244 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 16, 



diary of the time when I made the one I have been using ever 

 since : 



Number. Pieces. Length in inches. Widtli in inches. Thiclsness 



3. 

 4 

 5. 

 6. 

 7. 

 8. 

 9., 

 10. 



.ao. 



...14... 

 ...\b%. 

 ...30... 

 ...17^. 

 . ..32. . 

 ...16... 

 ...34..., 

 ...18 .., 

 ...34..., 

 .10... 



.10. 

 .10. 

 .10. 



■ % 

 ..% 



■ % 



■ % 



■ % 



11 2 straps... 



J sheet American 



12..1 ( stove-pipe iron 20 18 



13 2 glass 30?.i 16!4 



Having these pieces cut to the dimensions above given, take 

 No. 1, which is for the sides of the body of the extractor, aud 

 nail to the ends of No. 2. Nest nail No. 3 on to one side for a 

 bottom. No. 3 should be made from matched lumber, and all 

 joints put together with white lead, so no loss of heat will oc- 

 cur from its escaping through the cracks or joints where the 

 extractor is put together. Nail No. 4 to the outside of the 

 extractor, at the sides, 14 inch from the top, for the glass 

 frame to rest on, and then nail No. 5 to the ends of No. 4 and 

 the extractor. Now nail No. 6 to the ends of No. 7, for the 

 glass frame, putting the glass. No. 13, into the grooves which 

 have been previously cut for them, before nailing. These grooves 

 should be % deep, the upper one being % from the top, and 

 the next one Ja below the first, so as to make a dead air space 

 between the glass. Perhaps it would be better to put this 

 glass frame together with screws, for in this way there is less 

 danger of breaking the glass. 



If you cannot handily get glass as large as stated, any 

 number of glass 16M inches long and of the right width so 

 that a certain number when placed side by side will make Z0% 

 inches, will do, if you have the upper and lower glass so ar- 

 ranged that they will break joints ; still, the whole glass are 

 better where they can be readily obtained. 



The frame for these glass is to be put together with white 

 lead, the same as the body was ; but there is no lead put in the 

 grooves, as we could not get the glass out should it ever be 

 broken, as mine has been twice. I find that air passes very 

 slowly where it has to go around anything in the way it does 

 these glass. 



Next nail No. 11 to the center of this glass frame at each 

 end, nailing them in such a way that they will form loops or 

 handles, for the frame is to be handled by these, slid off and 

 on, when putting in bits of wax, or when manipulating in time 

 of scarcity of honey, when robbers would bother getting in, 

 were the sash to be lifted off bodily, instead of sliding it. 



Now nail No. 8 to the ends of No. 9, nailing No. 10 to the 

 side of the frame made by nailing Nos. S and 9 together, for a 

 cover to go over the glass frame when the extractor is not in 

 use. This cover will keep the glass from being broken by hail- 

 storms, or from any other cause. It is not necessary to have 

 No. 10 all of one piece, as narrower stuff with the cracks bat- 

 tened, will do very well. 



Now take No. 12 and spring the middle down till the 

 edges come even with the top of the body of the extractor, and 

 snugly against what is to be the back of this body, when it is 

 to be nailed along each side to the side of the extractor. This 

 will give you a hollowing trough on which to put the material 

 which is to be rendered into wax, and the black surface to the 

 iron will so absorb the rays of the sun that it will become 

 very hot in a short time after the cover is taken from over the 

 glass. Fit a piece of half-inch stuff under No. 12, a little 

 back, say 5 inches, from the front or open end, so as to keep 

 the hot air from going under the iron, and it will help very 

 much about keeping the wax melted in the dish into which it 

 runs while being extracted. This keeping the wax melted in 

 the dish helps much about securing our wax cakes in nice 

 form. 



Having all in readiness, set the extractor in or near the 

 apiary, in some handy place, and as of ten as you have any bits 

 of comb or scraps of wax, slide the cover a little forward and 

 drop them in. When any amount has accumlated, remove the 

 cover and in afh hour or two the sun will have reduced all to a 

 nice lot of clean wax in your dish. Of course you will prop 

 the extractor up at the back side so it will face the sun at the 

 right angle, and, if, in the fall of the year the inclination is so 

 great that the refuse slides down into the wax dish, you can 

 remedy it by fixing a piece of wire-cloth at the lower end of 

 the iron bottom, so that the melted wax may run through, 

 but the refuse be held back. After a little you will find 

 many kinks about its use not given here. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



Preservation of Comb aud Rendering of Wax. 



