338 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



June 



fore relating it, I would just like to say I would give several 

 Yankee silver dollars if I could find a swarm similarly situ- 

 ated, just to see how long they could survive in this climate by 

 only placing a roof over them. 



Of course, those bees were mine. My father assisted me, 

 or I him, in cutting the combs from the rails, and placing 

 them in the hive. But this was, as I now know, very im- 

 properly done. However, the work was completed by fasten- 

 ing small sticks in the bottom of the hive, to hold the combs 

 from falling out. Everything was now ready to receive the 

 large cluster of bees, and the marching in of that vast multi- 

 tude I can assure you was a few moments of extreme delight 

 to the young enthusiast never to be forgotten. The whole 

 outfit was then carried home and placed in the bee-shed — 

 something which could be found on nearly every farm in those 

 days. But in the majority of cases it was the shed only ten- 

 anted with a few empty hives. 



My " pets," as I now began to look upon them as being, 

 appeared to make themselves right at home, and I would lie 

 on the greensward in front of the hive and watch the little 

 toilers go in and out about their business. One day, while 

 thus engaged, a mau past by, and askt where I got the bees. 

 I forthwith gave him their whole history in detail as far as I 

 knew. And do you know, that wiseacre of a bee-warrior just 

 up and smasht all my air-castles intn smithereens, by saying, 

 "They won't winter; you must feed them," etc. But he 

 failed to instruct me how to do the feeding. But not to be 

 outdone, I decided to feed, and for several days a lOyear-old 

 boy could be seen reclining in front of that hive after having 

 placed a few spoonfuls of brown sugar (which he had hookt 

 from his ma) in a saucer at the entrance. Of course, the bees 

 would have none of it, and all petered out before Christmas. 



This ended ray experience with bees at that time, save a 

 little incident through which myself and brothers learned that 

 bees carry pins in that end which is not generally called the 

 front. 



Notwithstanding my misfortune with fence-corner bees, 

 there was a spark of enthusiasm kindled within me which re- 

 fused to die, and for a number of years my circumstances and 

 surroundings were such as to prevent me from entering the 

 pursuit, yet this spark lived. 



In 1888, a venerable and generous old bee-master kindly 

 consented to let me have a colony, which I was to manage on 

 shares. Think of that — a know-nothing managing bees on 

 shares! But I did, and that with profit to its owner. Said 

 colony was the nucleus of my now small apiary, which has 

 never exceeded 38 colonies. I aim to keep the number about 

 30. On account of limited room, and limited time, also, I am 

 prevented from Increasing the number. My experience dur- 

 ing those nine years has been varied indeed. I have found 

 myself, as I thought, on the mountain top of success, only to 

 be hurled over the cliff of ignorance into the valley of disap- 

 pointment. But by reading everything having the name of 

 bee-literature that came before my eyes, my knowledge of the 

 management of bees has increast f rom year to year, until I am 

 forced to believe I know at least a little more of their habits 

 than when I tried to feed them brow u sugar. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I am not nearly run down, but lest some 

 Yankee should run me down unless I stop this nonsense, I beg 

 to conclude by saying that the hightof my ambition, for which 

 I have striven, has been fully realized the past season, 

 namely : An average surplus of 100 pounds of extracted 

 honey per colony, spring count. 



I trust that this bit of personal history may interest at 

 least some of the readers of the American Bee Journal, as I 

 have been interested in reading the biographical sketches of 

 others. D. W. Heise. 



Ontario, Canada. 



Rendering Beeswax with the Sun Extractor. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



The following questions have been sent to me for answer in 

 the American Bee Journal : 



" Will you please tell us what is the matter with our wax, 

 which has been rendered by the solar wax-extractor three differ- 

 ent times '. We send a sample cut from a cake, the dark part of 

 which gets darker as it nears the center of the cake, and also 

 deeper. How can we get Hall bright yellow ? and would it be any 

 advantage when next melting to raise the temperature of the ex- 

 tractor to about 14(1 or 150 degrees before placing the old combs in, 

 and then allowing the melted wax to run into a pan that contained 

 water of about the same temperature ? — Alder Bros." 



The solar extractor is very efficient to render up combs, 

 especially new combs or cappings, into beeswax, as It is always 



at hand during the busiest season, but it is absolutely useless 

 in purifying beeswax that has been rendered. 



