244 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



December, 



keep them . in large hives we shall 

 have no trouble in holding them where 

 they belong — but this, of course must 

 be tried out Avith Caucasians. 



There is this point that must not 

 be lo«t sight of: Being an amazingly- 

 gentle race maybe more people can 

 be induced to enter apiculture who are 

 now held off from so doing because 

 of the fear of stings. I am an advo- 

 cate of progress, therefore shall not 

 hesitate to give new i-aces of bees 

 a fair trial even though they break 

 me or, perhaps, set me back. 



When the season opens next year 

 I shall exchange queens with another 

 breeder and shall at once proceed to 

 cross out the in-breeding done this 

 autumn. In addition to this 1 shall 

 make an effort to import a few more 

 mothers. 



Swarthmore, Pa., Oct. 12. 19()5. 



again. Now let's open up and claw 

 over the slumgum. Great Scott, how 

 the stuff scalds. After three or four 

 hours of such troubles we find we have 

 five to ten pounds of wax, which after 

 remelting and running into cakes will 

 be worth from $1.50 to $3. 



Incidentally we have filled the house 

 with the .steamy odor of dirty old 

 combs, have bedaubed the stove and 



EXTRACTING BEESWAX. 



A New and Thorough System Devised. 



By a. C. Miller. 



BEESWAX, not old Old Beeswax, 

 the butt of the village jokes, 

 but the real article is my theme, 

 the jokes will be on the jokers who 

 have been loudly urging the produc- 

 tion of wax, but ignoring the pains 

 and pleasures of the producer and the 

 cost of production. 



Wax produced from cappings and 

 sold at 26 cents to 28 cents per pound 

 less freight charges may be profitable 

 in a measure, but producing it from 

 old combs by the common methods 

 of melting and skimming, or by pres- 

 sure, spells loss in big letters. Let 

 us see how this occurs. First we get 

 a roaring fire in the kitchen stove, 

 get a wax press in running order and 

 charged with a mile or so of cheese 

 cloth. Next we begin to load it with 

 comb. Oh, dear, there goes a piece 

 on the stove and burns, and complaints 

 are heard as to the smell. At last it 

 is loaded and pressure applied. 

 Thunder! the water is out. Saw it 

 just in time. Now we're off again. 

 Phew! but it is hot over this stove. 

 Crash, slam, bang—! Oh, dear, I be- 

 lieve I have broken my arm. No, I 

 guess its all right, I didn't think that 

 box was so weak. Well here goes 



> EXTRAffl 



kitchen with wax and dirt, scalded 

 our fingers, used up a lot of fuel and 

 upset the whole family. Does it pay? 

 When one realizes that despite all 

 this fuss, labor and discomfort only 

 about half of the contained wax is 

 recovered, a feeling of disgust is apt 

 to find such secure lodgment that 

 thereafter wax production will be neg- 

 lected altogether. 

 All of this is unnecessary, for the 



