1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



767 



ject of which he treats. I know that many 

 of our subscribers in the East as well as 

 in the West are interested in this subject; 

 and they can do no better than to send to 

 the O. Judd Co., as above. The price of 

 the book is not mentioned. 



THE DROUTH IN TEXAS. 



While we bee-keepers of the North-Cen- 

 tral States have been suffering- from an ex- 

 cessive amount of rain and cool weather, 

 the bee-keepers of Texas have been " en- 

 joying- "the very opposite condition — drouth, 

 parched ground and veg-etation, and a long-, 

 long waiting for rain that came too late. 

 It has been many a year since bee-keeping 

 came so near being a failure in the Lone 

 Star State; for it is one of the few States 

 where the bees make a good living for them- 

 selves and their owners nearly every year. 



There are thousands of acres of unoccu- 

 pied territory remote from centers of popula- 

 tion, that will support bees. Those who de- 

 sire more information would do well to 

 write to Mr. Udo Toepperwein, 438 West 

 Houston St., San Antonio, Texas. He will 

 take pleasure in steering you into locali- 

 ties where you will not be encroaching on 

 some other person's territory. But do not 

 go anywhere without making a thorough in- 

 vestigation, writing to everybody you can 

 get hold of. So far as possible we shall be 

 willing to furnish names of parties in such 

 localities. 



MR. toepperwein AND HIS BRIDE. 



During the first of September we were 

 honored with a call from Mr. Udo Toepper- 

 wein and wife, who were then on their wed- 

 ding-trip. Mr. T. has charge of the Root 

 Co. 's branch at San Antonio, Texas. He 

 is a stalwart six-footer of fine appearance 

 and pleasing address. Mrs. T. seems to 

 be a full complement of her " other half. " 



It will be remembered that, some time 

 ago, I took a picture of Mr. T. at his home 

 in Texas. I asked him to look his very 

 prettiest and imagine that his " best girl" 

 was looking at him. He complied with my 

 instructions, and I put the result, picture 

 and all, in Gleanings. At the time I 

 stated that our friend had no best girl; that 

 he was of marriageable age, good-looking, 

 honest, and good ; and that the girl who 

 was lucky enough to get him would get a 

 prize, and (would you believe it?) ourfriend 

 received four letters from some nice young 

 ladies. To all of these he turned a deaf 

 ear, as it was not his style to court at "long 

 range." Well, to make a long story short, 

 he grew tired of single blessedness and of 

 boarding out, and has now taken unto him- 

 self a helpmeet from his own city, and pro- 

 poses to live henceforth in good orthodox 

 fashion. 



Gleanings extends its congratulations, 

 and wishes the well- matched couple a life 

 of happiness and prosperity. Perhaps a 

 little later on I may be able to introduce to 

 you the better half, having shown some 

 time ago — well, perhaps the "poorer" half. 



EXPERIMENTS MADE AT MEDINA ON THE 



VARIOUS METHODS OF RENDERING 



WAX UNDER PRESSURE. 



After having tried various plans sent to 

 us for rendering wax out of old comb, we 

 think we have devised a method whereby a 

 home-made machine can be built that will 

 do very good work, although, of course, 

 not so rapidly nor so convenientlj^ as our 

 German wax-extractor. The accompany- 

 ing engraving was made before the experi- 

 ment was performed, hence a few changes 

 will be apparent, as all theories are more 

 or less changed in actual practice. 



The tub can be made of an ordinary wa- 

 ter-tight barrel, sawed off to make it about 

 one foot in depth. The sides and bottom 

 should be ribbed with sticks to allow the 

 wax to flow off more easily. The plunger 

 is simply a heavy round board with cross- 

 pieces to strengthen, and also ribbed under- 

 neath. 



To begin operations, wrap up securely 

 about 5 lbs. of old comb or slumgum in 

 cheese-cloth, and place the package in the 

 tub. The best results can not be obtained 

 if, after pressing, the "cheese" is more 

 than an inch and a half thick. By experi- 

 ence only can one tell how much slumgum 

 to take, for the amount of wax differs. 



Next, pour over the package of slumgum 

 one good-sized pailful of boiling water, and, 

 after letting it stand a moment, until the 

 wax begins to come to the surface, apply 

 the pressure. We do not think it practica- 

 ble to try to get the wax off the top of the 

 hot water, either by dipping or by a spout, 

 as is shown in the engraving. The layer 

 of wax is so comparatively thin that it is 

 better, after pressing, to pour off water and 

 wax together. After standing awhile the 

 wax will harden and be in good shape for 

 melting up for market, etc. From the small 

 amount of hot water that is needed, it is 

 less trouble to change it each time; for if 

 three or four pails are kept going it will be 

 an easy matter. 



After the pressure is applied once thor- 

 oughly, turn the water and wax off; double 

 the cheese over, and again squeeze it. By 

 actual weight, 15 oz. was obtained the first 

 time from 4 lbs. of old comb, dirt, etc., and 

 5 oz. the second. A third pressing does not 

 pay. 



There are a great many inquiries as to 

 which is most convenient, rapid, and thor- 

 ough — pressure under hot water, pressure 

 in steam, or pressure on wax that has been 

 heated in another vessel. With hot water 

 one can get the same amount of wax as 

 with steam, other things being equal; but 

 it takes longer, and is more complicated. 

 It has been suggested that the hot water 

 will do better work than steam because of 

 the fact that, since wax floats on water, the 

 minute that a particle of wax is pressed 

 out from the cheese-cloth it will rise to the 

 surface out of the way — acting on the prin- 

 ciple of "taking in the slack." Those 

 who suggested this, however, had not tried 

 both plans, and admitted that the idea was 



