GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Is there any simple way of making dark 

 wax lighter-colored, without using sulphuric 

 acid? I have tried vinegar on a small scale, 

 but it did not seem to have any effect on the 

 color. Perhaps I did not use enough vinegar. 

 Wm. Muth-Easmussen. 



Independence, Cal. 



[The wax referred to is water-soaked. 

 Beeswax, when it becomes mixed with water, 

 assumes a crumbly, mealy consistency so 

 that it is difficult to get it back into hard 

 firm beeswax again. You can expel the wa- 

 ter by using dry heat — that is, placing this 

 mealy wax in a suitable dish and holding it 

 over a slow fire until it melts. The water 

 and wax will then separate and the wax will 

 be hard. 



Water-soaked wax is a physical mixture of 

 wax and water and not a chemical mixture; 

 that is, the wax itself is not changed exce]>t 

 in shape, being in small particles separated 

 by thin films of water. After being kept a 

 long time in the air this water will all evap- 

 orate, leaving the wax as a powdery sub- 

 stance bearing little resemblance to bees- 

 wax. This, however, can be brought to a 

 firm condition by the dry heat above men- 

 tioned. 



We do not know of any way that beeswax 

 can be clarified on a small scale without an 

 expenditure of an unwarranted amount of 

 money. You can melt the wax, dip boards 

 in it, peel the thin films of wax oif the 

 boards and expose them to the sunlight, and 

 whiten the wax, then melt again and strain; 

 but the additional amount that you could 

 get for the wax in the clarified condition 

 would not begin to pay you for your expense 

 in bleaching. Furthermore, the bleached wax 

 is not quite as ductile as that which is not 

 bleached. We have never been very success- 

 ful in experimenting with vinegar. Sul- 

 phuric acid is all right to carbonize the im- 

 purities, but we do not advise the use of 

 this chemical except when one has access to 

 steam and a properly built lead-lined vat or 

 tank, and even then the acid should be used 

 in extremely small quantities. The average 

 person who attempts to clarify small 

 amounts of beeswax with sulphuric acid 

 uses ten, twenty, and sometimes even a 

 hundred times too much acid.. The wax is 

 "killed" and almost ruined. — Ed.] 



Surely "Penny Wise and Pound Foolish." 



Not many beekeepers in Jamaica possess 

 this useful machine. Year after year they 

 extract the wax by boiling the comb and 

 wringing it thru a bag. The result is, they 

 lose about half their wax by this primitive 

 method. 



Not many weeks ago I called on a bee- 

 keeper, and in conversation he told me it 

 scarcely paid for the trouble to melt up very 

 old comb, as there was very little wax to be 

 got out of it. On asking him what method 

 he used to press the melted comb he said, 

 "By wringing it thru a bag." He had melt- 

 ed up fifty supers of comb (500 frames), and 



got only 50 lbs. of wax. I offered him four 

 shillings for the refuse, which he accepted. 

 On taking it home I boiled it with plenty of 

 water and pressed it thru a steam wax-press. 

 Pressing two gallons of the melted comb 

 each time gives the best results. I also find 

 by pouring about a quart of boiling water 

 on the bag containing the melted comb each 

 time it is turned for pressure is important. 

 The boiling water softens the cocoons, and 

 washes out the wax. After I had got thru 

 with the melting and pressing of the refuse, 

 the wax weighed 50 lbs.; at 13 ^^ pence per 

 lb., $13.50 — not a bad day's work. I earned 

 nearly enough to buy friend M., who sold 

 me the refuse, one of these useful machines. 



F. A. Hooper. 

 Four Paths, Jamaica, B. W. I. 



Hydrogen Peroxide to Cure Bee Paralysis. 



Last fall my colonies were seriously de- 

 pleted by the ' ' whatever it is " disease. We 

 were having fine weather, the bees working 

 on asters one day and the next rolled out in 

 front of the hives to die. They went into 

 winter with no brood (October) and few 

 bees, but all wintered. I have heard of oth- 

 ers in this vicinity that rolled out thru the 

 winter and died. Just before fruit-bloom we 

 had three cold rainy days, at the end of 

 which I found my bees rolling out over the 

 ground, forming little clusters on dead 

 weeds or sticks, some hopping over the grass, 

 and some spotting or streaking up the froiit 

 of hives, also the entrance-boards. I fed 

 them — poured on top the frames and bees 

 warm sugar syru^J with two to three tea- 

 spoonfuls hydrogen peroxide to the pint, and 

 controlled the disease, or think I did. The 

 treatment was repeated two and three and 

 four times a day for two days, and a pint 

 can of the medicated syrup with cloth cover 

 inverted over the frames and surrounded by 

 packing. The third day there was only an 

 occasional hopping bee, and they were busily 

 working on the barberry hedge. Peroxide 

 has been my standby in the poultry depart- 

 ment. One teaspoonful poured down one 

 sick hen generally cures her. As to the bees, 

 not only do I not want to change queens 

 because my own bees are more than satis- 

 factory, but the plan doesn 't look good to 

 me. One could not be sure that the new 

 queens are immune. Indeed, those colonies 

 of my own suffering the severest last fall, 

 had much the lightest attack this spring, and 

 vice versa. May G. Alley. 



Pine Grove, W. Va., May 1. 



[Bee paralysis and Isle of Wight disease 

 seem to resist many kinds of medication. 

 Eeports have fhown that bee paralysis, or 

 what was like it in this country, has yielded 

 in some cases by sprinking powdered sul- 

 phur on the bees. As sulphur is a mild anti- 

 septic it may have some curative value. In 

 the same way hydrogen peroxide may be 

 used also. As nearly every family keeps it 

 on hand we siiggest that it be tried out. — 

 Ed.] 



