I40 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



more than one experiment with this ex- 

 tractor; and, althongh this machine is by 

 far the best of the kind that I have seen, 

 being a marvel in regard to combination 

 and workmanship, yet I cannot, so far, 

 say all that I had hoped to say in its favor. 

 For Mr. Ferris' sake I hope that later ex- 

 periments may give better results; al- 

 though, with such combs as were treated, 

 I am not overl}' sanguine that it would 

 not pay me to use the press on the residue. 

 At the same time, I wish it to be remem- 

 bered that I am only one man, with a hub- 

 bv of my own regarding this matter, and 

 it is possible that the acme of success 

 would be too much to expect from a first 

 trial; even though I do not count nnself 

 a novice in manipulating a steam wax ex- 

 tractor. 



In order that I ma}' be better under- 

 stood relative to said experiment, which 

 was conducted by my son and myself, it 

 will be necessary for me to state, that the 

 steam, Swiss, or Jones extractor, which 

 has been used in the past by myself; is on 

 the same principle as the Ferris, with 

 the difference that the latter is oblong, 

 the ba.sket being made of about 1-12 inch 

 thick galvanized wire having nine open 

 spaces to the square inch, while the Swiss 

 is round in form, and the basket made of 

 perforated zinc; the holes in the same 

 being much smaller and numbering thir- 

 ty to the square inch. 



Having an eye to economy, both extrac- 

 tors were operated in the honey house; 

 not, however, with the intention of com- 

 paring the capacity of each, as that was 

 not the object in view — my own being 

 much larger. 



After cutting out the combs from the 

 frames, each extractor was given as near 

 as possible a like amount, and I was not 

 long in finding out that the Ferris first 

 commenced to yield wax, and also the 

 first to be ready to receive a fresh supply; 

 providing the contents of each were occa- 

 sionally stirred, and both run until no 

 more wax was forthcoming. I attribute 

 this to the difference in the size of the per- 

 forations in the comb basket; as, with the 



smaller openings, the refuse was more 

 likely to become soggy or tenacious in 

 body unless more frequently stirred in or- 

 der to allow the wax to free itself, so to 

 speak. 



When no more wax was obtained from 

 the extractor, in other words, had ceased 

 to flow, the refuse, according to instruc- 

 tions, was removed from the Ferris ma- 

 chine, and laid to one side for further 

 treatment, while the material from the 

 Swiss was immediately dumped into the 

 Hatch press, and the remaining wax se- 

 cured there and then, thereby obviating 

 any further treatment. 



After being through with the steaming, 

 the refuse or slum-gum previously taken 

 from the Ferris, was retiarned to the comb- 

 basket in that extractor and \^\& follower , 

 made from the same kind of material as 

 the basket, was now gently pressed into 

 position on top and then fastened, as per 

 instructions, and the whole flooded with 

 boiling water, leaving sufficient room for 

 the accumalation of any wax that might 

 arise to the surface. The whole was now 

 boiled for one hour (possibly two hours 

 would have been better) and allowed to 

 remain on the stove over night. 



The following morning the wax was re- 

 moved from the surface; the amount being 

 small, in proportion to the quantity 

 steamed out, and of a very dark or green- 

 ish color. The latter defect I attribute to 

 the cooling of the wax in a galvanized 

 iron vessel. Two such treatments were 

 required for the amount of refuse first se- 

 cured b}- steaming. 



Now came the crisis for which I had 

 longed, and that was, to see how much, 

 if an}', wax yet remained in the slum-gum 

 after it had been steamed and flooded a 

 la Ferris. Accordingly, this same refuse 

 was once more heated to the boiling point 

 and then transferred to the wax-press, 

 only to find that my expectations were, to 

 a great extent, realized; as wax in paying 

 (juantities (to me at least) could be pro- 

 cured by such treatment. Samples of this 

 wax have already been sent to the editor 

 and Mr. Ferris for their inspection and 



