Jan. 31, 1907 



American ^ae Journal 



keepers will quickly observe the fact 

 that the additional first cost (over and 

 above the cost of the best of other 

 presses) of a machine that will save 

 anywhere from one dollar upwards to 

 twice or thrice such cost annually, is 

 certainly an ideal and highly profitable 

 investment. The old adage, " The best 

 is the cheapest." may be well and truly 

 applied to wax-extractors. 



Wishing to ascertain how much fuel 

 it was necessary to use under the most 

 unfavorable conditions, 200 pounds of 

 slumgum from a solar wax-extractor 

 was carefully weighed out and extract- 

 ed. The following notes were taken : 



The temperature of the water, drawn 

 from the cold-water tap in the cellar, 

 was 33 degrees F. The temperature of 

 the cellar where the slumgum was 

 stored and the extracting done was 2:1 

 degrees F. The amount of water used 

 was 45 gallons. The fuel was illumi- 

 nating gas. The amount of fuel con- 

 sumed in extracting was 300 feet ; addi- 

 tional gas consumed in keeping the wa.x 

 liquid in a separate tank so the sedi- 

 ment would separate from the wax and 

 make clean cakes, 20 feet, or 320 feet in 

 all. Time of whole operation, extract- 

 ing and molding ready for market, 6j4 

 hours. The amount of clean A No. i 

 wax obtained, 70,14 pounds, all nicely 

 moulded and ready for market. Price 

 of gas $1.20 per thousand feet, with 20 

 per cent discount if paid before the 

 roth of each month. Cost of the fuel 

 for the whole operation, cash basis, 32 

 cents, or less than % cent per pound of 

 wax. Illuminating gas is the most ex- 

 pensive fuel of which I know. It is 

 about four times as expensive as natural 

 gas, and I suppose that wood or coal 

 would be cheaper in about the same 

 proportion, and that under ordinary 

 conditions, this extracting could have 

 been done at an expense of about 8 

 cents for fuel. Water, as we all know, 

 even hot water, is inexpensive. The fuel 

 item when extracting beeswa.x by the 

 improved methods is therefore scarcely 

 worth considering. Another point wor- 

 thy of note is that this slumgum from 

 the solar wax-extractor yielded a trifle 

 over 35 per cent of its weight in wax. 



It should be borne in mind that, to 

 say the least, no more work and ex- 

 pense, and far less muss, is required 

 to do the extracting in this practically 

 perfect manner than is required to do 

 it by the use of such extractors and 

 methods as must necessarily leave sev- 

 eral per cent of the wax in the slum- 

 gum, and hence every pound so saved 

 by the better machine and process may 

 be figured as the saving of the same 

 at its full market value without any 

 allowance for the work and expense 

 of extracting, when comparisons are 

 made with the less-productive methods. 



Again, let it be born in mind 

 that the number of pounds of wax pro- 

 duced per hour, or per day, is only one 

 indication of the value of a machine or 

 process, and it may indicate, when all 

 is considered, the entire absence of 

 value. If a machine will turn out 100 

 pounds of wax per day, and throw from 

 8 to 15 per cent out in the slumgum, 

 it is not so valuable as one that will 

 throw out one-eighth of that percent, 



even though tlie pimluct, in the latter 

 case, be but 40 or 50 pounds per day. be- 

 cause the difference in the amount of 

 wax obtained will more than hire the 

 help for the difference in the time of 

 extracting. 



And, further, it may be added that, 

 having produced thousands of pounds 

 of wax by this hot-water and hot-press 

 process, by re-extracting slumgum pur- 

 chased from other bee-keepers in a 

 wholesale way, and sold every pound 

 of it in large and small quantities 

 at fancy or highest market prices, and 

 never for less, to experts on the value 

 of the same, it is proper to state emphat- 



ically thai the quality of llic "a'ax pro- 

 duced from this right kind of a hot- 

 water press is not inferior to that pro- 

 duced by the unheated press, or any 

 other wax-extractors knoivn to me. 