The sample sent with this enquiry is very clear in a por- 

 tion of it, and darkish and opaque in another portion. This 

 is not astonishing. When you put combs into the solar ex- 

 tractor, those parts which contain the most beeswax will be 

 the first to soften, and therefore the purest beeswax will run 

 first; when the bulk of it has melted down, the remaining 

 liquid part comes also, with a portion of the dregs mixt into 

 it. The cake is thus made to look darker at its center or at 

 the portion which has last melted down. 



It would be of but little use to melt up this beeswax sev- 

 eral times in succession in the solar extractor, for these dregs 

 are very fine and are sure to stay with the wax. The only 

 method to purify the wax further is to melt it with water, 

 allowing it to cool as slowly as possible. It must be brought 

 to about the boiling-point of water so that there will be a per- 

 fect freedom for all the particles of dirt to settle, and as they 

 are usually heavier than beeswax, the dirty portion will be 

 found to have settled to the lower edge of the cake, from 

 whence it may be scraped without difficulty. Several succes- 

 sive meltings with the sun extractor would only tend to mix 

 the dregs more thoroughly with the beeswax and render it so 

 much more difficult to cleanse. The sun, however, has the 

 faculty of bleaching the wax, and would thus render it of 

 brighter color. But even in this there is an extreme to be 

 avoided. Beeswax that has been thoroughly bleacht loses Its 

 pleasant smell and assumes the disagreeable smell of candles. 



The reader will thus see that altho the sun extractor is 

 very good, in fact better than the water process in many in- 

 stances, yet it is not sufficient If a prime article is wanted, 

 thoroughly purified, for commercial uses or for exhibit. But 

 for comb-foundation making the wax may be shipt to the 

 manufacturer without further trouble, as it Is more readily 

 and more easily cleansed of these light remaining impurities 

 in large lots than in small parcels. 



Very old combs will decidedly not do for the sun extrac- 

 tor. We have again tried them with negative results, for too 

 much of the wax becomes soakt into the residue. The only 

 paying method of melting old combs is by the water process 

 given by me in the last article on this subject. 



While 1 am on this question, I wish to cite a suggestion 

 made to me lately by one of our friends — J. S. Willard, of 

 Iowa — to put old, broken combs and scraps into a sack which 

 may be sunk into a kettle of water so as to let the wax rise at 

 the top. I have never tried this process, but it looks reason- 

 ably practical. 



And, by the way, I was told once by a practical candle- 

 maker, and have always thought and held without actual 

 trial, that hard water was injurious to beeswax in the 

 rendering, and that to the use of this hard water could be 

 ascribed some of the spoiled beeswax that is made. But I 

 must to-day acknowledge my error unless the conditions de- 

 pend on the proportion of mineral in the water, for here is the 

 reply I had from a man who always sends us the very nicest 

 beeswax — Mr. Staininger, of Iowa — and of whom I askt his 

 methods : 



"In regard to the wax, I always take hard water and 

 melt it from two to three times, according to the wax ; use 

 plenty of water and melt It till the water comes off clean ; 

 have a new tin can and don't get it too hot." (Italics are mine.) 



Now, here is another testimonial : Messrs. Tood & Ar- 

 nold always have the very finest beeswax. This spring they 

 sent us a small lot that lookt dark aud gray. We askt them 

 what was the matter with it. Here is the answer: 



"When the cappings were washt they were put into an 

 Iron kettle for a few days before melting. That was the first 

 time we ever had a bad lot, and we want it to be the last." 



Here Is another : Mr. F., of Babylon, III., sent us the 

 ugliest cake of water-damaged, blackish beeswax that we had 

 ever seen. The cake is so abominably ugly and looks so little 

 like beeswax that we are preserving it for exhibit as an object 

 lesson. We askt this party about it, and stated that it was 

 our opinion that it had been overboiled and rendered in iron. 

 The answer is as follows : 



" Probably you are right about the boiling of that bees- 

 wax, as it was boiled quite awhile in an iron kettle." 



Now whether hard water has anything to do with it, as 

 was held by the candle-maker, or whether some kinds of hard 

 water have an effect on it, there is no doubt that to make good 

 beeswax it must be treated as follows : 



1. If rendered in the sun melt once, and afterwards either 

 render it with water or let it alone. 



2. If rendered with water it is probably best to use soft 

 water, but it must be boiled slowly with plenty of wt.ter. 



3. A tin, or tinned, vessel must be used. We use copper. 



