1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



633 



F. Atwater, F. R. Fouch, R. H. Bradshaw, and 

 Will Pennington to look up markets and suggest 

 prices for the present year's crop. 



The officers elected for the ensuing year were, 

 J. E. Lyon, President, Boise; Ben Paine, Vice- 

 President, Roswell; E. F. Atwater, Secretary and 

 Treasurer, Meridian; F. A. Powers, Parma; R. 

 A. Bradshaw, Payette. 



Caldwell, Idaho. 



A PROMISING YOUNG HELPER IN 

 THE APIARY. 



BY C. RANEY. 



The engraving shows my neice, wlio is my 

 only help in handling bees. Though but nine 

 years old, she seems to have the 

 bees charmed in some way, for she 

 uses neither veil nor gloves, and 

 never gets stung. The two hives 

 in the picture belong to her. They 

 were in fine shape for winter, weigh- 

 ing 200 lbs. each. Both were swarms 

 hived last June. We took 75 fin- 

 ished sections from them last season. 



Our principal honey crop in mid- 

 dle Tennessee is from the white and 

 sweet clover. 



Petersburg, Tenn. 



acid, the color would be improved; but I would 

 not recommend this treatment, as I considered it 

 a waste of time, and there was also a danger of 

 overheating, and possibly destroying more or less 

 the ductility of the wax. 



On receipt of my letter they wrote me saying 

 that, if any sulphuric acid had been used in ren- 

 dering my wax, it would positively be useless for 

 metosendeven a sample. They were emphatic in 

 the matter, and it was of the greatest importance 

 to them to be certain that not the slightest trace 

 of acid be present in any beeswax they purchased. 

 In the end a five-pound cake was sent as a sample, 

 and in the course of ten days a substantial order 

 was received. Only a few days ago the manager 

 of the factory told me that the wax gave entire 

 saisfaction. However, the attitude of this firm 



BEESWAX IN THE ARTS. 



Sulphuric Acid Makes Wax 

 Unfit for Certain Manufac- 

 turing Purposes. 



BY J. L. BYER. 



The average bee-keeper has a very 

 faint conception as to the various uses 

 to which pure beeswax is put at the 

 present time. As a matter of fact, 

 the use of beeswax in the different 

 manufacturing industries is increas- 

 ing very fast; and if this were not 

 the case it is quite certain that the 

 price of this important product of 

 the hive would be much lower than 

 at present, which price, by the way, 

 is none too high to say the least. 

 During the last eight years I have 

 marketed something over 3000 lbs. 

 of beeswax, and yet it was only this 

 winter that I found the various uses 

 to which the wax is put, of which I 

 previously had had no idea. Some 

 time in December the manufactu- 

 rers of a certain line of paper wrote 

 me saying that my name had been winnie c. 

 given them as one likely to supply 

 them with pure beeswax, and they 

 asked me to quote prices and send sample for 

 trial. In reply I stated that we had such confi- 

 dence that our wax would prove satisfactory that 

 we would forward 100 pounds; and if it did not 

 prove to be satisfactory they could return it at 

 our expense. They were told that the wax was 

 rendered from old combs, was free of dirt, but 

 only ordinary in color. Incidentally, I stated 

 that, by remelting and clarifying with sulphuric 



muse, a young helper in the apiary who 

 USES neither veil nor gloves. 



led me to do some investigating, and I find that 

 a large number of dealers and manufacturers are 

 under the impression that, for certain uses, the 

 addition of sulphuric acid in rendering wax is 

 harmful to the finished product. Whether this 

 claim is well founded or not is not for me to say; 

 but one fact was undisputably brought out by 

 my inquiries, and that is, iox some reason a large 

 quantity of beeswax is being put on the market 



