1S*»2 



(JLKANIN(;s IN HEE CULTURE. 



771 



saiiif litnc, (II- a little later, on tiie streets of our 

 town. There are now a do/.eii or two of the 

 latter that liave been for several years as full 

 of hiiioiii and as full of lie(>s as any Wov I evei' 

 saw. cither ill the forest or tields. One tree in 

 jiartieiiliir is now about M) feet high, and its 

 iiraiu'hes extend to a distanee of fully l.i feet 

 in tnery direetion. This tree I helped to siM 

 out less than •-'(• years airo. The soil and situ- 

 ation are favorable.] A. 1. K. 



BOARDMANS SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTOR. 



now II WdUKs; xo wax in riii-; iskfi— i:. 



FrUnil K. Ti. Root: — In your"' Notes from the 

 Kioycli'." in (1i,f,.\xixgs of Sept. 1.".. you jagged 

 my ineniory in regard to the talk we had when 

 you were here o\'er the st)lar wax-extractors, or 

 i should likely have forgotten my promise to 

 test the residue, or slum^um, by rendering it 

 over with sulphuric acid, and thus save, as you 

 hop«'d. some precious dollars, tnore or less — 

 enough to more tliau pay me for the trouble. 



1 had no expectations of tinding wax in pay- 

 ing quantities, but I was Just a little interested 

 to know how well my solar extractors did their 

 work. After procuring some sulphuric acid I 

 looked up in back numbers of (xLeaxixgs the 

 modus npcnitidi of ^rendering wax by this 

 process, and proceeded accordingly. Into a 

 tive-gallon stone crock I put2^j gallons of soft 

 water, and added a little over 34 lb. of sulphuric 

 acid. I then went to a barrel of the residue, 

 tlie same that vve examined when you were 

 here, and from it I tilled up the crock and left 

 it to soak until next day. when I placed it upon 

 the stove in the bee-house kitchen, and let it 

 boil for some time. Then I let it remain and 

 cool gradually. The next morning I went to 

 investigate the results. Well. now. how much 

 wax do you think I found cooled in a beautiful 

 yellow cake on the surface? 



■• Two pounds?'' 



••Well, no.'- 



•■One and a half pounds?" 



••Hardly." 



I was disappointed, and I am sure you will be 

 when I ti'll you there wasn't any — no. not a 

 trace of anything that looked like wax. Let 

 me say I smiled as I passed the solar extractors 

 that morning, and said, kind o' softly. "That 

 was a pretty good joke you liave played upon 

 us."' 



I have tried about all the plans for rendering 

 wax that I have heard suggested or could think 

 of. and I would always find in the residue, aftei' 

 it had cooled, more or less wax in little yellow 

 I)articles dispersed all through the mass. I was 

 never satisfied with such wasteful methods. 

 The solar extractor eives tht; only method of 

 rendering wax that satisfies me. 



It might not be out of place to say here, the 

 larger extractors give the best results. I should 

 prefer them still larger than I now use. I tFiink 

 this is all the secret of my success with them 

 (iiaving them large). I can't see how the small 

 ones that are used by so many bee-keejjers can 

 be made at all practical. The only imperfec- 

 tion I meet with in this method oif rendering 

 wax is. it will not work without sunshine. In 

 tills respect tlie solar extractors are somewhat 

 like A. L Root's old windmill for jiowcr. which 

 would go only when the wind blew. 



I shall continue to u.se this wax residue foi- 

 fuel, the only thing for which it has any value; 

 and for this purpose, and i-specially for kindling 

 fires, it has no equal. When the thrashers 

 came this fall I had no coal for them to steam 

 witii. as they came unexpectedly; so I took out 

 some boxes of slumgum. and said to the tireman. 



"Try that." He did try it, and up wont the 

 steam; and he said it beat any tiling he ever 

 use<i to (ire with before. " Now." said he, " I 

 shall lia\(' a good story to tell w ben I am an old 

 man, how 1 once Ijied an engine with liee-comb. 



n. R. HoAISM.MAX. 



East Townsend, O.. Oct. 7. 



[We give you the reputation of being a care- 

 ful exi)erimenter. and the credit of generally 

 being right in your concltisions; but in this 

 case we are not quite ready to give ui» yet. 

 The very fact tliat this "slumgum." or refuse, 

 mak'es a tire e(|ual lo or better than coal, for 

 steaming up a thrashing-boiler, is evidence to 

 us that there is considerable money left in it, 

 in the shape of unrendered wax. To back our 

 assertion we propose that you shi]) us by freight 

 two or three bushels of that slumgum; and 

 whatever wax we can get from it by tlu; use of 

 sulphuric acid, if any. will be credited to your 

 account, and the n^snlt either way will be re- 

 ported through these columns. VVe may have 

 to give up. but our experience with our own 

 slumgum says no.] 



FEEDING BEES TO STIMULATE. 



A xovKi. feki)p:k m.jldk out of a (^UAKT cax 



AXI) A WIRE XAIL. 



AVe have kept bees for fourteen years, and 

 have had our share of trouble in spring feeding, 

 that is. between apple and clover; and if the 

 latter be of short duration, the feeding of a few 

 pounds may make the dift'eience between a fine 

 lot of surplus and a complete failure. The Hed- 

 don wood feeder worked well, but was too bun- 

 gling and expensive for spring use, and Ijecame 

 so foul that we were glad to burn them. 



To make feeding a success, you must be so 

 prepared that, within one day or night, you can 

 have feeding in full blast on every hive, be it 

 raining hail and pitchforks. For three years 

 we have been successful witli the following: 



Having 70 colonies vve bought 70 one-quart 

 tin cans. In the bottom of these cans, with a 

 smooth awl. and from inside out. we punched a 

 hole large enough to drop a X-inch flat smooth- 

 headed wire nail in easily, but leaving a good 

 catch for the head. All our hive boards have a 

 two-inch hole in the center, covered with a 

 block which becomi'S glued, and these give us 

 no trouble when not in use. We place these 

 cans over these holes; carry a faucet can of 70 

 lbs. of honey to the center of the yard. and. by 

 the use of a large coffee-pot. we have, in '20 min- 

 utes. 70 colonies fed each a pound, more or less, 

 as desii'ed, and not see a bee. nor chill one ei- 

 ther. The wire nail makes the fee(l(>r work au- 

 tomatically. By looking into the can after 

 feeding, you will see the head of the nail shak- 

 ing about. This is caused by the bees. It reg- 

 ulates the flow, and keeps any sediment from 

 clogging the feeder. 



I just tried two cans filled with water. They 

 held thi- water foi- hours; but on agitating the 

 nail, as the bees do. the water ran out in a little 

 stream. Fortunately we have had no fall feed- 

 ing to do for some years, but we think one can 

 would do for each hive if fed day and niglit aft- 

 er each feed at night, without stimulating 

 breeding. Hy bending one edge of the nail-head 

 up it will make more of a force feeder. 



F. S. COMSTOCK. 



North Manchester. Ind.. Sept. i:5. 



[At first we thought our correspondent had 

 struck on the old pepper-box feeder (a very good 

 one, by the way): but by reading more careful- 



