270 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



fy the whole as perfectly as it does the 

 part. All that is necessary to procure 

 salable wax is to keep it melted for 

 awhile after it runs through, bj' letting 

 the sun shine on the lower part as well 

 as the upper. For some years Rauchfuss 

 Bros, of this state have been using an ex- 

 tractor which does just that thing, with 

 satisfactory results. In addition, the pan 

 receiving the wax below is divided into 

 compartments with flaring sides, so that 

 when one compartment is full, the wax 

 flows into the next. I believe each holds 

 just a pound of wax. There are absolute- 

 ly no impurities in the resulting cakes, ex- 

 cept on the bottom of the first one. Then 

 the sun's heat alone does the whole work 

 of preparing merchantable and uniform 

 cakes of wax, of the first quality. It is 

 not necessary, by this plan, to handle the 

 wax again by pouring it into paper trays, 

 for wax melted by solar heat has very 

 little tendency to crack, and never does 

 in such small cakes. 



"None of the Americans who make use 

 of the solar extractor speak of the reflec- 

 tor, which so greatly increases the melt- 

 ing power of the sun's rays." — Dr. Du- 

 bini. The first solar extractor I ever saw 

 had a reflector. It was a concave sheet 

 of bright tin, fixed on the inside of the 

 outer cover so that when the latter was 

 lifted and set at a certain angle, the re- 

 flected rays were ca:st upon the glass. 



From 20 to 25 percent of the wax of 

 the combs is left in the slumgum by the 

 extractor, according to certain writers 

 reported by Dr. Dubini, and is to be ob- 

 tained by boiling with water. If I am 

 not mistaken, Messrs. Boardman and 

 Aikin have very con.siderably reduced 

 this percent in their extractors, by having 

 them large, spreading the residue out 

 thin, and letting it drain a long time. 

 This, by the way, is a field which seems 

 to have been neglected by the experiment 

 stations. 



The color of wax is darkened by re- 

 peated meltings and coolings, even in 

 the .sun-extractor, says G. Barrucco. 



Dr. Dubini expresses surprise that so 

 common and cheap a material as turf is 

 never spoken of for smoker fuel in North 

 America. So far as I know, that sub- 

 stance does not exist here. 



Baldensperger cleans kerosene cans for 

 honey by exposing them to the sun for 

 a fortnight, washing with lye, drying, 

 and then igniting a few drops of alcohol 

 in each one. Every trace of odor dis- 

 appears. 



The editor stops robbing by covering 

 the hive entirely with a piece of canvas, 

 leaving the entrance wide open. The 

 canvas is left on 2, 4, or 8 days, or until 

 not a single strange bee is seen prowling 

 around. 



The fears generally felt of the consequen- 

 ces of disturbing bees in winter are exag- 

 gerated, says the editor, after an experi- 

 ence in moving bees very late and sub- 

 sequently opening the hives. 



Herr Reamer, as reported by the editor, 

 introduced 23 slender thermometers into 

 the cluster of a colony while the outside 

 temperature was 30°F., and found the 

 temperature of its center was 86°. In 

 another case the outside temperature was 

 16°, and that of the center 83°. 



Dr. Dzierzon thinks it beyond a doubt 

 that during severe cold spells in winter 

 the greater part of the colony enters into 

 the cells, the rest remaining in the in- 

 tervals between those combs which the 

 cluster occupies. The editor thinks not. 

 The bees found in cells in winter are 

 dead. In times of severe cold, the bees 

 produce heat by vibrations of the body 

 and especially of the wings. They 

 could not do this in the cells. If bees 

 stayed habitually in the empty cells in 

 winter, there could be no such thing as a 

 winter repose, for they would have to 

 make continual excursions for food. He 

 has observed that in colonies which starv- 

 ed during the winter many bees are to be 

 found in the cells, but in experiments 

 with live colonies, found the bees in the 

 comb spaces, with the main part of the 

 cluster on the honey, above' the empty 

 cells. He thinks the bees Dr. Dzierzon 



