484 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Aug-. 2 1900 



that everything found in print in that line outside of bee- 

 books and bee-journals may be counted on to abound in 

 errors. The beginning of the fourth paragraph contains 

 this statement : ' It is estimated that for every pound of 

 honey there is a pound of comb.' Without asking faith in 

 any statement of mine I think any one will be able to see 

 that this statement is wrong. Take a piece of comb honey 

 and look at it. Does it seem that the wax in it weighs as 

 much as the honey? It may be you haven't a piece of 

 comb honey on ^-our desk, but you may have market re- 

 ports. A report before me gives : ' Dark comb honey, 10 

 to 13 cents per pound ; beeswax, 27 to 30 cents ; extracted 

 honey, 5 to 7 cents. 



"Now suppose a man sends to Chicago a consignment of 

 dark comb honey for which he gets 10 cents a pound, I sup- 

 pose you know that all that is necessary to get the beeswax 

 out of that comb honey is merely to melt the whole mass, 

 and on cooling the cake of wax will be on top. 



"He takes two pounds of that comb honey, melts it, 

 and has one pound beeswax, saj' 27 cents ; one pound ex- 

 tracted honey, S cents ; total 32 cents, or 16 cents a pound, 

 as against 10 cents that it will bring as comb honey. At 

 that rate do you suppose there would ever be a pound of 

 dark 10-ceut honey on the market ? 



" Instead of saying for every pound of honey a pound 

 of comb, it would not be far out of the way to say half an 

 ounce of comb to a pound of honej'. 



The idea exprest about black beeswax coming from 

 tobacco, and light j'ellow wax from clover is all nonsense. 

 Very dark wax and very light wax comes from clover, as I 

 suppose it does from tobacco ; but I doubt if a pound of wax 

 can be produced that can be proved to have come from 

 tobacco. There are lots of things about bees of real inter- 

 est to the general public, concerning which the public ought 

 to be informed, at least it seems so to me, but I may not be 

 a fair judge in the matter. 



" If j'ou will write me next summer I'll take pleasure in 

 sending- you some scales of wax just as they come from the 

 bee, and I never saw them of anj' color but white, no mat- 

 ter what plant the bees workt on. The color came after- 

 ward. — C. C. MiLLEK." 



M. M. Baldridge, of Kane Co., 111., writes: 



" Every bee-keeper knows, in case he knows anything 

 worth knowing about his specialty, that no one can tell by 

 its color simply from what locality beeswax comes, nor from 

 what class of flowers it is made. The color of wax depends 

 almost entirely upon the age and condition of the comb 

 from which it is made, and sometimes upon the vessel used 

 in melting the comb. Honey-comb from which beeswax is 

 made is secreted from honey, and dark honey will make 

 just as white comb as light-colored honey. For instance, 

 buckwheat honey is what is known to bee-keepers as dark 

 honey, but its color depends somewhat on the soil upon 

 which the buckwheat is grown, sandy soil producing a 

 lighter-colored honey than our rich, black prairie land. 

 Now, buckwheat honey, when converted into wax by the 

 bees, makes the very whitest of comb, and consequently 

 makes white or light-yellow beeswax. When the comb be- 

 comes old and dark by being left in the hives for a term of 

 years, and is used by the bees for breeding purposes, it then 

 makes, when melced, what is known as dark-yellow or dark- 

 brown beeswax. And it matters not whether it comes from 

 the East, West, North or South. Again, if the combs be 

 melted in bright tin it will be of lighter color than when 

 melted in iron vessels, as iron always discolors hot wax. 

 For this reason no one should use iron in which to melt 

 either wax or comb, in case a product of the lightest possi- 

 able color be desired. 



" Now, it is barely possible that bees may work to some 

 extent on the blossoms of tobacco, but that they gather 

 much honey therefrom, or that they are ' fond of the to- 

 bacco-plant,' needs stronger proof than simply an assertion. 

 The honey-comb is made chiefly from honey ; the bees have 

 the power at will to change or convert the same into fat. 

