1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



261 



fire, which, of course, is to be kept up as the necessities of the 

 case may require. More water may be put into the tank at 

 the start if the combs have not been prepared by soaking in 

 water, which it is better to do, as that tends to prevent the 

 cocoons taking up and retaining the wax I think it is an ad- 

 vantage, also, to crumble the combs quite finely, which may 

 be done readily if they have been stored where the tempera- 

 ture is quite low. The comb is then put into the tank, which 

 will accommodate that from about 100 Langstroth frames, or 

 170 Heddon frames. When the contents of the tank boil, and 

 the wax is all thoroughly melted, it will be found that there 

 is room in the tank for considerable more water. This is now 

 added to the extent of about a pail full, which must be cold 

 and handled with a dipper so that it may be done gently and 

 somewhat gradually. 



At this point the boiling has ceased and the surface of the 

 lately boiling comb somewhat hardened, so that it retains a 

 considerable part of the added water on the surface. Now I 

 watch it, keeping up a moderate fire. In a few minutes the 

 pure was is seen oozing through the crust and floating away 

 on the water. More water is added now in sufficient quanti- 

 ties to make the rising wax harden so that it may be removed 

 with the hand. This is not a very material part of the opera- 

 tion, but it is utilized because in any case the water must be 

 added. During the adding of the water, which must be to the 

 convenient capacity of the tank, with a little care, about half 

 the wax the comb contains may be removed in this way in an 

 almost purecondition. 



When sufficient water has at length been added, I let the 

 whole come again to the boiling-point. Then I put the perfor- 

 ated vessel into the mass at the point where the wax appears 

 to be gathering largely, turning it about and working it down 

 until it contains a few inches in depth of the liquid, or I put a 

 weight upon it aud let it settle and stand a few minutes for the 

 wax to gather, then, with the scoop, which must be of a size 

 to work freely inside the perforated-tin can, I dip off the 

 melted wax from the liquid. This is best done by settling the 

 back end of the scoop and letting the surface wax run in over 

 the sharp edge in front, which is depressed so as to get the 

 wax without too much of the water, which is dark, while the 

 wax is transparent. The perforated can is operated in this 

 way in five or six different places more or less according to cir- 

 cumstances when most of the wax will have been removed. 

 There is generally no particular object in working it too close- 

 ly, for, at best, there will be a little of the wax that cannot 

 well be removed. 



I now let the mass get cold, when the crust of the "ba- 

 gasse" will be found to contain the wax which remains. This 

 is carefully removed and laid aside, to be added to the next 

 " batch" at about the time it first comes to the boiling-point. 

 This process is repeated until all the comb is reduced. A 

 cover is provided for the tank and put in use whenever desira- 

 ble. 



After this is all accomplished comes the final process for 

 clarifying the wax from the remaining impurities. For this 

 purpose a smaller melting vessel is desirable. I make use of 

 an old wash-boiler. I place the boiler, about half full of water, 

 over the fire and add the wax, or as much thereof as I safely 

 can, and let it melt and boil, Now, while it is very desirable 

 not to let wax boil more than is necessary, on account of the 

 injury done it thereby, yet some boiling is necessary in order 

 to put the impurities in such condition that they will readily 

 settle below the wax. The proper stage is known from the 

 transparency of the wax which may be discovered by lifting a 

 little from time to time in the scoop. When the wax thus 

 raised is clear, I let the fire go down and out. In the mean- 

 time the room is made as hot as possible and kept so. 



The wax is left on the stove and sometimes the vessel con- 

 taining it is wrapped and covered with several thicknesses of 

 paper. All this for the purpose of retaining the heat so that 

 the wax may be in a liquid state as long as possible to give the 

 impurities plenty of time to settle into the water below. On 

 the same account I am careful not to agitate the wax in any 

 way. If proper care has been taken the wax will remain liquid 

 for several hours, but of course the length of time will vary 

 according to the amount of wax, the size of the vessel and the 

 warmth of the room. 



When the temperature of the wax falls to about 155^, or, 

 in case no thermometer is at hand, when the first signs of its 

 beginning to harden at the edges appear, I am prepared with 

 tin milk-pans to receive it aud with the scoop to dip the wax. 

