THE AMERICAN AFIGULTURIST. 



203 



For tlie American Ai>iculturist. 



THE SOLAR WAX EX- 

 TRACTOR. 



Mks. Saf.lii-, K. Sueuman. 



I WANT to lell tho readers of Llie 

 " Api," l>ut more especially the 

 ladies, what a ureat convenience 

 the solar wax extractor is. I 

 thonglit the Swiss extractor a great 

 lalior-saviiig arrangement, hnt it 

 does not compare with the solar ; 

 as we neither need wood nor wa- 

 ter, Sol doing all the work. All 

 3'ou have to do is to raise the lid 

 and put in your pieces to he melt- 

 ed into Ix^autifid wax by the rays 

 of the sun. Be carefnl and not 

 \mt in too much at a time, for in 

 that case the siieet iron docs not 

 become hot enougii to melt it, and 

 it requires a mucli longer time to 

 extract all the wax thoroughly 

 from the comb tlian wiien put in in 

 smaller quantities. This I found 

 out in a \'>i\\ days alter getting 

 my extractor, as a neiglihor seeing 

 what a good thing it was bi'ougiit 

 over nearly a bushel of old com!) 

 from several hives in which the 

 bees had died. I put it all in at 

 once and thus early found out my 

 mistake ; hence the caution to oth- 

 ers. My extractor was made from 

 directions given by Mr. Demaree 

 in the "American lice Journal," ex- 

 cept that the workman said he did 

 not see tho use of making the sash 

 like a shallow box two inches 

 deep as directed by Mr. D., so he 

 just made it even or level on top ; 

 of course it is not as good to con- 

 centrate the rays of the sun. but 

 the sun shines so hot here tliat it 

 acts like a chai'm as it is. The 

 sash is fastened on with hinges .'it 

 the back, and in front is fastened 

 with two brass hooks. It was made 

 nine miles from home or I should 

 have had it made exactly' accord- 

 ing to instructions. I wish now 



to thank Mr. D. for giving the in- 

 structions how to have one made. 

 One other convenience I will men- 

 tion, tliat I have added to my api- 

 ary this spring, and I am througii ; 

 that is, the l)eekeepers' statf ; just 

 have one made and be convinced. 

 Scdculo, BpU Co., Texas. 



June 7, 1887. 



For the American ApicnUnrittt. 



THE HONEY SEASON IN 

 KENTUCKY. 



G. W. Dejiarke. 



The honey season in Kentucky 

 has been below the average. In 

 many locations no surplus has 

 been taken, while in other places 

 the bees have done better and a 

 small crop of surplus has been se- 

 cured. Never before has it been 

 better demonstrated that a full and 

 complete outfit for apiary work is 

 the only sure way of esc:i|)ing a 

 total failure in such a season as the 

 present one. The season was so 

 un[)ropitious that it was out of the 

 question to have comb honey 

 stored in my locality. I discovered 

 this in time to put on cases with 

 empty combs and in this way se- 

 cured some surplus. Althongh I 

 ii.ad a No. 1 outfit for comb 

 honey, and commenced the season 

 with the ho[)e of taking comb 

 honey largely, the season would 

 have been a total failure to me 

 without a good stock of ready 

 built combs on hand. After ad- 

 justing on the hives a number of 

 section cases and leaving tliem in 

 position long enough to see that 

 bees could not, or woidd not, build 

 combs or draw out foundation, the 

 section cases were raised and cases 

 of empty combs were put under 

 them and from thirty to fifty 



