162 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 



Hall gave full information as to how 

 the market reports were gathered and 

 assured the beekeepers present that 

 anyone who desired the reports could 

 get them by simply writing to the 

 Bureau of Markets at any of the 

 cities in which such bureaus arc lo- 

 cated, or to the main office at \\ a ;h 

 ington, D. C. 



Prof. F. Eric Milieu, in describing 

 beekeepii.g as seen by a bee inspec- 

 tor, gave one an idea of the troubles 

 and difficulties met by the bee in- 

 spector and showed very plainly that 

 education is essential for the eradi- 

 cation of bee disease throughout the 

 country. The fact that beekeepers 

 are not acquainted with disease and 

 means of its eradication is the prime 

 cause for the spreading of foulbrood. 



Perhaps none of the speakers at- 

 tracted as much attention as Charles 

 B. Justice, General Manager of the 

 California Honey Producers' Co- 

 operative Exchange. Although this 

 organization has been in operation 

 but a short while, there is great 

 promise for what it will do for its 

 members. Mr. Justice is an enthu- 

 siastic man and, without doubt, there 

 is bound to be a steadying of the 

 lnmey market through the efforts oi 

 his organization. 



Kenneth Hawkins gave a talk on 

 "Beekeeping in Dixie." Mr. Hawkins 

 was in the employ of the Federal 

 Government for nearly three years 

 and covered something like 21 states 

 doing extension work for the Depart- 

 ment at Washington. Although Mr. 

 Hawkins is no longer connected with 

 the department, he is still closely in 

 touch with it and gave valuable in- 

 formation as to general beekeeping 

 conditions in the south. 



Professor H. F. Wilson, of the Uni- 

 versity of Wisconsin, talked to the 

 meeting in detail, the way in which 

 organization of local beekeepers' so- 

 cieties was accomplished in Wis- 

 consin. Through him, as well as 

 through Professor Millen and others, 

 the call for more education among 

 beekeepers was sounded. 



"International Beekeeping," a paper 

 by C. P. Dadant, was read before the 

 Convention. Professor E. G. Bald- 

 win gave a lecture on "Extension 

 Beekeeping, Fact or Fiction?" Pro- 

 E. G. Baldwin, who is con- 

 nected with the Purdue University at 

 in. I nd., has met with great 

 success in organizing county bee- 

 s' associations, and devoted as 

 he i- to tli'- work, lie feels certain 

 that tlu- organization of beeki epers 

 throughout the United Slates must 

 through the small associations 

 in counties under the regular 

 I ederal organization. 



During tin- meeting, the resolution 

 was passed calling for a representa- 

 tive meet ing oi bei kei pel s at Kansas 

 City, Mo., in January, 1920. The pur- 

 this mei ting w ill 1" to i eor- 

 i u ii, , Ijj amend- 

 ing the Constitution or changing it, 

 or perhaps by adopting an entirely 

 itution. The discussion 

 during the meeting tended to show 



i. majority was diss.* 

 with the present status of thi 

 tional and. wished to improve it. A 

 towever, was 



brought in by two of the committee 

 who felt that with the present ma- 

 chinery of the National, sufficient 

 work could be accomplished if the 

 right officers could be found to do the 

 work. The motion, however, was 

 carried, and the Secretary was in- 

 structed to call a meeting in Kansas 

 City in January, 1920. 



The best part of the National meet- 

 ing came on the morning of the sec- 

 ond day, when Doctor Miller ap- 

 peared at the convention room door. 

 To say that he was enthusiastically 

 greeted is putting it too mildly. Dr. 

 Miller and Miss Wilson were with 

 us but a short time, but their pres- 

 ence rounded out the gathering as 

 nothing else possibly could have 

 done. 



The officers elected for the ensuing 

 year are as follows: 



President — B. F. Kindig, Michigan. 



Vice President — Miss Ada Sly, 

 Michigan. 



Secretary-Treasurer — Chas. B. Jus- 

 tice, California. 



Executive Committee — David Run- 

 ning, E. S. Miller, Floyd Markham, 

 Mrs. Cora Polhemus and Dr. A. C. 

 Baxter. L. C. DADANT. 



Rendering Wax 



By C. T. Ohlinger 



OLD combs and pieces of wax 

 that accumulate during the 

 honey season, when honey is 

 cut out of box-hives and bee-trees, 

 can lie rendered into marketable 

 shape without extensive apparatus. 

 The things necessary for a good job 

 are two or three pails, preferably 

 sap buckets that don't leak, a piece 

 of burlap cut from a fertilizer or feed 

 sack, a half dozen clothes pins and 

 two floor boards, 3 inches wide and 3 

 feet long, hinged together at one end 

 wnli a piece of leather, to be used as 

 a press. If the boards have tongue 

 and groove they must be shaved off 



so that no wax can run into them 



In order to get every bit of wax we 

 scrape the walls of the hive and the 

 frames with a sharp knife clean to 

 the wood. The combs and scrapings 

 are crushed into one of the pails until 

 about half full. Rain water, or soft 

 water, is now added, just enough so 

 that the pail will not boil over when 

 on the kitchen stove to boil. Fre- 

 quent stirring helps to separate the 

 cocoons from the cells of the comb 

 and thus more wax is gained. We try 

 to use as much water as possible in 

 order to get a bright and clean wax. 

 When the combs are all dissolved 

 and boiling hot, the piece of burlap 

 is pinned over the second pail as a 

 strainer, and the whole mass poured 

 into this pail. The ends of the 

 strainer are now gathered into one 

 hand while another person slips the 

 boards around the bag thus made, 

 gradually pressing the contents while 

 the bag is being twisted until no 

 more wax can be squeezed out. The 

 remaining slum-gum is carefully- 

 scraped from the strainer, which is 

 now used for the next batch. When 

 the weather is cool and the bees are 

 not flying we set the pails contain- 

 ing the strained wax anywhere out- 

 doors, at other times they go into 

 the cellar until the wax can be re- 

 moved from the pails. 

 Angelica, Allegheny, Co., N. V. 



Hive Size and Comb Capacity 



By Arthur C. Miller 



THE accuracy of Quinby's obser- 

 vations and the soundness of his 

 deductions are, after nearly sev- 

 enty years, slowly being recognized. 

 His' hive size and comb capacity arc 

 being adopted by a steadily increas- 

 ing number of beekeepers. To be 

 sure, some wise ones, like the Da- 

 dants, the late Captain Hetherington 

 and some living New York State bee- 

 keepers have long used the Quinby 

 hive, or its equivalent, the "Jumbo." 



It is not necessary here to recite 

 all the history of the teaching and 

 practices of the manipulative school 

 of beekeepers, like Heddon, Hutchin- 

 son. Doolittle and others who 

 thought to force and crowd the bees 

 into the supers by taking away and 

 transposing hive-chambers or parts, 

 or to force an increase in population 

 by "spreading the brood." I recently 

 heard one of the faireot minded and 

 best posted beemen in the United 

 States say that that manipulative 

 school had done untold harm to the 

 bee industry. The shallow Lang- 

 stroth hive was urged particularly to 

 ion e the bees to put their honey into 

 the supers and the I )anzenbaker was 

 merely an exaggeration of the idea. 

 In the train of such outfits Followed 

 all sorts of plans to increase and 

 stimulate In 1 production. Feeding 



and feeders became a mania and a 



necessity. The preaching and prac- 

 tice of some who fed a little daily to 

 stimulate a natural flow reminded 

 oni oi the ancients who pushed in 

 through the diminutive entrance of 

 their '.lives a split alder stick with 

 ih, pith removed. The contents of 

 thai tinj trough was thought sum- 



