780 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



out of the wax. But this does not explain 

 why nice yellow wax melted in clear water 

 comes out dark, so as yet 1 mvist give up the 

 problem but hope to make some experiments. 

 1 certainly have been surprised at the yellow 

 wax I obtain from the dirtiest filthy mass of 

 l)oth water and combs. I feel I must know 

 why. I have sometimes salted water to make 

 it more dense to precipitate the dark matter 

 that coloi's wax sometimes, but am not posi- 

 tive that it was a siiccess because I did not 

 make comparative tests. 



When pressing I have been in the habit of 

 damping the wax and water, obtained by 

 skimming from the tanks, into a double tank 

 where I could keep it warm and liquid all day 

 to he dipped off for caking in the evening, let- 

 ting it stand over night to cool. This plan 

 enables me to accumvdate enough wax that, 

 at the close of the day, when I dip all except 

 the last half-inch or so, is pure wax; thus if 

 I have made a hundred-pound run I have 

 but one little batch of it just at the last that 

 has the settlings in it. 



My present machinery has seen quite a lit- 

 tle service, and is somewhat out of repair — 

 especially the cooking apparatus, which was 

 very cheaply constructed, so I am just about 

 to rebuild and make some changes which I 

 feel to be improvements. I will go on using 

 the same screw press, but I do not think the 

 c(jming mill will use the screw at all. If used 

 it will be in a different way from present 

 methods. I expect to continue studying the 

 ])roblem, and 1 feel that there must be some 

 device perfected that will do rapid and effec- 

 tive wax-rendering. I know it can be done, 

 liut the perfecting of the machinei-y is where 

 the rub comes in. I believe Mr. Hershiser 

 to be on the right track, but his mill is too 

 tedious. A rapid alternating between the 

 squeeze and release is what we want. I 

 have known for years that long-continued 

 pressure was not what we were after. There 

 must be pressure, or some means of either 

 breaking up the cocoons or in some way 

 liberating the wax from their pockets; then 

 enough water run through to wash it out will 

 soon complete the work. Who will perfect 

 the apparatus and give it to us at a I'eason- 

 able cost? 

 Loveland, Col. 



[The solution of the wax-press question 

 probably is that, for the extensive bee-keep- 

 er, and one who can, therefore, afford the 

 expense, the hot- water system is the best. 

 That is, the combination of a powerful screw 

 applying pressure upon the refuse immersed 

 in boiling hot water will probably be the 

 most satisfactory outfit for the man who 

 renders enough wax to warrant the expense. 

 But for the smaller producer it would seem 

 that the inexpensive unheated press is still 

 the best outfit. Such a press, however, is 

 not suitable for pressing great quantities of 

 refuse at a time. The secret of its great ca- 

 pacity lies in the fact that it will handle 

 small lots of refuse, one after another, so 

 I'apidly. By constantly adding fresh lots of 

 boiling-hot melted comb, the press, followers, 

 etc., are kept steaming hot, with the result 



that the wax runs out before it has a chance 

 to chill. On the other hand, if too much 

 melted comb is dipped into the press it takes 

 a much longer time relatively to get the wax 

 out, and chilling is the sure result. It is im- 

 portant to keep the press hot. If you had 

 tried pressing but a small quantity at a time 

 in Mr. Adams' cheese-press you probably 

 would have done just as rapid and much 

 more thorough work. 



It seems probable that all wax contains 

 traces of acid, for the reason that, when it is 

 kept above the melting-point for any great 

 length of time in metal vessels, it takes on a 

 color in some way characteristic of that 

 metal. For instance, many of the salts ob- 

 tained by treating copper with acid are blue 

 or green. If wax is kept melted too long 

 in a copper vessel the tell-tale green color 

 appears. If the temperature is I'aised con- 

 siderably, wax of a brilliant green color is 

 the result. The experiments recorded in 

 the following letter from F. A. Salisbury will 

 help to solve some of these questions. — Ed.] 



DISCOLORATION OP AVAX. 



The Effect of Different Metals Used in the 

 Construction of Meltina:^ Vessels. 



BY F. A. SALISBURY. 



We have recently been conducting some 

 experiments to show the effect of metals on 

 melted wax. We used small dishes made of 

 each kind of metal, and put some wax, about 

 the size of a good-sized walnut, in each dish 

 and placed it about 2^ inches above a gas- 

 jet. The frame was adjusted so the wax 

 would be kept at a temperature of about 180 

 degrees. It w^as left over the jet in each in- 

 stance 24 hours continuously. 



The samples show just what metal is the 

 best in which to melt wax, as all are different 

 in color. It will be safe to conclude that any 

 metal changes the color more or less. Of all 

 tried, copper was the very worst. Next 

 came zinc; then clean iron; next, tin; next, 

 rusty iron; and, lastly, common black iron. 

 I had always supposed that copper would be 

 the best metal in which to melt wax; but the 

 sample plainly shows that it ought not to be 

 used — at least, no one would want to chew 

 the sample. Zinc should not be used, as the 

 color is very dark. I should say tin or black 

 iron would be the most practical, all things 

 considered. 



The dishes were made of sheet metal in 

 each instance. Almost all the colors of the 

 rainbow can be had fi'om one sample by us- 

 ing difl'erent metals. Does this not explain 

 why cakes of wax as they come from differ- 

 ent parties are of different colors? 



RENDERING WAX IN A WOODEN PRESS. 



I have never taken the slumgum from the 

 wooden press and remelted it, as I did not 

 think it was necessary. However, there may 

 have been quite a little wax left in it. I 

 can't say. I once made up ten barrels of old 

 comb that was packed in with a pounder 



