Nov. 9, 190S 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



?77 



known that adulterated honey is so commonly found on the 

 market of the large towns and cities of the State that the 

 more intelligent people hesitate to purchase unless the assur- 

 ance is given that pure honey is furnished from a reputable 

 producer. 



I do not believe in the existence of trusts to the enriching 

 of the few at the expense of the many, but there should be 

 such organization among honey-producers that we should not 

 come in competition with ourselves. To this end a honey- 

 producers' association should exist and be maintained, and 

 our products handled by economic business methods. 



I would call your attention to The Honey-Producers' 

 League, an institution less than a year old, national in char- 

 acter, and it has already begun its work of merit. Any bee- 

 keeper of the United States or Canada may become a member. 

 Let us investigate its merits. 



We realize the need of a bee paper edited in the South. 

 Several attempts have been made to meet this want, but un- 

 successfully, or a journal would be in existence to-day. The 

 management of our bees in the South being entirely different 

 from the management in Xorthern latitudes, the reasons and 

 the calls for a vSouthern bee-paper are many, and we will hail 

 with delight the advent of a journal backed up by an individ- 

 ual or stock company that will have the backbone to come to 

 stay. With such a journal, conducted by a clean, progressive 

 bee-man, and a stock company to perpetuate a live journal 

 with sufficient financial backing, the bee-keepers and adver- 

 tisers will rally to its support. 



Owing to the almost prohibitive prices now being fixed on 

 hives by the large manufacturers, there is a crying demand 

 for factories in our midst that will make use of our native 

 pine and cypress for hive-making. The low prices on honey, 

 and the several successive poor seasons, make it imperative 

 that supplies must be bought more cheaply. 



The honey industry of Texas, we might say, is in its in- 

 fancy, yet this great State produces more honey than any 

 other one State in the Union. Are we a progressive body ? 

 or shall we wait until our day is past and others will catch the 

 spirit of progress and do the things that we should now begin ? 



Lastly, I repeat that the success of this meeting depends 

 upon you. It is yours. Let us enter heartily into all the dis- 

 cussions. W. H. Law.s. 

 (Continued next ^eek.) 



Report of the Chicago-Northwestern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Convention, held at Chicago, 111,, 

 Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 1904 



[Continued from page 761. J 

 PRESSURE OF THE GERM.VN WAX-PRESS. 



"Will Mr. Root tell us what is the pressure of the Ger- 

 man wax-press?" 



• Mr. Root — I don't believe that I can answer that in 

 pounds. Miss Wilson said a good deal depends upon the 

 woman in keeping bees. A good lead depends on the wax 

 you are pressing, and a good deal depends on what strength 

 you have. One great trouble is, it is a mistake to suppose 

 that a great deal of pressure is necessary; an intermittent 

 pressure is generally better than to squeeze the combs right 

 down. Suppose you fill j'our press clean up to the top, and 

 then squeeze it down in a solid mass, and consider you have 

 done the job. That is not the way it should be done. It 

 should be squeezed, and turned over, and turned over, and 

 squeezed, if you want to get it all out. Some experiments 

 are going to show that hot water is a great deal better than 

 steam. 



Mr. France — Just one thing there. I believe that some 

 of you get a wrong impression about the wax-press. When 

 Mr. Root said, "You fill that up,'' he won't recommend that, 

 or I have not found that from my experience. You want to 

 put in but a small quantity of slumgum at a time in order 

 to get the effect of the pressure. 



Mr. Wilcox — How thick should the cake be at the bot- 

 tom of the press when you press it? 



Mr. France — I should prefer not to have it over an 

 inch and a half thick. 



Mr. Reynolds— Dr. Miller, I believe, asked Mr. Hubert 

 Root last year what the pressure was of that press, and he 

 stated that there was between three and four tons. I cliim 

 that there is no such pressure, for the simple reason tliat 

 the cross-piece of the wa.x-press will not stand it. Tlie one 

 I use bends, and draws the side in on the basket, and it is [ 

 a hard matter to get the basket out with the slumgum in. 



Dr. Miller — Is the bar of wood or metal? ' 



Mr. Reynolds — It is wood. I think it is not right that 

 that should be sent broadcast through the proceedings of 

 the convention as it was last year. 