 The fat is exuded by the bees, and appears between the ab- 

 dominal rings on the underside of the abdomen, and in the 

 shape of thin, narrow ribbons of wax. and is then taken 

 therefrom by the comb-builders and made into comb. That 

 is the explanation given by the majority of practical bee- 

 keepers and scientists of the present day. There are, how- 

 ever, a few who dispute the foregoing explanation in part ; 

 who claim that the bees have the power at will to change 

 the honey into fat, but that while the fat is an oil, or in the 

 liquid condition, the wax-producers being also the comb- 

 builders, have also the power to disgorge the oil thru the 

 mouth, or honey-tube, directly upon the edge of the cell. 



and that the wax-scales sometimes found between the ab- 

 dominal rings are simply congregated oil or the refuse fat 

 of the bee. Their claim is that no one has ever yet re- 

 ported seeing an incomplete cell in a ragged or imperfect 

 condition upon the edge, which would often be the case if 

 the scales of wax were used instead of the oil in its con- 

 struction. 



"Honey is now generally thrown out of the comb, 

 whether the comb be old or new, by a machine operated by 

 centrifugal force, but it is an error to suppose that new 

 comb is melted into wax as soon as the honey is thus ex- 

 tracted. As a rule, such comb is given back to the bees, so 

 they can refill it with honey, and in good seasons as many 

 as three, four, or even five times. Such comb, if cared for 

 properly, may be thus used from year to year, and for a 

 period of 10, IS, or 20 years. 



" Oh, no ; there is no such estimate among beerkeepers 

 as one pound of honey to each pound of comb, nor vice versa. 

 What you probably refer to, as 'estimated,' is that it takes 

 about 20 pounds of honey to secrete wax enough to make a 

 pound of comb, but that is one of the old and now obsolete 

 estimates. — M. M. B.\ldridgk." 



No. 11.— How to Get the Most Out of Yourself. 



BY " OLD GRIMBS." 



IF we were to solve the problem of how to get the most 

 out of a horse, a yoke of oxen, or a steam-engine, we 

 have books without number that will give full instruc- 

 tions respecting the course to pursue. 



With some men — " the man with the hoe," forinstance 

 — the rule you would apply to the oxen would work well. 

 Then there are some to whom the rules for the horse would 

 apply, and others the steam-engine. 



But I am supposed to be treating a higher development, 

 found in the intelligent bee-keeper — an animal, of course, 

 but combining the intelligence of all animals, a machine of 

 all machines — a universe, something infinite. That is the 

 reason why books can not compass the subject, and it 

 would be far from the ability of Old Grimes to approach a 

 thousandth part of the subject. 



But in trying to get the most out of ourselves there are 

 some thoughts perhaps worth repeating, that will find a 

 responsive chord in some weary heart, and that will give 

 hope for the toils of to-day, and to-morrow, and the next 

 da)'. 



Dear fellow worker, " Did you ever see angels in the 

 opening flower, and hear angel songs in the night-winds ? 

 Of course, you did when you were a pure, confiding child. 

 But, alas, the years come and go, the eye becomes dimmed 

 with worldly aims, and the beautiful side of life is lost. 

 The flower is ruthlessly trodden under foot, and the whis- 

 pering evening winds caress an unresponsive and careworn 

 brow." And who is to blame? Has the world been too 

 much for you ? Have self-seeking men abused your confi- 

 dence ? Are you in debt, and is the load heavy and griev- 

 ous to bear ? Well, you are to blame for placing this 

 leaven into your life, but you can gain some consolation by 

 teaching your children never to get into debt. Tell them 

 that interest and the law to enforce its payment are 

 as merciless as a buzz-saw. Has the pressure been so great 

 that you see demons in your fellow men ? Beware ! the 

 man who sees demons in others has the demon in himself. 



Get back the faith of childhood, see the angel in the 

 flowel, see the angel in your fellow man, and the angel will 

 also abide with )'OU. 



Are you a church member ? It is well. O, you are not ? 

 Well, I believe it is the proper thing, but in these days of 

 toleration probably you and I believe that no church has an 

 exclusive patent on the gate into heaven. Of course, you 

 believe in Christ and His teachings. Every well-rounded 

 man does. He workt upon a broad-gauge plan, and there 

 is hope for you. Get the angel in our heart, and we are , 

 one with the Infinite. 



Well, now, it seems to me I hear some one say, " Old 

 Grimes is trying to preach a sermon." Oh, no, I am only 

 pointing out the bed-rock upon which to build character — 

 something- that will bring the greatest results — faith that 

 this is but the threshold to a grand future life. This faith 

 brings content with our lot, peace of mind when the storm 

 breaks, and more precious than silver and gold. 



But if our soul is right how is it with the body ? • You 

 certainlj' can not get much out of yourself if you abuse " the 

 house you live in." Have you the blues? Then look at 

 the stomach, the liver, and the kidneys, and work to get 



