334 



THE BER-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



movement, and I've no doubt he will, 

 and then he'll be pretty sure to put "that 

 sympathy into tangible form," but I'm 

 going to vote, even if it does cost a cent, 

 and still I've a sort of feeling that a pos- 

 tal card is hardly large enough for my 

 emphatic "go ahead, and among other 

 improvements in Gleanings, improve your 

 spelling. ' ' And now I'm wondering when 

 the staid and methodical Review will 

 fall in line. 



IMPROVEMENT IN SOLAR WAX 

 EXTRACTORS. 



In the same number of Gleanings from 

 which the above quotations have been 

 made, I find an illustration of a solar 

 wax extractor as improved by Mr. Frank 

 Rauchfuss, of Elyria, Colo. If, in prac- 

 tical use, it proves as valuable as it seems 

 to be, I for one shall feel very grateful to 

 Mr. Rauchfuss for his improvement; for 

 such I believe it to be. 



With me, a great drawback has been 

 the sediment that has almost always been 

 on the bottom of the cakes of wax made 

 in the solar extractor; necessitating scrap- 

 ing, or melting the wax to get it nice and 

 clean. Editor Root sa3's: — ■ 



The Rauchfuss machine is a good deal 

 like the Doolittle, with the exception 

 that the wax is diverted to the right side 

 into one of the three pans shown. This 

 pan catches all the refuse and sediment; 

 the same settling to the bottom. The 

 pure, free wax rises to the top, and over- 

 flows into the other two pans. The re- 

 sult is, when the wax is all melted, the 

 wax in two of the pans, at least, is in 

 marketable shape, while that in the first 

 pan mentioned, after scraping off' the 

 sediment from the bottom of the cake, 

 may be rendered again or sent to market. 

 * * P'rom all I can learn they are giv- 

 ing good satisfaction, because the wax, 

 as soon as it leaves the extractor, is all 

 ready for market without further melt- 

 ing up." 



These extractors are made by the L. A. 

 Watkins Co., and, in so far as I can see, 

 the same principle may be used in any 

 extractor. My own, home-made, ex- 

 tractor has a flat bottom and the lower 

 end of the galvanized iron sheet of which 

 it is made is so turned up at each corner. 



that the melted wax runs out at the cen- 

 ter of the lower end, and is caught in a 

 pan placed there for that purpose; but I 

 can have two partitions put in my pans, 

 letting the melted wax, with the sediment, 

 run into the middle part of the pan, and 

 the pure wax run over into the end ones. 



APIS DORSATA UNTAMABLE AND UNDE- 

 SIRABLE. 



I'm very much interested in the efforts 

 being made to domesticate Apis Dorsata; 

 but, so far, have heard of nothing that 

 would indicate final success; and, in the 

 American Bee Journal for October, 19, I 

 find this, taken from Wurerzburger 

 Wegwerser. 



A Hollander by the name of Verholen, 

 for several years, with the most tenacious 

 pertinacity, tried in Java to domesticate 

 the big Indian bee, but all in vain. Kigh- 

 ty-seven diff'erent colonies were captured 

 and hived, but every single colony de- 

 serted its brood and honey, and took its 

 departure. 



If this is true, and I don't know of any 

 reason for doubting it, it looks as though 

 we are doomed to disappointment in the 

 matter of securing Dorsata for use in this 

 country. 



And in the American Bee Journal for 

 Oct. 5th I find the following editorial 

 comment that is still more discouraging, 

 if possible, than the above. 



Apis Dorsata was discussed in convention 

 by Australian bee-keepers. H. L. Jones 

 read a paper moderately favoring their 

 introduction. Mr. Pender thought they 

 might be valuable for wax-production. 

 Mr. Bradley said he had lived long years 

 in India, and the man who would bring 

 them into Australia should be prosecuted. 

 They, were migratory, as bad as wasps, 

 with stronger colonies. Mr. Abram told 

 of a gentleman who had gone to expense 

 and travel and then decided to let them 

 alone. Mr. Jones said a gentleman in 

 Singapore was trying to don.esticate them. 



It begins to look as if a good deal of 

 time and valuable space had been taken 

 up in talking and writing about Apis 

 Dorsata. The Italian bee will likely 

 "hold the fort" for some time yet. 



According to these two statements, and 

 they seem reliable, it looks rather bad 



