1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



157 



5. That depends. For simply rendering 

 the wax I should prefer the Hatch press ev- 

 ery time. But if any one objects to working 

 so constantly, he might want the German 

 press, for that can be set going on the stove 

 and left to steam away by itself if necessary. 

 Furthermore, with the German press it is 

 not absolutely necessary to have another 

 boiler for melting up the comb. This is 

 sometimes an advantage, especially when 

 there is an unlimited amount of time and 

 but a small amount of wax to render. 



The German press also has the advantage 

 in that it can be used for an uncapping-can 

 if necessary. Then, when it is full, the honey 

 can be pressed out, steam generated, and 

 the cappings melted into wax without fur- 

 ther handling. Yet, as I said before, for 

 rendering bright yellow wax in large quan- 

 tities the unheated Hatch press is the best for 

 the man who is not afraid of a little work. 



6. The time taken for rendering wax in 

 the two presses is very nearly the same when 

 an extra boiler is used in connection with 

 the German press as well as with the Hatch 

 press. If there is any difference, it is prob- 

 ably in favor of the latter. But you should 

 i-emember that the Hatch pi-ess which I used 

 was only fifteen inches in diameter. A larg- 

 er one could be made at but slightly greater 

 expense that would have twice the capacity. 

 Here's the point, however: With the German 

 press, the wax will be of a dirty green color, 

 while with the Hatch press it will be bright 

 yellow and all ready for market. — H. H. K.] 



Since the editor could not return from the 

 Pennsylvania State Bee-keepers' Convention 

 in time, the answers to Stray Straws in this 

 issue are by the associate editor. 



The honey business is not the only one 

 which suffers from the yellow px'ess. The 

 prune industry has been seriously checked 

 by stories derogatory to that product. So 

 has the cheese industry. The olive-oil in- 

 tlustry, likewise, has been seriously misrep- 

 resented by many on account of cotton-seed 

 oil being stated to be just as good, which it 

 isn't; and, by the statement, it is usually 

 mixed with the latter. Verily we need a 

 law protecting food products from willful 

 and well-paid-for misrepresentation. 



bees in a wire-cloth cage before the Michi- 

 gan State Bee-keepers' convention held at 

 Big Rapids recently. The stunt that he per- 

 formed attracted considerable attention from 

 the general newspaper press, for the papers 

 contained quite a lot about it, the Detroit 

 News showing a half-tone of Mr. Hunt in 

 the cage. 



We have repeatedly called attention to 

 this form of advertising, and respectfully 

 suggest again that local bee-keepers who 

 have nice honey to sell, and who would de- 

 sire to dispose of it in their own vicinity at 

 good prices, would do well to make one of 

 these live-bee exhibitions in the windows of 

 one of the retail stores in some of the prin- 

 cipal towns or cities in their vicinity. 



When you are i-eady, call in the newspa- 

 per men and give them a sample or two of 

 both comb and extracted ; and be free to 

 answer all their inquiries. 



HUNTS LIVE-BEE DEMONSTKATION IN BIG 

 RARIDS, MICH. 



Mk. Elmore Hunt, of M. H. Hunt & Son, 

 Bell Branch, Mich., has been handling live 



HIVES FOR ANTS. 



It is not generally known that ant-hives 

 are often constructed by persons interested 

 in the study of ants. We are reminded of 

 this by a perusal of Mrs. Adele M. Fielde's 

 little monograph on the construction of port- 

 able ant-nests, issued from Woods Holl, Mas- 

 sachusetts, Marine . Biological Laboratory, 

 which gives instruction in the method of 

 making an ant-hive. These things are noth- 

 ing new, and it is a notable fact that ihe 

 Huber family were responsible for much of 

 our knowledge of ants. The Lubbock ant- 

 hive sits on an island in a basin of water. 

 The Forel nest is surrounded with a wall of 

 plaster of Paris (which the ants can not ne- 

 gotiate), and the Janet nest is of porous stone 

 to allow the ants hiding-ways and a home 

 out of the light. Mrs. Fielde's ant-hives are 

 constructed of panes of glass on the plan of 

 a single-comb observation hive, and in this 

 respect must form a very decided improve- 

 ment for study purposes, and, besides, are 

 very portable. 



THE "EDITORIAL W^E " AND OUR EDITORIAL 

 FORCE. 



The reader will, perhaps, notice a little 

 change in the use of pronouns in these col- 

 umns. The editor will hereafter adopt the 

 editorial we. While this will, to a certain 

 extent, obscure individuality, Gleanings 

 has come to be so big that one man will not, 

 as heretofore, do all of the editorial talking. 

 While it is probably true that E. R. Root 

 will do the lai'ger part of the editorial and 

 footnote work, as heretofore, some of the 

 matter that he has formerly gathered himself 

 will now be collected by others. He now 

 has as assistants in this office H. H. Root 

 and Mr. W. K. Morrison. The latter has de- 

 voted an entire lifetime to bees and bee lit- 

 erature; and in addition to all this he has 

 traveled all over beedom, taking in parts of 

 Europe and a very large portion of the Amer- 

 ican tropics. He* has spent not a little time 

 in various parts of the United States in study- 



