THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



219 



How to get all the Wax out of old 

 Combs. 



C II. UlllHKKS. 



I have louii been perplexed, liow to y:it 

 a))out all the wax out of okl t()u<jh coml)s. 

 Wlien combs are new or broken bits or 

 eapplngs, it is easy enough, as there is 

 then not the great mass of refuse to get 

 rid of. Now some one will say "why not 

 use a sun extractor?" 1 have one, and like 

 it very well, but it will not extract nearly 

 all the wax from old comb. I have also 

 tried about all the methods of boiling, 

 and steaming that I have seen described 

 in the dillerent bee-papers during the last 

 dozen years : but with about the same re- 

 sults : much wax was wasted. I have vis- 

 ited other l)eekeepers and talked this mat- 

 ter over with them, and examined the 

 refuse they had thrown away, and gener- 

 ally found that about one-third of the wax 

 was lost. I am fully convinced tiiat many 

 thousands of dollars are annually lost to 

 the beekeepers of the United States in 

 this way. 



I will now describe the method tlually 

 hit upon. Take a box about two by three 

 feet nearly water tight, and turn it upside 

 down, on a solid foundation near a tree 

 or building. The box should be a foot or 

 more in depth. Nail cleats on the inside 

 about six inches from the bottom, and 

 make a slatted false bottom to lay on these 

 cleats. Nail a cleat to the tree or build- 

 ing against which your box is to stand. 

 Get a strong plank twelve or fourteen feet 

 long and a block that will easily fit inside 

 the box. Your wax press is now ready 

 for business. 



Take the old combs or refuse from the 

 sun extractor, which should be saved up 

 during the summer, and place it in the 

 boiler and boil thoroughly. Now get a 

 good strong burlap sack, one that has had 

 binder twine in is just the thing, and 

 place it on the slatted bottom in the box, 

 and dip the contents of the t)()iler into it. 

 Twist the open end of sack and tie it. 

 Now place the block on the sack, and the 

 plank on that, letting the end come under 

 the cleat nailed to the building or tree. 

 Place a weight on the other end of the 

 plank sufficient to press the sacks as much 

 as it will safely stand. Put some more 

 water in the boiler, place it on the stove 

 and by the time it comes to the boiling 

 point, there will be but little wax coming 

 out of the sack. Place the sack in the 

 boiler and let it boil a while, tiien put it 

 in the press again, and if thought neces- 



sary, put on more water to repeat the op- 

 eration. Two or thre(! s(|U(H'zt's will get 

 the wax out clean, anil I l)elieve no proc- 

 ess witiiout pressing will do it. Tiie 

 wax will cool readily on the top of the wa- 

 ter in the box, and can then be run into 

 cakes in the sun extractor if desired. The 

 refuse still left can be spread out on boards 

 and dried in the sun, and will make ex- 

 cellent material for starting fires. 



Milan, 111. 



Uses of honey. 



In all ages honey has been used for 

 many purposes. The Ancient Britons 

 used it to make mead, and this drink 

 continued to be much used hundreds of 

 years after them. When malt liquors be- 

 came popular, and when sugar was in- 

 troduced, the uses of honey went down 

 for a time, but of late years it has gone 

 up again with a bound. Honey is largely 

 used in the manufacture of honey choc- 

 olate creams and honey chocolate tab- 

 lets. There is a delicious taste of the 

 honey in these articles, but they are so 

 judiciously blended with the other mate- 

 rials that they are not too sweet. Honey is 

 also now largely used by the confection- 

 ers in the place of sugar in many kinds 

 of lozenges, cough drops and other 

 sweetmeats. Glycerine and honey ju- 

 jubes for the throat, corn and honey 

 food, herbal tablets, etc., are only a few 

 of the many things which might be men- 

 tioned. The toilet is not left out, as it 

 is used in soap and dentifrice. Doctors 

 use it very largely for many purposes, and 

 many doctors are amongst our most suc- 

 cessful beekeepers, and thus the purity 

 of their medicines may be guaranteed. 

 There are many persons who are not al- 

 lowed to use sugar at all ; to these honey 

 comes as a boon. It is a curious thing 

 to note that even the angler now uses 

 honey, and natural honey fish bait is put 

 down in the list of necessaries for the 

 nodern complete angler. What would 

 old Isaac Walton say to this ? — Ex- 

 change. 



