[9138 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



dip up 4 gallons of the melted comb, and put it 

 into the press, fold over the burlap, put on the 

 follower, turn off most of the steam, and apply 

 the pressure; then fill the other press, gradually 

 increasing the pressure, giving plenty of time, as 

 we are melting combs all the time, and the steam 

 is keeping the "cheese" hot. We iceep just 

 enough steam going into the presses to keep all 

 h'jr, and the wax "on the move" from the outlet 

 in the front of the press. From this outlet it 

 passes through an Aikin separating pail, shown 

 on p. 1314, Nov. 1 (kept hot on a small oil-stove, 

 or with steam), which runs all the wax into pails 

 at one side, and the water into other pails 

 on the other side. You may note that one of the 

 presses has an outlet near the top of the box. 

 This upper opening was used in our tests of the 

 hot-water method of pressing. As we got little 

 if any more wax by the use of the hot water, we 

 are now using the steam alone. 



We get about 75 pounds of wax from 25 eight- 

 frame hives, so we think that we get about all 

 the wax that we can afford to get, at present prices 

 of fuel and labor. We find that the plan of run- 

 ning steam into the press is quite a help; then if 

 you wish to use these presses as hot-water presses 

 you can loosen the screw, turn on the steam, 

 which shakes up the cheese of slumgum in a very 

 effective manner, causing it to absorb a maximum 

 of really hot water. Then when pressure is 

 again applied, the wax is again washed out, as 

 described by Gary so many years ago The 

 plan of using two presses is very much better 

 than to use but one, as two can be worked about 

 as easily as one, and there is less need to hurry 

 the work. As fast as we got 50 hives free from 

 comb, they were taken out and scalded in boil- 

 ing lye-water, when they were again ready for 

 use. 



Meridian, Idaho, Jan. 4. 



[If you had not said that you got little if any 

 more wax when you used the hot-water plan we 

 should have thought at once that you could do 

 cleaner work by closing the outlet at the bottom 

 of your press-boxes, thus allowing the refuse to 

 be surrounded by 

 hot water. Howev- 

 er, we assume that 

 you took out the 

 screw and follower 

 after one pressing, 

 thoroughly mixed 

 up the contents of 

 the burlap, and 

 pressed again. In 

 any system of ren- 

 dering wax we be- 

 lieve that it is gen- 

 erally conceded to 

 be a fact that no 

 amount of pressure 

 will force out all 

 the wax at one time. 

 The refuse must be 

 heated or soaked up 

 again, and the pres- 

 sure applied the sec- 

 ond, or, in some 

 cases, even the third 

 time. 



We have lately been using the Hatch press on 

 the plan advocated by Mr. W. J. Manley, page 

 1313, November 1, 1908; and at this time it seems 

 likely that somewhat cleaner work can be done 

 than by the regular plan of allowing the wax and 

 water to run out and away from the refuse as 

 fast as possible. The principal advantage of the 

 Manley plan, so far as we can see, is that it does 

 away with the necessity of lifting out the cheese 

 and shaking it up before pressing it the second 

 time; for by merely releasing the pressure the 

 water that is still hot thoroughly soaks up the 

 cheese. We have demonstrated, to our own sat- 

 isfaction at least, that it does not pay when us- 

 ing this plan to p ess more than one cheese at a 

 time. In the Hershiser press, on the other hand, 

 where the water can be kept constantly near the 

 boiling-point for two or three hours, more than 

 one lot of refuse can be pressed out at a time, 

 since the alternate pressing and soaking can go 

 on indefinitely until no more wax will come out. 



You say that you get little if any more wax 

 when using the hot water. In our experience it 

 takes no longer to close the lower outlet and al- 

 low the water to accumulate in the boxes so that 

 it surrounds the refuse than to allow the wax to 

 run off below; and so if even a small percentage 

 more of wax were seemed by that plan it would 

 seem that it would be wise to follow it. — Ed.] 



IS BEE-KEEPING ALONE PROFITA- 

 BLE AS A BUSINESS? 



BY GEO. W. YONT. 



CRATE TOR SHIPITnG FOWLS; LIGHT, STRONG, t 

 COMFORTABLE. 

 Made by our apiarist, Mr. Bain. See Poultry Department. 



In the American Bee Journal for October, 1908, 

 p. 310, in an article entitled "Specialty vs. Am- 

 ateur Bee-keeping," copied from the American 

 Bee-keeper, I notice the following statement: 



It has been my pleasure to be associated wlih some of the 

 most extensive producers of honey, and to have the management 

 of some of the largest apiaries in the United States, numbering 

 their colonies by thousands, and to note by experience the con- 

 ditions and possibilities on all sides of the United States from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Canada to Cuba, during all of 

 which time I have been intensely interested in apiculture as a 

 pursuit. During that period I have not met a dozen men who 

 have amassed a compe- 

 tency through the culture 

 of bees alone. Therefore, 

 as a last word to those who 

 contemplate embarking in 

 bee-keeping as a money- 

 making venture, I desirf 

 to goon record as advising 

 against it. 



I desire to ask, 

 " Is bee-keeping a 

 precarious and un- 

 reliable pursuit? Is 

 it possible for only 

 a very few, and 

 those only persons 

 peculiarly situated 

 in favorable locali- 

 ties, to earn a live- 

 lihood at it.? How 

 does it compare in 

 profits, followed as 

 aspecialty with oth- 

 er rural pursuits.?" 

 I have been led to 

 believe from past 

 reading that a good 



