24 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



the methods that they employ in crush- 

 ing competition are often such as to 

 make them practically into monopolies. 

 But, friends, I believe that the Review 

 better not follow this politico-economical 

 discussion any further. It is a vast and 

 important subject, one worthy of our 

 highest thought and consideration, but 

 in the columns of the Review is scarcely 

 the place to discuss the matter. Perhaps 

 some will ask why I allowed it to be com- 

 menced. No one who has not been the 

 president of a bee-keepers' convention, 

 or the editor of a bee journal, or in a sim- 

 ilar position, knows how difficult it is to 

 hold all hands strictly to the question. 

 It is so easy to wander. Mr. Aaron vSny- 

 der condenmed in vigorous terms the 

 practice of facing comb honey when crat- 

 ing it for market. He thought it did 

 more than anything else to lower prices. 

 Mr. Doolittle thought otherwise, and 

 went on to show what he thought had 

 had been the greatest factor in bringing 

 about the low price of honey. Mr. Tay- 

 lor thought that Mr. Doolittle was great- 

 ly mistaken, and proceeded to defend his 

 views; and, lo, and behold ! the Review 

 has a full fledged politico-eco.nomical dis- 

 cussion on hand that, if allowed to run 

 on, would fill number after number for 

 months to come. It is a difficult matter 

 to keep all in the beaten track, and it 

 may be advisable to allow occasionally 

 some kicking over the traces, or even the 

 nibbling of choice bits by the roadside, 

 but I think we better try and stay inside 

 the road fences. 



ir^«^«m«'«»»>i» 



PRESSURE MUST BE USED IK WE .\RE TO 

 GET ALL OF THE WAX. 

 In this issue of the Review theie ap- 

 pears a most excellent article by Mr. 

 Beckwith on the subject of rendering wax. 

 Mr. Beckwith took the pains to mail me 

 a small box of the residue left after he 

 had squeezed out the wax with his press. 

 It is exactly as he expresses it — dr}- and 

 mealy. With the ordinary methods 

 of- rendering wax, who has seen an}- such 

 "slum-gum," as it is sometimes called ? 



As a rule, it is as hard as a cake of wax. 

 The boiling process comes the nearest to 

 getting out all of the wax; but even that 

 fails with old com.bs. The solar extrac- 

 tor is the worst arrangement that there is 

 for rendering old combs. P'or cap- 

 pings, or for new combs, or for those 

 that have never contained brood, it mat- 

 ters little in regard to the process employ- 

 ed; but the cocoons of old brood-combs 

 become literal sponges in the way that 

 they soak up and retain the wax. Sup- 

 pose a sponge thoroughly saturated with 

 wax as it may be saturated with water; 

 a portion of this wax might be removed 

 by putting the sponge in the solar extract- 

 or; perhaps a larger portion by steaming; 

 and a still larger one by boiling; but pres- 

 sure alone would remove it entirely. 



This matter received a most thorough 

 discussion over at the Ontario convention 

 that I recently attended; or, to be more 

 exact, Mr. F. A. Gemmill gave his ex- 

 perience in the use of pressure in render- 

 ing wax. He secured pressure b}' means 

 of a screw. He had taken twent3'-one 

 pounds of the slum-gum left by the steam 

 process, and by boiling it and then pres- 

 sing it, he had secured seven pounds of 

 the finest wax. With the press he had 

 secured three pounds of wax from eight 

 I/angstroth combs. These combs were 

 built upon foundation, and contained 

 perha])S a pound and a half of wax in the 

 foundation given, and the rest had been 

 supplied by the bees. This is, of course, 

 a very large yield of wax, and could not 

 be expected in most cases. Mr. Gemmill 

 puts the old combs into a gunny sack, 

 sinks the sack and contents in a boiler 

 containing water, putting on weights to 

 keep the sack under water, and then 

 boils it and skims off the wax. The ref- 

 use is then put through the press. 



I know that the use of pressure in ren- 

 dering wax is not a new idea, but, for 

 some reason, it has been wofuUy neglect- 

 ed. There is not a particle of doubt, 

 however, that the man who renders old 

 combs in the solar extrator loses one- 

 half or two-thirds of his wax. The one 