BT HON. R. L. TAYLOR, 



I'iiiperiiitencleHt of the Mkhicjan Ei:pmment Apiary. 



While the production of wax is not made a special object 

 by bee-keepers, at least, not in Northern latitudes, yet, in 

 every apiary, considerable wax may be obtained from burr- 

 and brace combs trimmed from frames, honey-boards, etc., 

 and from drone-comb and broken bits of other comb, if one is 

 careful to preserve them for that purpose. Often, too, a con- 

 siderable portion of the bees of an apiary perish during the 

 winter and spring, especially where little or no care has been 

 taken to secure their comfort during those seasons, and some- 

 times combs become affected by the germs of the conta- 

 gious disease known as foul brood. In this latter case the des- 

 truction of the combs is absolutely necessary in order to pre- 

 vent the spread of the disease, and in the former, in such api- 

 aries, there will be many combs from crookedness, or because 

 they are made up largely of drone-cells, that are of 

 little value as such, and in many such cases it will not be 

 deemed desirable to undertake the preservation of first-class 

 combs, from the prospect that the moths or the mice may des- 

 troy them before they can be put to use among the bees. In all 

 such cases it is important that the wax the comb contains 

 should be secured by rendering. 



However, the value of choice comb is so great that its des- 

 truction should not be entered upon hastily, nor until it is 

 fully settled, after a careful canvass of all the circumstances, 

 that to its owner the wax it contains is all there is of value. 

 To determine its value as comb, consider that experienced bee- 

 keepers think it very profitable to purchase comb foundation 

 at the rate of 10 cents for enough to fill a Langstroth frame, 

 besides the cost of transporting it and the labor of putting it 

 into the frame — say 12J^ cents in all. The comb is certainly 

 as such, worth no less, aud for some purposes very much more, 

 but the wax that can be got from it, i. c, from the comb of a 

 Langstroth frame, is not worth more than five or six cents, 

 which must still be heavily discounted on account of the labor 

 involved in rendering the wax. So the least that can be said 

 for good combs is, that they are worth at least 50 cents more 

 per eight-frame hive for use as combs than for purposes as 

 wax. 



It is very evident, then, if one has comb that cannot pres- 

 ently be made use of by the bees, that it is worth while to 

 know how to keep them in a good state of preservation. The 

 moths and the mice are the enemies that work the most rapid 

 destruction, but light and moisture in connection with bee- 

 bread and other foreign matter cause a gradual deterioration. 

 I have experimented largely both during the past year as well 

 as during prior years, with different methods of preserving 

 combs, and it has not been altogether from choice, but rather 

 a case of necessity, for I have had on hand, not in use, for sev- 

 eral years, from 1,000 to 2,000 combs. There are four meth- 

 ods which I have found to have merit, as follows : 



1. Placing them in hives, over strong colonies of bees so 

 that the bees can have free access to them. To good colonies 

 from one to half a dozen hives of empty combs may be given, 

 care only need be taken that no more be given than the bees 

 will visit somewhat freely. Where it can be used this is the 

 safest and best method, for the bees not only protect them 

 completely, but clean them to a considerable extent, so that 

 they are put in better condition for preservation by other 

 methods, still it has its disadvantages ; the combs must be 

 handled two to four times a season, and during the honey sea- 

 son if comb honey is produced they must be removed, and 

 this is the time when they especially need protection from 

 moths. 



2. I have had excellent success in keeping them in close 

 hives in the shop by laying two thicknesses of newspaper upon 

 a level place on the floor, setting a hive of them upon the 

 paper, covering the hive with two thicknesses of the paper, 

 puttine another hive covered with paper on that, and so con- 

 tinue the operation until the pile is of the desired height, when 

 the top-most hive is to be protected with paper and a close- 

 fitting cover. As the combs are thus so tightly inclosed, they 

 must be reasonably dry aud put away only in a dry place. It 

 is all-important, too, that they be put away early, at least be- 

 fore the millers have an opportunity to deposit their eggs in 

 them. By this method I have kept combs the season through 

 without the sign of a moth, while combs put up in the same 

 room, in the same way, except that the paper was not used, 

 required constant care to preserve them from destruction. The 

 miller that produces the egg from which the moth emerges is 

 furnished with a long ovipositor which she can insert in a small 

 opening, such as she is almost sure to find somewhere between 

 almost any two hives set one upon another. No doubt the 

 openings are present only in a less degree where the paper Is 



