1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



595 



period of six months for treatment; and if 

 not eradicated at the expiration of such 

 time, such bees shall be destroyed as here- 

 inbefore described; and any person havingf 

 in possession any brood-comb, bee-hive, 

 honey, or apparatus used in connection with 

 bee culture, found in like manner to be in- 

 fected, such person shall be allowed 30 days 

 in which to disinfect the same; and if said 

 disinfection shall not have been complete at 

 the expiration of 30 days, such brood-comb, 

 bee-hive, honey, or apparatus shall be burn- 

 ed as hereinbefore provided. 



(e) Penalty. — Every person neg^lecting- or 

 refusing' to cause all such bees to be duly 

 inspected as provided herein, shall be deem- 

 ed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall pay 

 a fine of not less than ten nor more than one 

 hundred dollars for each offense upon con- 

 viction thereof. 



(_/) Inspector, Pay. — Upon the applica- 

 tion of the Nebraska Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion, or other person or persons interested 

 in bee culture residing in any county of the 

 State, the Governor may appoint a suitable 

 resident inspector of bees and honey of said 

 county, whose sworn duty it is to inspect 

 all bees, brood-comb, and honey, within 

 said county, when requested, and shall re- 

 ceive two dollars per day for his services, 

 to be paid by the owner, agent, or lessee in 

 whose possession such bees, brood-comb, or 

 honey may be when inspected. Such in- 

 spector shall make certificates in duplicate 

 as provided in section (^). 



WAX=PRESSES. 



Some Interesting Experiments ; an Open Letter to 

 R. C. Aikin. 



BY A. R. BOSTOCK. 



I do not know whether the subject of ar- 

 tificial evaporation has died a natural death 

 or not. If not, the "revolving solar" ought 

 to be useful for that purpose. I believe a 

 machine built on these lines would do as 

 much work as one twice the size built the 

 ordinary way. 



LEVER WAX-PRESS. 



Mr. Aikin advocates the use of a screw 

 press to work the stuff over again that has 

 iaeen through the solar. I agree with him 

 as to the need of a press, but I differ with 

 him as regards the screw. Several years 

 ago I had a lot of wax to melt for my neigh- 

 bors. I built a screw press from the de- 

 scription given in the A B C of Bee Culture. 

 It was the exact reproduction of Hatch's 

 improvement on the Cary wax-press, except 

 that I made my tray six inches deep, and 

 had the spout right on the bottom, and in 

 one corner. I found the screw most unsat- 

 isfactory. The wax would often press 

 down on one side of the pan and not on the 

 other. Then the side rods would bend, and 

 the screw press sidewise, and strain the 

 whole concern. Had the screw been built 

 into a solid frame instead of a swinging 



bar it would have been much more rigid, 

 and better. As it was, I became disgusted 

 with the whole concern. I slung the press 

 to one side, placed the dish on a strong 

 bench and fixed a strong lever over it. 

 This was a sapling, giving one foot of pur- 

 chase and ten feet of leverage. I then plac- 

 ed the hot wax in position, as described in 

 the ABC book, and placed some large flat 

 blocks of wood on top of the frames, and, 

 last of all, a bit of 4X3 to receive the pres- 



sure. The results of this plan were high- 

 ly gratifying. As I was working single- 

 handed I used to fill only two cloths with 

 the melted wax — at the most three, as I did 

 not wish the stuff to get cold. The lever 

 was suspended by a cord just above its 

 working position. As soon as the wax was 

 ready I lowered the lever and the work 

 started at once. 



At first, when the wax is sloppy and full 

 of water, the weight of the lever is suffi- 

 cient. If I put on much weight at the start, 

 when the cloths are full of water, I should 

 only burst them. The hot wax rushes out 

 of the spout very rapidly at first. In about 

 half a minute I start to hang weights on 

 the end of the lever — a little at first and 

 more and more as the stuff gets firmer; and, 

 last of all, I hang on a drum filled with old 

 iron, or a bag of sand — a total weight of, 

 say, 200 lbs. This on the end of a ten-foot 

 leverage, with one foot of purchase, means 

 a Jweight or pressure of about a ton. It 

 would then be left until the wax ceased to 

 drip. 



The pumice that is left comes out pressed 

 almost as hard as a block of wood. I have 

 tried breaking up the cakes and boiling 

 them over again to see if there is any wax 

 left in them. I always found that there 

 was none. It had all been extracted the 

 first time. 



I attribute this to being satisfied with two 

 good cloths full, applying the pressure at 

 once while the stuff was hot, and getting 

 all the wax out before it was too cool to run. 



As the pressure forced out the water and 

 wax, the blocks were always sinking, and 

 the lever had to be raised once or twice to 

 put other blocks under. I had several 

 weights standing in a row, and each time 

 the lever was moved I put on a heavier 

 weight than the one I had taken off, and, 

 best of all, I piled on the whole lot and left 



