442 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



60 pounds white, $9.00; 12 ets. per pound 

 for 92 lbs. dark, $11.04, making the gross 

 receipts from this source $20.04. 



My conclusion is that wax in this locality 

 as a main crop is not practical. In some 

 sections, no doubt, it might pay Avhere the 

 seasons are long, and an inferior or cheap 

 grade only of honey can be produced. 



For wax production the following I re- 

 gard as absolutely necessary : A veiy strong 

 colony, and one especially given to wax 

 production ; an extra good honey-flow, and 

 a warm super, so that wax can be worked 

 by the bees at all times. 



Bradford, N. Y. 



AS GLIMPSED THRU THE CAMERA 



Some Common and Uncommon Sights among the Bees 



BY H. H. ROOT 



In factories where comb foundation is 

 . made and wax is bouglit in large quantities 

 it is necessary to break open every piece of 

 wax in order to tell its color so that it may 

 be graded. Two grades are usually made — 

 one for brood foundation and the other for 

 super. In this process some very amusing 

 cases of adulteration are occasionally found. 

 If I were going to adopt dishonest prac- 

 tices in order to gain a livelihood, beeswax 

 is about the last thing that I would try to 

 adulterate, for such adulterations are so 

 easy to detect. 



Here are two instances of adulteration 

 that are almost laughable. The first illus- 

 tration shows a cake of wax, the inside of 

 which is tallow. The party who fixed this 

 up evidently placed a few pieces of tallow 



in the dish and then poured in the melted 

 beeswax. The first crack with the hammer 

 revealed the tallow, which, as the photo- 

 graph shows, can be seen very plainly. 

 And if the tallow had been melted and 

 thoroly mixed with the wax it would have 

 been even easier to discover, for a very 

 little tallow mixed with wax makes a 

 " sticky " combination, entirely dSfiferent 

 from pure beeswax. 



The second illustration shows a couple of 

 zinc fruit-jar lids surrounded by beeswax. 

 If the price of zinc continues to go up I 

 wonder if the time will not soon come when 

 this particular man would find it more 

 profitable to pour wax into the lids and 

 sell them as scrap zinc! 



For a good many years I have read all 



A cake of wax adulterated with tallow. If the tallow is melted and mixed with the wax it makes it feel 

 Sticky. In this instance hot wax was poured over pieces of tallow, which showed very plainly when the 

 cake was broken up. 



