher. The fancy grade should 

 be just what its name implies in every re- 

 spect. Not only the honey should be fancy, 

 but also the wood which surrounds it. I 

 have seen honej^ in the market in sections 

 that were soiled and dirt}', while the honey 

 they contained was really fanc}'; yet who 

 would think of classing such as fancy hon- 

 ey? No amount of scraping or sandpaper- 

 ing would ever make them presentable. 

 What is the use of going to the expense of 

 buying snow-white sections if the " fancy" 

 grade admits any old section, no matter 

 how soiled, only so it is well scraped? I 

 believe that, instead of lowering the stan- 

 dard of fancy honey, and, by so doing, 

 cheapening that grade just to omit our im- 

 perfect appliances or implements, it were 

 far better to raise the standard of our sup- 

 plies so that we can produce a really fancy 

 grade of comb honey, or else be content to 

 place our product in the grade in which it 

 belongs. 



Justice to those who will produce a really 

 fancj' article, and expect a fancy price, de- 

 mands that we do this instead of forcing 

 them to compete in price with a grade that 

 has been cheapened by lowering the stan- 

 dard of that grade. B3' using the wide 

 frame or section-holder, with quarter-inch 

 top-bar in connection with the plain sec- 

 tion and fence, the sections, when tilled, 

 will be as clean outside as when they left 

 the sandpapering-machine, and no scraping 

 is required to permit them to pass as un- 

 soiled by travel-stain or otherwise. 



Wakeman, O. J. E. Hand. 



[As I understand Mr. Hand it is not that 

 supply-dealers put out poor supplies, but 

 that bee-keepers buy second-quality sec- 

 tions or use out-of-date appliances to such 

 an extent that the quality of the comb hon- 

 ey put out is affected. If such a policy 

 saves a fraction of a cent, and depreciates 

 the honey one or two cents, it is penny wise 

 and pound foolish. — Ed.] 



THK AMOUNT OF WAX IN OLD COMBS. 



Your answer to Wm. Bloch's question, 

 p. 198, sets me all on nettles. "Under or- 

 dinary circumstances " you would not be 

 surprised if he did not get even half a pound. 

 Whew 1 I should like to get a 1on or two of 

 slumgum after he had gotten out his half 

 pound. I would get about 5 pounds to his 

 half pound. 



Let me tell you what I did twice, as an 

 illustration: Some years ago I helped a 

 friend transfer a small box hive, capacity 

 about equal to eight L. frames. We saved 

 and transferred all of the straight comb, 

 considerably over half; and as he wanted 

 a little wax I took the leavings home to 



melt up for him. I took a large cast-iron 

 stove-kettle, with a sinall hole in the bot- 

 tom, and put it in the oven, with a tin spout 

 to carrj' the wax out at the partly open door. 

 I allowed it to drip out all it would, and 

 got 2 lbs. of wax out of not over four L. 

 frames of very old black natural comb. 



The other case happened last fall. I 

 bought nine colonies. Four were in ten- 

 frame L. hives, two in nine-frame Biehl 

 hives ( about the same capacity as nine L. 

 frames). One was in a two-frame Dibbern 

 hive, and two in box hives of about the ca- 

 pacit}' of twelve L. frames. There, we 

 have about 92 L. frames, or their equal. 

 Now for the result: 



thirst, I found about 25 nice straight L. 

 frames, which I set into my hives. Then 

 I cut all the rest out and extracted the 

 honey; then I filled 24 L. frames /"//// solid 

 with rich straight combs, which left about 

 43 L. combs and the cappings for wax. I 

 expected about 10 pounds. 



I took a 50-lb. lard-can, and inside put a 

 wire-cloth basket. In the bottom, near one 

 side, I had a small hole for the wax to 

 come out at; and directly opposite in the 

 side, near the bottom, I made a hole to take 

 the spout of the tea-kettle. I turned on 

 the steam; and after all was in, and hot, I 

 applied about 300 lbs. pressure as long as 

 the wax would run. The result was 19 

 lbs. of nice wax. 



The next time j'ou have the opportunity, 

 examine some old black comb, or melt a 

 small piece. That blackness and weight 

 are not all dirt. It is rich in wax. 



Swedona, 111. S. ¥. Tkkgo. 



[I am sincerely obliged to you for the 

 correction. When the matter was up some 

 time ago I remember that half a pound of 

 wax was the amount we got out of a certain 

 amount of comb; ^lnd when I dictated the 

 answer I was under the impression it was 

 for the whole hive; but since you call my 

 attention to it I now recall that half a 

 pound was the amount per comb, on the 

 average. I find that C. G. Ferris, a man 

 who has had a wide experience in render- 

 ing up old comb, on one test with some old 

 wormy combs secured about 6 ounces per 

 comb. Mr. F. A. Gemmill. of Canada, in 

 another experiment, took about 8 ounces to 

 the comb, and there are other times when 

 more can be obtained. — Ed. J 



LABELING COMB HONEV. 



A/r. Root: — I believe the wholesale buy- 

 ers of comb honey and the commission men 

 are largely responsible for the artificial- 

 comb-honey lie getting- a start. They don't 

 want the producer of the honey to put his 

 name and address on any honej- the}' han- 

 dle, not even upon the case in which it is 

 shipped. I believe the lie would never 

 have started if all the best grades of comb 

 honey had borne the name and address of 

 the producer. The consumer would have 

 much more confidence in its purity if the 

 producer's name was upon the honey he 



