234 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The Section Press and Founda- 

 tion Fastener, combined, mentioned last 

 week on page 203, is made by Mr. W. 

 O. Leach, Coldwater, Ontario. We here- 

 witli give an illustration of it, so that 

 our readers may get an intelligent idea 

 of its use and how to operate it. It is 

 placed in our Museum for the inspection 

 of visitors. Mr. Leach writes thus 

 about it: 



By its use I can put the foundation in 

 the sections quicker, out of the flat, when 



moistened, than I can after the sections 

 are closed. To close the sections it has 

 no equal for speed, after taking off the 

 heater-plate attachment. After closing 

 the section, relieve the treadle altogether, 

 so as to bring it back to its starting 

 place again. 



It works to my complete satisfaction, 

 and I use it every day, both for folding 

 sections and fastening the foundation in 

 them. One would hardly believe that it 

 could save so much time, while handling 

 the sections and completing them all at 

 one operation. It requires but little 

 practice to operate it quickly and suc- 

 cessfully. W. O. Leach. 



Bees^svax Bleacliing.— Inqui- 

 ries often come for information on the 

 above. The following appeared in the 

 New York Voice in answer to a query 

 on the subject, and will be interesting to 

 those who wish to know all about the 

 bleaching of beeswax : 



The commercial way of bleaching 

 beeswax is as follows : 



The wax is melted in a large tank, at 

 the end of which is a wooden cylinder 

 turned by hand, while the melted wax is 

 running over it. The cylinder being 

 half in cold water,^and consequently 

 always wet, causes the wax to flake off 

 into the water; it is then put on large 

 cloth screens supported by legs about 

 half a yard high, and is put out into the 

 light and air to bleach. After it has 

 been out about a week, the same process 

 is gone through again, and by another 

 week or so it is white. 



This can be done on a smaller scale 

 by pouring the melted wax on the surface 

 of warm water to form a thin sheet, and 

 then putting it out on cloth to bleach ; 

 or another way is to put wax in cold 

 water, let it come to boil, cool the water, 

 and a thin sheet is formed on the water 

 which is put out to bleach in the same 

 way. 



There is also a way to do it chemically, 

 which I copy from a book which we 

 have : 



Heat wax to about 212<^ in an iron 

 vessel lined with lead ; add chloride of 

 lime, either dissolved in water or dry*, 

 and stirred with a wooden spatula. 

 When these materials have acted on 

 each other long enough to discharge the 

 color from the wax, the chloride of lime 

 is removed by the addition of diluted 

 sulphuric acid. The whole is then to be 

 boiled until the alkali is separated. The 

 'solution of the chloride of lime in pro- 

 portion of 20 pounds to 112 of water, 

 and an equal quantity, by weight, of 

 wax. 



The sulphuric acid should be of the 

 specific gravity of 1.8, and be diluted 

 with 20 times its weight of water. 



Hs:yptiaii Bees, found in Egypt, 

 Arabia and Asia Minor, have yellow 

 bands, and are smaller than Italians. 

 Although they have long been domesti- 

 cated in Egypt, where floating apiaries 

 are common, they have been found to 

 be vicious, by European bee-keepers 

 who introduced them. — Exchange. 



