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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



hive I found the bees all dead, with 

 several pounds of honey left. 



When spring opened I concluded to go 

 into the bee-business a little more ex- 

 tensively, and as a good many persons 

 were discouraged from last year's poor 

 honey crop, I got bees pretty cheap. 

 Some were in Simplicity hives, and some 

 in box-hives, which I transferred to 

 Simplicity hives, as I like that hive the 

 best. I now have 24 colonies, most of 

 them pure Italians, some hybrids and 

 some blacks. 



I notice a good many praise the 

 blacks ; as this has been a poor honey 

 season so far, I have had a good chance 

 to watch and see which are the best, the 

 blacks or the Italians. My Italians are 

 all strong, and in good condition — so are 

 the hybrids. The blacks are weak, and 

 wanting to rob. The only thing I find 

 the blacks good for is to sting. « I am 

 quite sure the story of Job in the good 

 book would never have been written if 

 he had been compelled to handle black 

 bees, if they are all like mine — always 

 ready for a fight. I intend to Italianize 

 them all I have 3 beautiful young 

 queens about ready to put in ; they are 

 large and yellow. 



I have a one-frame observation hive 

 in which I have a young queen which 

 did not mate until she was 11 days old, 

 it being damp, cool weather. We have 

 had but five good honey days this year, 

 one the forepart of June, and four so far 

 this month. What they are getting is 

 mostly from white clover. 



I have made a very handy scraper to 

 scrape or cut out burr-combs without 

 taking out the frames. It is made of a 

 strip of sheet steel, or heavy sheet-iron, 

 with a wooden handle. 



Rockport, Ind., July 14, 1892. 



He Rendering of Beeswax. 



w. m'nally. 



In the rendering of wax from refuse 

 combs much depends upon how cleanly 

 the work is done. Very often there is 

 so much loss through carelessness in 

 bespattering cloths, dishes, etc., which 

 hardly compensates for the wax taken. 

 Old combs yield very little, but it is the 

 best plan to get these melted up, and 

 thus prevent a feeding-ground for the 

 wax-moth to multiply. 



Where one can afford to buy a wax- 

 extractor, this will be found a most use- 

 ful article, especially for clean, new 



combs, and as the whole apparatus is 

 usually complete in itself, there is little 

 need to soil other dishes with wax. 



Some bee-keepers do not care to go to 

 the expense of an extractor, and to these 

 the following method may be found 

 useful : 



After the honey is taken from the 

 combs, these should be washed in a run- 

 ning stream, or under a tap, to remove 

 all honey left, and as much of the pollen 

 as possible. .Squeeze the combs into 

 balls with the hands, and put in a bag — 

 a washed sugar-bag will suit the pur- 

 pose. Fill the boiler or copper with 

 water, preferably rain water, and sink 

 the bag of combs in the boiler under the 

 surface of the water ; at the same time 

 see that the bag does not touch the 

 bottom. 



As the water boils, the wax will ooze 

 out of the bag and float on the surface, 

 where it may be allowed to cool, and 

 taken off in one sheet, or it may be 

 skimmed and dropped into cold water, 

 which will greatly improve the color. A 

 second melting and straining through a 

 piece of muslin into any desired mould 

 completes the operation. 



In most dairy farms there are large 

 boilers for steaming turnips and soft 

 food for cattle, heated with a steam- 

 pipe let into the water in the boiler. 

 Where the use of these could be had, a 

 large lot of combs maybe melted up in 

 short time by filling the bag with combs, 

 and heating as above mentioned. 



Those who desire to have a first-class 

 sample of wax should, at the beginning 

 of the season, collect all the comb cap- 

 pings and pieces of white comb. These 

 should be washed and put aside until 

 the desired quantity is collected. Wax 

 taken from combs gathered in a clover 

 district is of a pale yellow or straw 

 color, while that from a heather district 

 is almost white. 



It is erroneous to suppose that the 

 more wax is boiled, it will become lighter 

 in color. Dark wax may be made lighter 

 in color by pouring it into cold water. 

 When put into the moulds, allow the 

 cakes to cool slowly, as they are apt to 

 crack, and so mar the appearance if in- 

 tended for exhibition. — British Bee Jour- 

 nal. 



The Globe Bee-Veil, which we offer 

 on the third page of this number of the 

 Bee Jouknal, is just the thing. You 

 can get it for sending us only three new 

 subscribers, at $1.00 each. 



