GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



thick. I nailed these together 9 inches 

 apart, and slipped the ends of one piece 

 thi-ough the handles of the tub, thus hold- 

 ing it in position for uncapping. After the 

 day's work is done this is taken off the top. 

 The top tub is lifted, and the wood put be- 

 tween. In the morning the bottom tub is 

 nearly full of honey. The top tub is lifted 

 off and put into another small tub and left 

 to drain. The tub with the honey in is lift- 

 ed up to the extractor and poured through 

 it into the tank. When another tub of cap- 

 pings is ready it is placed on top of the first 

 lot, and so on. 



I used tliis method for some time, and 

 then I got tired of having cappings around. 

 The rats got at them; also the moths, and 

 they were always an incentive to the bees 

 to rob, and so I made a press. The box is of 

 ll^-inch stuff, halved at the corners, and 

 nailed both ways. It is 17x12x17 inches 

 each way. The sides are lined with slats 

 running from top to bottom. Across the 

 bottom three pieces of 3x1 hard wood are 

 nailed, and across these more slats. This 

 box stands on a 4x4 hard-wood frame. The 

 two uprights that caiTy the crossarm at the 

 top are mortised through this frame and 

 fastened with wooden pins so that, when the 

 pressure is applied (with a carpenter's iron 

 bench-screw), it pulls this frame and the 

 crossarm toward each other, and does not 

 shove the slatted bottom off the box. The 

 follower is a square box made of inch wood 

 to fit the press, and is 11 inches deep. It 

 has a piece of 3x2 hard wood let in under 

 the lid, and another piece on the same side, 

 inside the bottom, to take the strain. The 

 4x4 frame stands on legs, and there is a gal- 

 vanized-iron tray (to catch the honey) 

 which holds 60 lbs. After I got this press 

 at work, instead of standing the tub or tubs 

 of cappings away in the corner they were 

 lifted over to the press and the cappings 

 shoveled into half a chaff bag, and the hon- 

 ey pressed out. The shovel may be allowed 

 to slide right along the bottom of these 

 tubs, and it will not hurt them a bit. 



The cakes of cappings come out as hard 

 as a stone, 17x17x3 inches, as the press is 

 strong enough to allow the most powerful 

 man to screw it down as hard as he is able. 

 To give some idea of the strain, I might 

 mention that we -broke several crossbars, 

 made of ironbark, 6x21/2 inches. Since 

 then I have made one 6x4 of the same wood, 

 and no one is strong enough yet to break 

 that. I got some boxes with lids to store 

 the cakes in; but they were not satisfac- 

 tory. The rats gnawed holes through them, 

 and some hives were filled too full, and the 

 lid would not shut, so I got a square iron 

 lank. These are procurable all over Aus- 



tralia. Tliey are made of one-sixteenth 

 black iron riveted together, and are 4x4x4 

 feet, and 3x3x3 feet, with a manhole in the 

 top, and a close-fitting lid. The one I got 

 had a crack in the corner where the iron 

 had split when being folded; and when it 

 got hot from the sun (it is kejDt in the 

 open) more honey ran out of the cakes and 

 out of this crack. When I found this I 

 tipped the tank toward that corner, and 

 now the bees do a regular business when 

 there is no flow on. I know of no practical 

 way of getting all the honey from the cap- 

 pings. I have carried the tubs out, and 

 have let the bees get at the bottoms after 

 we had finished extracting, and they got the 

 most of it ; but I doubt if the game is worth 

 the candle. 



For many years I used solar extractors 

 to get the wax from the cappings, until I 

 found that a friend was getting more wax 

 from much fewer bees by boiling the cap- 

 pings in a bag, the same as depicted in the 

 ABC and X Y Z of Bee Culture. I then 

 tried treating the slumgum; but the result 

 was not satisfactory. I got a block of dark- 

 gray wax ; and after treating this with acid 

 I got three-fifths light and the rest rubbish. 

 Then I tried treating the whole lot in the 

 bags the same as my friend did ; but I did 

 not like that either. Then I tried tipping 

 the whole lot into a copper and treating it 

 with acid the same as mentioned in the 

 ABC book; but in that description cakes 

 were put in without refuse. I dipped off 

 all I could, but found too much left behind 

 to cool, mixed with refuse. I thought the 

 honey had something to do with this result, 

 so I soaked my cappings in bags in the 

 creek for 48 hours, and the result was much 

 better. Still, it was not satisfactory. Then 

 I altered it. I dipped off what I could, 

 and put the rest through the press; and, 

 judging from appearance, there is but very 

 little wax in the refuse. This is much the 

 best method so far, but it is not satisfac- 

 tory. It is too slow, and there is too much 

 labor, so I have purchased a German wax- 

 press, and I mean to see if that will help to 

 expedite matters. 



South Woodburn, N. S. W., April 16. 



[From experiments that we made, it 

 seemed to us that it is a pretty slow process 

 to press the honey from the caj^pings. On 

 this account we prefer the capping-melter ; 

 for, although certain kinds of honey are in- 

 jured slightly, one can hardly tell the dif- 

 ference unless the honey has been allowed 

 to stand a long time in the melter or in con- 

 tact with the hot wax, and the results every 

 other way are certainly much more satis- 

 factory. — Ed.] 



