16 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



40 lbs. Then I built me a shanty for a wax- 

 room, and set the stove up in there, took olT all 

 the lids, set my boiler on, put in 6 pailfuls of 

 -water, heated it, and then began to pile in the 

 combs to melt. My! how much the thing 

 would hold! As the "first melted. I put in more 

 until the boiler was three-fourths full of water 

 and wax. Then I took a dipper and dipped off 

 the wax. about 30 lbs.: then as I had about all 

 the wax out that I could dip off. I let the tire go 

 out. and left it until the next day to cool off, 

 when I found a crust on top of the water about 

 11.; inches thick that contained considerable 

 wax. Below that there was a great amount of 

 rubbish and dirty matter which I threw away. 

 The top crust I put back into the boiler, to be 

 melted with the next batch. The color of the 

 wax was nice, a rich yellow. 



One thing more I want to speak about. Mr. 

 Dadant told me that it would l)e well to have 

 a wire-cloth screen sunk into the boiler, over 

 the old combs, to keep the impurities at the bot- 

 tom of the boiler. As there are a great many 

 light impurities that float with the wax. being 

 nearly as light as the \\ax. these are the most 

 difficult to get rid of, and I succeeded in doing 

 away with them most readily by the use of this 

 screen. All right: we shall have one for the 

 next batch, and so we did. It worked well. 

 The first time I used it the wax was nice. Then 

 it was four or five days before I made another 

 batch: and during that time my wire sci'een had 

 got badlv rusted. Not thinking of any thing 

 wrong I iised the screen as it was. ISut when I 

 took off the wax I found it as dark as any that 

 I had made in the ii'on kettle, all caused by the 

 rust from that screen. So I did not use it again. 

 T intend to get some copper-wire screens to use 

 in place of the iron, as the screen is a big help. 



Now. I find that iron rust will make wax 

 dark— in fact, black— if there is enough rust. I 

 find it pays to make nice wax. INli'. Dadant 

 wrote me that he would like to get hold of my 

 wax next time, if melted according to his di- 

 rections. "Well, after I had got through making 

 wax for the season I wrote him that I had near- 

 ly 200 lbs. of very nice wax. I asked him how 

 rhuch he would give. He answered that he had 

 a large stock on hand, and he did not wish to 

 buy any more at present. I then sent the wax 

 to A. I. Root, and asked him how the quality of 

 the wax compared with the average. He wrote 

 me, "Your wax was a good deal better than the 

 average, and you see we have allowed yoti two 

 cents a poundextra on this account.'" So you 

 see -it won't take long to pay for my boiler, in 

 the extra price of wax. It pays to make a nice 

 article. E. France. 



Platteville. Wis., Dec. 6. 



[We are greatly indebted to you. friend 

 France. Although all you tell us is not exactly 

 new, it helps us greatly in the arrangements 

 for working on an old plan. We have discover- 

 ed, as well as yourself, that iron rust is not a 

 good thing for rendering wax. We have also 

 found out that nothing in the shape of galvan- 

 ed iron or zinc should be used about hot wax. 

 It will turn the wax a peculiar dark green. 

 Copper seems to be the only metal in common 

 use that has no effect on hot wax. Tinware, 

 after the coat has worn off. is almost as bad as 

 the kettle, especially if it gets very hot. I fear 

 you will find trouble in getting wire cloth made 

 of copper wire. You can. however, get brass 

 strainer wire cloth of almost any tinsmith, bttt 

 it is pretty fine for your purpose, and rather ex- 

 pensive. Perforated copper would answer nice- 

 ly. But wouldn't it pay you to put the residue 

 under your wire cloth, in a press? You know a 

 good many claim that they get an additional 

 quantity of wax by applying pressure when the 



wax is hot. We are very glad to get informa- 

 tion from anybody so well posted as the Da- 

 dants. Very likely it will pay bee-keepers with 

 a number of out-apiaries to have a rig in some 

 little shanty outdoors, for rendering wax. I 

 am sure the women-folks will be ready to give 

 us plenty of advice, and may be " three cheers " 

 besides, "when they see us take up our duds and 

 move out of the kitchen, into the wax-house 

 away off in the yard.] 



MANUM ON A VISIT. 



HE CAI.LS OX IRA BARBER. 



Having pi-omised myself the pleasure for sev- 

 eral years of making INIr. Ira Barber, of De 

 Kalb"Junetion. N. Y.. a visit, as he is one of the 

 most successful bee-keepei'S in the land, espe- 

 cially in wintering his bees in the cellar with- 

 out loss, year after year, I have felt a desire to 

 learn his method of wintering: and having re- 

 ceived notice that a friend living a few miles 

 from Mr. Barber was a1)out to depart for the 

 West. I thought it a good opportunity to "kill 

 two birds with one stone:" therefore, on Nov. 

 8th I boarded the train: and after making my 

 friend a few days' visit, on the 13th I landed at 

 De Kalb Junction. Not having notified friend 

 Barber on what day I would appear, of course 

 he was not at the station waiting for me: btit 

 on inquiry I learned that he lived only two 

 miles away: and on consulting a liveryman I 

 found that .Sl.(X) was his price to take me the 

 two miles. The price was low enough: but I 

 decided that 1 could save that much by going 

 on foot, so I started: and in 40 mintites I was 

 standing near friend Barber's hatchway, hav- 

 ing just seen him and two other men go into 

 the cellar with bees. As Mr. B. came out and 

 looked at me a moment he exclaimed, " Hello, 

 Manum ! is that you ? " 



'■ I believe that is my name, Mr. Barber, even 

 though I am some distance from home." 



■•Well. boys, this is Manum. the Vermont 

 bee-keepei-. and I guess we will do no more to- 

 day. We have the bees about half in, and we 

 can finisli them some other time. I want to 

 visit with Manum while he stays; and. by the 

 way. how long can you stay?" 



"I must return to-morrow, sure." 



"Well, you are as bad as Ernest with your 

 short visits. Did you learn that trick of him ? " 



" Now, Mr. B.. don't compare me with Ernest. 

 I am not editing a bee-journal nor manufactur- 

 ing supplies. I am just simply a bee-keeper, 

 and nothing more: and. besides, were I tore- 

 main here long I fear I should be homesick 

 without any mountains to rest my eyes upon. 

 W^hy! it looks strange here to me without a 

 motmtain in sight. Surely I would not dare to 

 travel very far alone in this country without a 

 good guide, as there are no mountains to serve 

 as landmarks. Why! I should think your bees 

 would get lost if they had to go far for honey. 

 But, as I observed while coming from the sta- 

 tion, you have clover so very plentiful here 

 all around you, I don't suppose your bees are 

 obliged to go out of sight of their hives at any 

 time. Surely I never saw clover more plentiful 

 than you have it here." 



" Yes, Manum. we have plenty of clover here, 

 white and alsike. Those large fields there 

 across the way are all seeded with alsike; but 

 this year there was no honey in it, hence I have 

 had "to feed my bees sugar to winter them. I 

 finished feeding last night." 



"What: feeding so late as this, and putting 

 them right in the cellar? I have always 



