1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



63^ 



much better, and can be nsed on a brick fur- 

 nace outdoors to good advantage, while a 

 boiler could not? About 30 bricks and two 

 joints of stovepipe will make the furnace; 

 and when not in use all can be packed away 

 in some shed out of sight. Not over half an 

 hour is time enough to make it complete; 

 and any one with a town lot has room enough, 

 and there is no mussing of floors to vex the 

 good woman; and the square tank has ad- 

 vantages over the round one of being easier 

 to skim — that is. if you use a square dipper 

 as you ought to. If you ever used a square 

 one you could readily see the advantages of 

 it. A five-cent cake-tin is better than a round 

 dipper. 



I have two square tanks — one 15X15 in., 

 and 15 in. deep; the other 18 in in each di- 

 mension. A 15-inch one made of heavy gal- 

 vanized iron would last a lifetime if cared 

 for. A dipper should be about 6x6x4 in. 



HATCH S OUTDOOR FURNACE FOR MELTING 

 COMBS. 



deep, and have a flat handle, rather short, 

 and bent to a hook, so as to hang on the edge 

 of the tank inside when not in use. 



Another mistake you make is in putting 

 too much comb in the boiler at once. Just 

 enough for one pressing at a time is enough; 

 and when you are pressing it out your help- 

 er puts in another batch, tires up, and at- 

 tends to the melted wax; or, if you are work- 

 ing alone, it will do no harm to let the press 

 stand while you till up for the next pressing. 



Dipping the follower and rim into the boil- 



er is just as well as to pour that pailful of 

 water into the press, and much less bother. 



I usually put in about 4 gallons of water 

 and slumgum at each pressing; but this 

 means an indefinite quantity, for I may get 

 more water than you do. Plenty of hot wa- 

 ter is my motto, for beeswax seems to like to 

 run out with water when it will hardly move 

 with pressure. I use an old square five gal- 

 lon can to catch the wax in. When the wax 

 is deep enough to warrant it, I skim it off 

 (with a square dipper mind you) into small 

 tins to cool. These are kept covered as much 

 as possible. With this method the water can 

 be returned to the boiler before it gets much 

 cooled, and the wax is ready for market with 

 a little scraping at the bottom; and even this 

 can be largely avoided by extra care in skim- 

 ming when putting into the cooling-tins. 

 The wax may need to be washed, as the wa- 

 ter in the boiler gets rather "rich" in color- 

 ing before many hours run. 



There is one point that should be impress- 

 ed on all bee-keepei"s— i. e., that all heatiag 

 and boiling of wax after being once melted 

 is to its detriment; also that iron rust turns 

 wax black. 



Kingsville, Texas. 



[For some reason or other, as we render 

 wax, we have never found that we could 

 save much time by skimming off the free 

 wax that would rise to the top. We think 

 that we can put the melted comb through the 

 press, wax and all. about as quickly as we 

 could that which was left after skimming; 

 and, if we are correct in this, we save the 

 tedious work of skimming and thus get along 

 just so much faster. 



Since we do no skimming, then, the shape 

 of the melting-tank or can does not make 

 so much difference. But we agree with our 

 correspondent when he says that it is difii- 

 cult to clean a wash-boiler successfully after 

 it has been used for melting wax; and for 

 this reason, then, it would not be best, ordi- 

 narily, to use the same boiler for washing 

 clothes or for other work about the house. 

 Keep that boiler for melting old combs, cap- 

 pings, wax, liquefying honey, etc. Perhaps 

 the only point in favor of a wash-boiler is the 

 fact that it can be obtained at any hardware 

 store, ready made, and would, therefore, cost 

 le3S than one which had to be made to order. 

 But if we were going to have one made, we 

 would most certainly have it made with square 

 corners, for many reasons. If of such a size 

 that four 60-lb. cans could stand in it, it would 

 be found very convenient for liquefying hon- 

 ey, etc. 



The plan of an outdoor furnace is excel- 

 lent. Many might find the ordinary feed 

 cookers very valuable for this work. They 

 can be pux'chased complete — that is, the tank, 

 furnace, smoke-pipe, etc., for from three to 

 five dollars. They are useful to the bee-keep- 

 er, farmer, or poviltry-raiser. 



We think we can do faster and cleaner 

 work by pressing only about a gallon of melt- 

 ed comb at a time; and as it would not pay 

 to melt up such a small quantity at once we 



