1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



31 



to the Root company and wants me ' shown 

 up,' it makes me mad all over, and I have 

 about come to the conclusion that I will 

 never handle another pound of comb hon- 

 ey so long as I live." 



This is only a sample of some of the in- 

 terviews that we have had with some of the 

 buyers of comb honey. No wonder some of 

 our dealers are saying they won't handle 

 any more, especially when so much good 

 comb honey carefully graded is broken 

 down in shipment. 



There is no question but that there must 

 be a radical reform in the marketing of comb 

 honey. In the first place, better shipping- 

 cases must be used, and the comb honey 

 must be packed on corrugated paper. When 

 small shipments are sent out, the cases 

 should be crated in carriers, in the bottom 

 of which are heavy cushions of straw. In 

 the second place, producers must learn the 

 importance of careful grading, not to say 

 honest grading, for it is not honest to face a 

 case with fancy combs when all the rest of 

 it is No. 2, No. 1, and fancy, indiscriminate- 

 ly mixed up. 



Another practice that can not be too 

 strongly condemned is mixing old comb 

 honey with new. A few months ago we in- 

 spected one shipment where it is evident 

 that this year's crop was mixed up with last 

 year's. The latter was largely candied, and 

 otherwise gave the appearance of being old. 

 Unless the whole lot is regraded, putting 

 this year's crop by itself, and last year's 

 crop by itself, the entire shipment will go at 

 the price of the poor honey. The average 

 dealer has no facilities for regrading, and 

 therefore he will lump off the whole lot, if 

 it is on consignment, at any old price to 

 get it off his hands. 



The seeming indifference on the part of 

 some small producers (and a few large ones) 

 in packing their comb honey for shipment 

 in such haphazard ways as have been de- 

 scribed, will, sooner or later, drive railroad 

 companies to refuse to handle comb honey. 

 It has already driven from the field hun- 

 dreds and possibly thousands of good cus- 

 tomers who would buy comb honey largely 

 to sell again. 



We projoose to hammer at this proposition 

 until reform is well under way. Such slov- 

 enly, careless methods of packing should 

 give way to more scientific ways of putting 

 up a product so fragile as comb honey, and 

 we invite bee-keepers' associations, bee-jour- 

 nals, and all bee-keepers everywhere, to join 

 with us in the crusade. 



A BEESWAX EXPLOSION. 



Yesterday, if we had been told that bees- 

 wax would explode we would not have be- 

 lieved it; but, nevertheless, one of our men 

 is to-day suffering from severe burns about 

 the face and hands as the result of beeswax 

 apparently exploding that was being heated 

 during the progress of an experiment. The 

 details of the incident are as follows: About 

 a pound and a half of wax, was being heated 



in a deep wash-dish over an ordinary stove. 

 The dish had a rounding bottom, was about 

 a foot in diameter at the top, and perhaps 

 six inches deep. The melted wax occupied 

 not more than \]4. inches space at the bot- 

 tom of the dish. When fine bubbles of wax 

 commenced coming to the top, showing 

 that the boiling-point had nearly been reach- 

 ed, about half a pint of water from a tea- 

 kettle was poured in, the idea being to cool 

 the wax and prevent it from boiling. With- 

 out any warning, however, there was a sud- 

 den explosion, all the hot water and wax 

 being thrown violently into the face of the 

 one who was performing the experiment; 

 and, as the wax had to be scraped off with 

 a knife, it caused some quite severe burns 

 before it cooled. 



Now, did this wax, like nitro-glycerin or 

 gunpowder, simply explode of its own ac- 

 cord? There was no exposed flame or fire at 

 any time, and, fortunately, nothing caught 

 fire afterward. Our explanation of the trou- 

 ble is as follows: Wax boils at a much high- 

 er temperature than water; hence, although 

 the wax in the dish on the stove had not 

 quite reached the boiling-point, its temper- 

 ature must have been considerably above 

 the boiling-point of water. When the hot 

 water from the tea-kettle was poured in, its 

 tendency was to go to the bottom of the 

 dish because the wax is lighter; but the high 

 temperature immediately volatilized the 

 water; and as the steam had no exit except 

 through the wax, it fairly lifted the whole 

 contents of the dish into the air. 



If wax is being heated over boiling water, 

 there is no such danger if our explanation is 

 the correct one, for the wax could get no 

 hotter than the boiling water underneath; 

 hence it hardly seems correct to say that 

 wax may be boiled over water. It is true 

 that the water underneath boils; but the 

 wax above does not reach its own boiling- 

 point, although the steam from below, ris- 

 ing through the wax, agitates it and gives 

 it the appearance of boiling. 



All this only goes to show that it is much 

 safer, when "melting wax, to put water in 

 the bottom of the vessel before the wax is 

 thrown in. The wax will then not reach its 

 owTi boiling-point. In the experiment de- 

 scribed above, the wax was already above 

 the temperature of boiling water before the 

 water was introduced. Very serious results 

 would surely follow if a large quantity of 

 wax were brought nearly to its boiling-point, 

 being heated in a dry vessel, and then water 

 introduced. If a large quantity of cold wa- 

 ter were put in there might not be bad re- 

 sults, as it would have a tendency to cool 

 the wax, although the first of the water put 

 in might make trouble before the larger vol- 

 ume had cooled down the body of the wax. 

 If we are not sound in our reasoning, we 

 shall be glad to be corrected. 



Fires from burning wax are very hard to 

 extinguish; and the greatest precautions 

 should be taken, not only to prevent wax 

 from boiling over, but to prevent such oc- 

 currences as this. 