 This is done with care, that the refuse below may not be un- 

 necessarily disturbed, and yet, with speed, that the now rapid- 

 ly falling temperature of the wax may not interfere with the 

 completion of the work. All but from half an inch in depth of 

 the wax may be dipped without greatly disturbing the set- 

 tlings, and when it is seen that any of them adhere to the 



scoop, the dipping is stopped and the rest of the wax is left to 

 harden where it is, when it is lifted out in a cake, and what 

 little refuse adheres to the lower side may be readily scraped 

 off and the whole batch be in good condition for market. 



In this process the skimming off of such impurities as rise 

 to the surface just as the wax begins to boil should be at- 

 tended to. 



If the course indicated be familiarized and practiced, it is 

 confidently believed that the rendering of wax will no longer 

 be considered a difficult or a disagreeable operation. — Review. 



Lapeer, Mich. 



Sizes and Kinds of Hives — Nou-Swarming Bees 



BY E. S. L0VK8Y. 



As so much has been written on the swarming us. non- 

 swarming topic, aud also the best kind or size of hive to in- 

 sure success, I presume many bee-keepers think what few 

 good points obtainable, that would be of material benefit, 

 have been already threshed out, so that there is little besides 

 chaff left. One thing is certain, if all the good points on 

 those questions have been brought out, many of our bee-keep- 

 ers have not practically utilized them. Many have tried, or 

 practiced, a little on an improved hive, or on the non-swarm- 

 ing system, with a determination not to approve or believe in 

 it unless they are compelled to do so. It is useless to expect 

 success from any experiment unless it is followed up with 

 thorough tests. If this is done with a determination to de- 

 velop all the good points, the result will be a success, or 

 proof that success is not obtainable. But some bee-keepers 

 will experiment with one or two colonies of bees to try the 

 non-swarming method, or to test some new hive, or one dif- 

 ferent from what they have been using, then if they don't 

 succeed they jump at the conclusion that there is nothing in 

 it, when, in fact, this would be no test at all of the merits of 

 any hive or any system of managenrent. Of course, we are 

 all aware that location, or the amount of honey-flow, cuts a 

 big figure in experiments of this kind ; in fact, this is more or 

 less correct in experiments of any kind. 



Some bee-keepers here, the past season, tried what is 

 called the Ferguson pattern of the Langstroth hive. A few 

 bee-keepers got one or two just to try them, and when they 

 happened to be located in t"he center of large lucern fields, as 

 a rule they were a success, while others not so favorably 

 located were not so favorably impressed. 



Now, as to the merits of different hives : Having used 

 nearly all the different styles of hives in general use for the 

 past ten years, I have about arrived at the conclusion that the 

 best all-purpose hive, or the one that pays me the best, is the 

 10-frame Langstroth. The 8-frame is all right for comb 

 honey, because in running for comb honey the bees keep the 

 brood-chamber pretty well filled with honey, but in running 

 for extracted honey with a two or three story hive, the queen 

 often fills the bottom story so full of brood that there is not 

 enough honey to winter on, and my bees winter best in a one- 

 story hive. 



I prefer the 10-frame for an all-purpose hive, and when I 

 get a three-story 10-frame Langstroth hive with 40,000 to 

 50,000 bees in it, run on the non-swarming method, then I 

 have a colony of bees that pays. They give me greater re- 

 turns for the amount of money invested than anything else 

 would give for a like amount invested. When I went down to 

 St. Louis and the World's Fair, three years ago, the profits 

 from two of my best colonies paid my entire expenses for the 

 trip. 



A PHENOMENAL COLONY OF BEES. 



The following is a record of my best colony the past sea- 

 son : They filled up their hive with bees earlier than most 

 of the others, so I took out three frames of brood from thera 

 twice, which I put into empty hives ; these I filled up with 

 frames of honey and foundation, then I moved two other 

 strong colonies and put the two new hives in their place ; the 

 bees returning from the field filled them. In a few days the 

 old colony, A, was teeming over with bees again. I then took 

 three other frames of brood as before, but I also moved the 

 old colony A, and let them furnish the bees to make colony B, 

 but in order not to weaken them too much, and as I owed 

 them six frames of brood that, as I have stated, I took from 

 them in the beginning, I gave them three frames of brood 

 from another hive. A little later I repeated the operation, 

 giving them back the other three frames, but this time I 

 divided them about 11 o'clock, and got an overflow swarm; 

 that is, I again moved the old colony A as before, and they 

 filled the new hive C full. Of course, the bees in hive C started 

 queen-cells, but on the fourth day I put in a queen-cell that 



