1901 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



99 



some of the hidden truths and prin- 

 ciples not revealed by knocking off 

 the high places. 



WAX EXTRACTORS. 



The article in this number, by Mr. 

 C. G. Ferris, in which is discussed 

 the latest development in the evo- 

 lution of the wax extractor, sug- 

 gests the expression of our per- 

 sonal ideas along the same line. 



Of the products of the apiary, 

 none meet with so ready a sale at a 

 profitable figure as beeswax. At 

 any season of the year it may be at 

 once converted into cash, if desired. 

 In our experience of about twenty 

 years we have not seen the time 

 when the wax market could be said 

 to be burdened. Where care and 

 economy are carefully exercised it 

 is surprising what a quantity of wax 

 will accumulate during a single 

 season, even where but a few colo- 

 nies are kept. In earlier days the 

 wasteful, dauby and disagreeable 

 work necessary to procure the wax 

 from waste bits of comb tended to 

 discourage economy along the line 

 of saving. The introduction of the 

 first steam extractors and the solar 

 device were welcomed as a great 

 advance step — which, indeed, they 

 really were ; but experience has 

 taught that by the use of either of 

 these arrangements it is impossible 

 to procure nearly all of the wax 

 contained in the combs and waste 

 about the apiary. Our personal ex- 

 perience includes a very intimate 

 acquaintance with each and all of 

 the contrivances for rendering wax, 

 which have been placed upon the 

 general market. This acquaintance, 

 however, has never been conducive 

 to any great amount of pleasure or 

 satisfaction until, some two years 

 ago, we became acquainted with 

 the Ferris extractor. 



It is doubtful if any other one 

 man in the United States has given 



the matter of wax extractors an 

 amount of deep study and careful 

 thought equal to that bestowed by 

 Mr. Ferris. His experiments cover 

 a period of years, and his success 

 must be a source of gratification to 

 himself as well as to the thousands 

 of progressive bee-keepers who 

 have heretofore had to make the 

 best of a very faulty arrangement. 

 Steam — lots of steam — and heavy 

 pressure while the mass of melted 

 combs are yet under steam, is the 

 only method yet devised that will 

 extract nearly all of the wax. We 

 have learned by experience that the 

 Ferris extractor asks no better ma- 

 terial upon which to work with 

 profit than the refuse from a solar 

 extractor. Though invisible, this 

 refuse is laden with nuggets of wax 

 which the "Ferris" never fails to 

 find and discharge into the vessel 

 placed at its side for their reception. 



While the Ferris extractor is well 

 adapted to the needs of the small 

 bee-keeper-in fact an essential where 

 one desires to utilize all his re- 

 sources by providing against a 

 wanton waste of a valuable com- 

 rnodity — the great facility with 

 which large quantities of combs are 

 transformed into wax, appeals with 

 especial force to the consideration 

 of the extensive producer. It is 

 with a view to meeting the require- 

 ments of this wholesale rendering 

 that the two, three and four-basket 

 styles have been designed; while 

 the one-basket kind will be found 

 quite adequate to the needs of all 

 ordinary work. 



Mr. Ferris' ingenuity has given 

 to the bee-keeping world the most 

 economical and efficient extractor 

 yet introduced; and the popularity 

 which it has already achieved is 

 ample proof of the fact that bee- 

 keepers are not slow to recognize a 

 really meritorious article, as well 

 as the additional fact that the time 



