1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1013 



In this way you can g:et just about all of the 

 wax, although sometimes it is best to dump 

 the slumgum back and cook it and press it a 

 second time. 



Another thing is to have a hole near the 

 bottom of your tub, with a plug in it. This 

 is to let off the water from the bottom. By 

 so doing the size of your cakes of wax is 

 limited only by the size of the tub. 



TO GET CAKES OF WAX WITHOUT CRACKS. 



The way to get large cakes of wax, and 

 have them free from cracks, is to have the 

 wax all cool at the same time. The only 

 practical way to do this is to dip the wax 

 from one tub into another. If a little care 

 is used in doing this, perfect cakes of wax 

 can be obtained up to almost any size. 



Casanova, Cuba. 



[Mr. Burr has, I believe, suggested the 

 best practical home-made wax-press that 

 has yet been submitted to our readers. The 

 use of a jackscrew in connection with a suit- 

 able frame, a box to hold the slumgum, 

 makes a very simple and cheap outfit. Our 

 artist, however, has failed to show a cross- 

 arm, against which the screw engages, suf- 

 ficiently heavy. It should not be smaller 

 than a 4X4 oak cross-piece; and the inner 

 box to hold the cheese or slumgum should be 

 well bound around the sides with strap iron. 

 The jackscrew is a powerful machine; and 

 when the enormous pressure it is capable of 

 exerting on the plunger-boards is applied, 

 the cheese is quite liable to spread out side- 

 wise, bursting the box unless it is made very^ 

 secure. Otherwise the illustration is fairly" 

 correct. 



Perhaps the average bee-keeper may feel 

 that this outfit will not be available for his 

 use, as he would have no steam-boiler at his 

 command. Let me suggest to all such that 

 they load the wax-press and a load of combs 

 into a wagon, and drive to the nearest 

 steam-boiler. An arrangement can doubt- 

 less be made with the owner of the boiler to 

 furnish steam at a nominal price. Common 

 garden hose will answer for conveying steam 

 from the boiler to the press. 



The advantages of steam over hot water, 

 for this purpose, are so very decided that 

 one should by all means use it if he can. But 

 failing in that he can heat the slumgum in a 

 kettle of hot water, dip it into a burlap sack, 

 and quickly put it under pressure. After it 

 has been squeezed until no wax runs out, he 

 can put it back into the water and cook it 

 again, and give another squeeze with the 

 press. 



I wish to say here that the jackscrew has 

 a great advantage over the ordinary car- 

 penter's vise-screw, in that, the moment 

 pressure is released by turning the screw 

 down, the whole screw can be lifted out of 

 the way for the easy removal of the pressure- 

 board and cheese, for time must not be 

 wasted in getting the hot slumgum under 

 pressure. 



Mr. Burr discovers that the press will se- 

 cure 40 per cent of the wax over and above 

 that rendered out in the old way. We 



found the percentage was even higher. Any 

 bee-keeper who thinks he can get along 

 without a wax-press is, in my opinion, burn- 

 ing up or throwing away good dollars. — Ed. ] 



HIVE-TOOLS. 



Many Tools Not Needed; Don't Waste Your 



Time Scraping; Leave That to a 



Cheaper Hand. 



BY F. C. HOCHSTEIN. 



Oh, my ! here comes my friend Burr scrap- 

 ing into a Cuban apiary with an old putty- 

 knife. Well, I declare! I thought better of 

 him. I thought he was an up-to-date bee- 

 keeper; but the apiarist in Cuba who goes 

 scraping around with an old putty-knife is 

 certainly a back number who does not value 

 either his own time nor that of his employer 

 very highly. Come, friend Burr, stop rob- 

 bing yourself or your employer with that 

 putty-knife. Hire a little nigger boy at 20 

 cents a day; turn over your old putty-knife 

 to him; give him an old bee-veil full of holes 

 The holes will let the bees get in on him. 

 Keep him moving; let him do your scrap- 

 ing; don't work for 20 cents a day yourself. 

 Let us do away with that putty-knife. The 

 bee-keeper has no need of it. First, paint 

 all the edges of your bee-hives and the bot- 

 toms of your covers with carbolineum. This 

 does away with all the sticking of these 

 parts; then use a Hochstein cover, a prop- 

 erly made one, 26 inches long, not like 

 those you have been using here in Cuba, 24 

 inches ; that extra two inches makes as much 

 difference on these covers as two inches 

 would on a man's nose. 



In the summer season I shove these cov- 

 ers front as far as I can. This takes all the 

 rain drip over beyond the bottom-board en- 

 trance. 



In the winter, or during the honey-flow, 

 I shove the cover over the back of the hive 

 as far as possible. This gives quite a pro- 

 jection, and gives you a leverage that the 

 bees can not build brace-comb enough to the 

 cover but that you can easily pull it off with 

 one hand— no need of a putty- knife. 



The only tool an apiarist needs is a Cogg- 

 shall brush with a Hochstein point to it (see 

 the point). That point is a 40-penny wire 

 nail driven into the handle of the brush. 

 Leave about IJ inches sticking out, then 

 file off the head and file it to a point Hke a 

 scratch-awl. It is the only tool— keep it in 

 your right hand always. 



Now let me take you out into the apiary 

 and show you how I work it in a good hon- 

 ey season. First I take the machete away 

 from my 20-cent nigger and hang a small 

 tin pail in its place. This is for the wax 

 scraps. My helper takes the wheelbarrow 

 and the smoker— nothing less than a four- 

 inch smoker will do. I need nothing more 

 than my Coggshall brush with the Hochstein 

 point in my right hand. Now we are ready. 



With my left hand I take hold of the cor- 

 ner of the cover; pull it off and give it a 



