THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



21 



going in order to get our comb all rendered, 

 and because we expected to subject the re- 

 fuse to the second process, it was not as 

 thoroughly drained in the solar as it might 

 have been. However, the wax received from 

 it paid about §2.00 a day for the time en- 

 gaged in putting it through the process. 



I am confident that neither the solar nor 

 steam process comes near getting the wax 

 all out. Old combs, pollen-fillea, together 

 with dead bees and such, make such a mass 

 of refuse that a great amount of wax is re- 

 tained in it, in spite of all my efforts so far 

 to remove it. I find, however, that we need 

 a laige solar extractor, and then not load it 

 too heavy. If the refuse be drawn back to 

 the upper end, and spread out thinly on a 

 rather steep incline, and left there a few 

 days in the hottest weather, and for about 

 four weeks when not so warm, very much 

 wax will eventually be drained out that can- 

 not be gotten out in two or three days' time. 

 If the solar extractor be large enough, and 

 the stuff left in it long enough, I think more 

 wax will be extracted than by steam or water. 

 The feed honey alone that can be obtained 

 by using a solar extractor abundantly pays 

 for the instrument, besides the other points 

 of advantage. But what I want to know is 

 an equally cheap method of getting the rest 

 of that wax out of the slumgum. 



R. C. AiKiN. 



Loveland, Col.. Nov. 7, 1892. 



The editor of Gleaninrjs comments as fol- 

 lows : 



[Your experiments are interesting and 

 valuable, and we believe the results at which 

 you arrived are correct, as they confirm to a 

 very great extent our own. From old tough 

 and black combs it is exceedingly harti to 

 get the wax all out. The Dadants recom- 

 mend first pulverizing them during cold 

 freezing weather. At that time, being very 

 brittle, they will work up very fine. Now, 

 then, the best way to render this, so far as we 

 know, is to spread this pulverized comb thin- 

 ly over the bottom of a large solar wax-ex- 

 tractor. Allow it to stand that way for sev- 

 eral days in the hot sun, stirring it occasion- 

 ally in the mean time, so as to present new 

 surfaces to the sun. After it seems to have 

 drained out all the wax there is in the slum- 

 gum, clean out the extractor, put the con- 

 tents into the slumgum box or barrel, and 

 be sure to cover it tightly, because the moth- 

 worms will very soon begin to work on it. 

 After a barrel or so has accumulated, put it 

 into a cheese-cloth (or, preferably, burlap) 

 bag, as large as can conveniently he put into 

 a receptacle in which it is to be further treat- 

 ed with hot water slightly acidulated with 

 sulphuric acid. Get the water to boiling, 

 and with a stick punch the sack under water: 

 and as the wax rises, skim it off on the sur- 

 face of the water. Last of all, remove the 

 sack with its contents from the boiling wa- 

 ter : quickly place it in a press ; squeeze it, 

 putting on all the pressure possible, and con- 

 siderably more wax will ooze out in small 

 pellets. 



The solar wax-extractor will take out per- 

 haps nine-tenths of the wax ; but there is yet 



that tenth, which must be removed, as far as 

 possible, by the agency of hot water, sul- 

 phuric acid, and the wax-press. Even then 

 there is a little left that may be removed by 

 continually working at it, but it is a question 

 whether it is worth the time consumed in do- 

 ing it. 



THE EESULT OF THE EXPEBIMENT ON THE 

 BOABDMAN SLXIMGUM. 



Referring to the slumgum of H. R. Board- 

 man, and our challenge to him to send on a 

 couple of bushels and we would prove there 

 was wax m it, we have this to say : He sent 

 on the slumgum, and by the scales it weighed 

 about 25 lbs. We put it through the " mill " 

 — that is, sulphuric-acid treatment — in con- 

 nection with the wax-press. Well, how much 

 wax do you think we secured ? Jxist one 

 pound ! We searcely know whether Mr. 

 Boardman or ourselves have the better of 

 the argument. He may be surprised that we 

 got so much, and on the other hand we are 

 surely disappointed in getting no more. On 

 this basis we should get about 3 lbs. of vir- 

 gin wax from perhaps a barrel of Mr. Board- 

 man's slumgum. If there is one thing that 

 we have proven, it is that Mr. Boardman's 

 large solar wax-extractors do the work very 

 much more thoroughly than we had sup- 

 posed : and we can account for the stuff 

 making such good fuel, only on the ground 

 that it must have contained a large amount 

 of propolis, as Mr. Aikin suggests above. It 

 is well known that propolis melts at a much 

 higher temperature than wax, and it is pos- 

 sible that the heat of the solar wax-extractor 

 is not sufficient to have any perceptible ef- 

 fect on it. It is, therefore, left nicely dis- 

 tributed through the refuse.] " 



Civilization Versus Apicaltare. 

 Oh, that inimitable Hasty I What a bright, 

 fresh, original, unique way he has of putting 

 things. A great many times we have been 

 told in the straight-forward, indicative mood 

 that after civilization had reached a certain 

 stage, its onward progress was in opposi- 

 tion to that of bee-keeping, but how much 

 clearer is the truth when brought out in that 

 figurative, picturesque, Hasfj/-ianguage 

 found in the following clipped from the 

 C. B. J. : 



"The axe of civilization cuts down the 

 trees, and presto, the basswood honey is gone, 

 the tulip honey is gone, and the game is 

 gone : and the Indian and the bee-keeper 

 have a polite hint to go elsewhere. The In- 

 dian goes ; the bee-keeper looks ruefully af- 

 ter him, but thinks that, as for himself, he 

 will hantr on a little longer. Civilization 

 puts the pasture lands under the plow ; the 

 flocks and herds 'go west' like the poor In- 

 dian ; likewise the helianthus and the fire- 

 weed, the thistle and the golden-rod, prepare 

 to fold up their tents like the Arabs and si- 

 lently steal away ! Civilization brings in fer- 

 tilizers and improved methods, ' makes two 