Mr. Meredith^I believe if you take a 10-pound block, 

 and put it over the screw, turning or pressing the wax, that 

 the pressure at which I have used the press, the slumgum 

 would easily raise a 10-pound block. I don't think there are 

 many people who recognize the force that is obtained by 

 the screw process. Possibly Mr. Root could give us some 

 idea. You have seen buildings that have been raised with 

 jacks, and the thread on the wax-press is something like 

 that, which would indicate a large amount of pressure. 



Mr. Wheeler — I have used one of those presses and I 

 have had to do away with one of those top sticks. As Mr. 

 Reynolds said, it was too light, and kept bending, and bend- 

 ing, until it was a regular rainbow, and finally we had to 

 put in twice as heavy a stick of oak, 3 by 4 inches, and that 

 works tip-top. The hot steam seems to soften the wood. 

 The first one gave out entirely. After it got a bent shape 

 I turned it over. 



Mr, Root— What Mr. Wheeler says is true. We foimd 

 that out to our sorrow, and I will say we have replaced those, 

 and any one who has had one that has given them trouble, 

 we desire to give him a new one. We put an iron brace 

 under it, and a piece of sheet-metal to protect the wood. 

 I perhaps ought not to say it, but I will say it, that wax- 

 press is something we sent out and we thought it was per- 

 fect. There is a great deal to learn about a wax-press. My 

 brother has been three months working on this wax-press,, 

 ten hours a day. doing nothing else, and sometimes clear 

 up into the evening, and we have learned this, that great 

 pressure is not necessary. During the last year we changed 

 the pitch of the screw so that it would have less than half 

 the power of the first screw sent out, because the difficulty 

 would be, they would put too great pressure on and break it. 

 Mr. France is right when he says a press should not be full, 

 only enough to make a cheese about an inch and a half 

 thick. Then you can get all out but about five percent of 

 the wax. What we are working for now is to get that five 

 percent. 



Mr. Dadant — We have had considerable experience in 

 melting beeswax and old combs. We used to melt old combs 

 by breaking them up fine, soaking them in water, and then 

 rendering them. But the great principle is, if you get the 

 combs well broken, those combs that contain coccons or the 

 skins of the arva- lodge in the cells, and no matter what 

 amount of pressure they will not come out ; that is, they 

 will not allow the wax to come out. If you have every- 

 thing well broken, and well soaked in water, the beeswaj; 

 will come out sooner or later. 



Dr. Miller — That is very good, I believe, but I failed 

 on that. 



Mr. Dadant — I never did much of it myself, but I know 

 we did it. 



Dr. Miller — I am merely saying I didn't know enough 

 to do it, and I would like to know how. 



Mr. Dadant — If you do it in warm weather it will not 

 do it so well, but in cold weather it will do it better. We 

 have used the German wax-press, and I believe we are one 

 of the few who have not broken the iron casting given in 

 the first place. We had customers who bought those through 

 us and who all complained of breaking them. We took it 

 for granted that it was easily broken, and we must be care- 

 ful, and I think we got the wax out of the combs about as 

 well as anybody could. We put the wax in and put on the 

 pressure, and keep it on all day long. You will find every 

 few minutes, or half an hour or so. you can make another 

 turn with but a little pressure, and keep on getting your 

 wax away from the center. We have the same thing in 

 pressing grapes. You take a large cheese of grape-pulps and 

 press it in a hurry, and the juice in the center has no time 

 to get out; but give it time to press out, as the pressure 

 goes on it it gives more room ; you press it gradually, and 

 therefore you can get better results with less fatigue to 

 the operator. 



Dr. Miller — Do I understand that the metal casting Tiad 

 broken? 



Mr. Root — The first press we sent out had a cast-iron 

 frame built exactly as they build them in Germany. I sup- 

 posed if we followed the plan given in Germany we would 

 lae perfectly safe. Those who have had experience in mak- 

 ing castings will know that sometimes there are flaws in 

 the casting. Mr. Dadant may have had one without any 

 flaws. Those flaws are covered up by galvanizing. We re- 

 placed all that we knew about, and sent out the wooden tops. 