The boiler of the Hershiser wax- 

 press is also admirably adapted to the 

 important use of liquefying honey in 

 5-gallon tin cans, the standard size, 

 accommodating 4 or 5 of them at one 

 time. It is also useful as an uncapping 

 can, and as a honey-press for pressing 

 honey out of cappings, and broken 

 combs. It, therefore, may be used for 

 three important purposes, besides its 

 use as a wa.x-extractnr boiler. 



I^rthern 





Conducted by Louis H. Scholl, New Braunsfels, Tex. 



Why the High Prices of Honey? 



Some are asking why high prices pre- 

 vail more of late than was the custom 

 in past years. Editor Root, of Glean- 

 ings, already attributes it to the work 

 ot the new Pure Food Law — articles 

 of better ciuality demanding a better 

 price. I hardly think this is the main 

 reason. It must be the demand — in- 

 creased consumption — and, in addition 

 to this the past season, the short pro- 

 duction. Nearly all will admit that the 

 honey crop was bort over the entire 

 country, with a good demand at the 

 beginning of the season. Therefore, the 

 bulk of the crop was soon sold. 



There is very little honey in Texas, 

 to my knowledge ; while the demand is 

 better than I have known it for years. 

 In our local market the price of honey 

 has just doubled. Nearly all other prod- 

 ucts are high in price. The whole country 

 is more prosperous just now than it 

 ever has been. There is an increased 

 deinand for all commodities; hence, the 

 high prices now prevailing. 



to get some bees, and now is the time 

 to settle upon the number of colonies 

 best to begin with. Read a good bee- 

 book and a bee-paper or two. Several 

 will be better, as one can not expect 

 to get as much out of one. Then e.x- 

 pect to learn something about the bees 

 every day. 



Gathering Light Honey a Trait 

 in Bees 



How to Start with Bees 



It is the man who thinks he knows 

 all about bees, and begins with 200 or 

 300 colonies the first pop, who will be 

 saying a year or two later, "Bees are 

 the biggest nuisance on the face of the 

 earth. No one ever made anything out 

 of them." We have seen several do 

 this "trick," even after we had dis- 

 couraged them all we could ; but some 

 people are so "smart." until they get 

 burned. Therefore, be careful lest you 

 do the same thing. 



A start should be made with a few 

 colonies, and the increase be made as 

 means and experience permit. The sea- 

 son is approaching when many will want 



The following from J. E. Chambers, 

 of Vigo, Tex., is of much interest to me : 



FRiEun Scholl:— Did you ever observe 

 that duriog a honey-flow from two sources — 

 one dark and the other light — the bees gathei- 

 very differently, some gathering all light 

 honey, and other colonies gathering all dark. 

 During the sumac flow here I Itept a close 

 watch on all of my colonies, and found that 

 some did not work on the sage or dark honey- 

 plants at all, but instead brought in the white 

 honey. I do not know, but I think that this 

 trait is worth a good bit to me. I will rear 

 some queens from those colonies that worked 

 so strong on the sumac while the others were 

 getting sage, and see if this trait is hereditary 

 or not. However, I doubt it such traits are 

 always transmissible, even though largely 

 hereditary. But if measurably so, I think I 

 have found an item of value to me, for I often 

 have a good crop ot white honey spoiled by 

 the addition ot a little dark honey during a 

 double flow, and, of course, to such there 

 would be no special value in working for 

 such bees. J. E. Chambers. 



This calls to mind an experience I 

 had in the fall of 1905. while extract- 

 ing honey at one of our out-yards on 

 the Brazos River Valley plantations. 

 The bees were gathering honey from 

 cotton, mainly, which yielded well, and. 

 at the same lime, the elms — Vlinus alata 

 — were also yielding abundant nectar, 

 The surplus honey that was being taken 

 off was from the cotton, and very light 

 in color. The bees were still bringing 

 in honey from this same source — of light 



