1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



877 



to'be had. There is no pollen produced by 

 the bass wood, or linden, as you know." 



"Yes, I know there is not, but the bees 

 gather it from the wild grape and other 

 sources, even gathering it from our common 

 grass." 



_^" Yes, I know that they gather some pol- 

 len in the early morning from these sources, 

 but not to the extent that they do either be- 

 fore basswood or after it, as comparatively 

 few pollen-bearing flowers are not in bloom 

 at this time." 



' ' Leaving the pollen matter, did you note 

 that Dr. Miller proved you incorrect in his 

 next Straw on the same page, where he ex- 

 perimented as to the amount of heat found 

 in a hive placed above the brood chamber?" 



"I noticed the doctor's figures, but I did 

 not see that they proved me incorrect." 



"That's strange. Did he not prove that 

 the temperature in that upper hive was 

 warmer by from 9 to 21 degrees than it was 

 in the open air?" 



' ' Yes. I have no doubt that he gave these 

 figures correctly, but those figures do not 

 argue in the least that this temperature 

 came from the bees below, unless 1 except 

 the first one or two readings." 



' ' On what grounds do you except those 

 readings and not the others?" 



' Those readings were taken before the 

 cluster of bees had got settled down from 

 the disturbance caused by his stirring up 

 the bees in his manipulations of the hive, 

 which always causes a rise of heat. You 

 will note that the first reading gave 21 de- 

 grees above the outside air, and the second 

 only 17, thus showing that the bees were 

 quieting down." 



"Yes, but a little after noon his reading 

 was 22, or one degree warmer than the 

 first. ' ' 



"Yes, but that does not prove that the 

 heat came from the cluster of bees. In the 

 American Bee Journal he tells us of this ex- 

 periment, and there tells that the bees were 

 at work at n )on; and as bees work very lit- 

 tle in cool weather except when the sun 

 shines, I take it for granted that the sun 

 was what did the warming of the hive. I 

 once killed a sitting hen, and almost cooked 

 her by slipping her under an empty hive 

 standing in the sun, expecting to care for 

 her soon, when the unexpected happened, 

 and I forgot her till near night But, of 

 course, that was a day when the mercury 

 went to above 90 in the shade." 



" Well, how differently persons can read 

 things! I did not see any way out for you. " 



" Way out! Dr. Miller's figures only sub- 

 stantiate my claim." 



"How is that?" 



" Did you fail to note his reading at 5:10 

 of only 9 degrees higher than the outside air 

 —not sundown yet by nearly an hour and a 

 half? Why did he not give us a reading aft- 

 er sunset? Had he done this he would prob- 

 ably have had a reading of two or three 

 above that of the outside air, that being 

 about the amount of difference there is be- 

 tween confined air, and that which is at lib- 



erty. I was very glad of the endorsement 

 that Dr. Miller gave me by his figures. 



"Well, well! You will almost beat the 

 magicians." 



"Then there is another point that neither 

 the doctor nor the editor seems to consider. 

 At all times when the bees are gathering 

 honey the crust of bees must necessarily be 

 broken to a greater or less extent, by the 

 bees having a passage to and from it; and 

 whenever the cluster is broken in this way a 

 certain amount of heat must escape from it, 

 and there is no question that some heat did 

 go into the upper hive when the reading was 

 22 higher a little after noon. All my experi- 

 ments have been tried at night, or days so 

 cool that no bees were flying, and when it 

 was cloudy. These are the only times when 

 any thing can be gotten which is worth ty- 

 ing to, and I think when all this is taken in- 

 to consideration others will find their ex- 

 periments very nearly agreeing with those 

 I have made." 



[Referring to the pollen matter, a part of 

 my statement, literally taken apart from all 

 the rest, would leave Dr. Mi'ler more cor- 

 rect than me. But the point 1 tried to bring 

 out was, when honey was plentiful the bees 

 would do less— very much less— work on 

 poL'en.— Ed.] 



WAX-RENDERING. 



What Were the Methods Used to Render Old 

 Combs into Wax in the Past? 



BY F. GREINER. 



[Wishing to learn more definitely what is going on in 

 Europe in reference to wax- presses and wax-rendering 

 methods, we asked Mr. Greiner to go over his files of 

 German bee- journals and glean from them all that might 

 be interesting to the readers of Gleanings. He has al- 

 so written to some of his German friends, and the result 

 of his investigation, interspersed with original notes and 

 comments, is here given. — Ed.] 



Beeswax has been made from time imme- 

 morial for all I know. However, it is not 

 the purpose of this article to tell just how 

 the ancient Egyptians or Greeks or Romans 

 conducted this part of the business, but to 

 trace out what we of the last few decades 

 have been doing in this line. 



In looking over the bee journal ^ I find the 

 generally practiced method with flight vari- 

 ations was this: "The old combs were broken 

 up and placed in a suitable kettle partly fill- 

 ed with water. A gentle fire was 1-ept un- 

 der it, and when the mass wa;* well cooked 

 up it was then ladled into a sack and placed 

 under a press. It was expected, and it has 

 often been said, that, by this pressing and a 



