312 



THK BEE- KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



five or six days, then brush every last beein 

 front of the new swarm with one of my 

 double brushes, set the brood in an empty 

 brood-chamber near by with a cloth over 

 it until the job was finished, then I would 

 take the beeless brood and set it over or 

 under a weak colony according to condi- 

 tions, and I did the same way with the 

 colonies that were ready to swarm, always 

 piling the beeless brood story afti-'T story 

 until had what I call "towers" scattered 

 over the apiary as high as I dare pile 

 them. I was very particular to have the 

 bottom hive solid and plumb, then pile 

 up until I could reach no more up They 

 being so heavy they appeared to sit as sol- 

 id as a brick chimney. Then I would 

 start another, and so on. If I had no more 

 weak colonies I would borrow one from 

 one of the towers. I had no set rules, 

 but just worked the towers according to 

 circumstances, such as the time of season, 

 the kind of flow, etc. I always condens- 

 ed the whole lot of one tower down into 

 one or two brood-chambers when ready, 

 and placed sections on. You may be sure 

 some of them were monster colonies, and 

 I think they invariably wintered well and 

 gave a good surphis next season. I never 

 fed anv sugar nor anything else (was pre- 

 judiced against feeding), and I never had 

 a failure— that is. I always liad a medium 

 crop when even the best apiarists around 

 had failures. Perhaps the locality did it. 

 We have had many a good laugh at re- 

 marks made by passers-by when they 

 spied the towers. Well, now. I will say 

 that I consider the brushed-swarm plan 

 has doubled our crop of honey under cir- 

 tain conditions .some sea'sons, letting alone 

 the easy wav of controlling swarming to 

 a great extent. I did not work the plan 

 on all my bees — nnly a part of them; the 

 rest were allowed to swarm once, then 

 were treated the same as the others. 



OLD COMBS AND SLUMGUM. 



The Comparative Advantages of Hot Water 



and Steam, amd of Screw or Lever 



Power, in Rendering them 



into wax. 



If there is any one one thing that bee 

 keepers have thoroughly learned in the 

 last few years, it is that slumgum and old 

 combs must be put under oressure. while 

 hot, if all of the wax is to be secured. 

 Exactly how that pressure shall be ap- 



plied, whether with a screw, or by means 

 of a lever, is not yet definitely settled; 

 and the use of steam versus hot water is 

 still being argued. A late issue of Glean- 

 ings has an excellent editorial on the sub- 

 ject, going into detail, and giving the re- 

 sults of experiments made at Medina. 

 They have been trying screws and lev- 

 ers, hot water and steam, heating the 

 material outside of the press and inside 

 of the press, and trying to determine 

 which is the best way. They consider 

 the German wax press ahead, but a man 

 who has not a press, yet wishes to get all 

 of the wax possible in some "home-made 

 way" will be intrested in the experiments. 

 Below is the article, and the cut used to 

 illustrate it, which was kindly loaned me 

 by Gleanings. 



After having tried various plans sent to 

 us for rendering wax out of old comb, we 

 think we have devised a method whereby 

 a home-made machine can be built that 

 will do very good work, although, of 

 course, not so rapidly, or so conveniently 

 as our German wax-extractor. The ac- 

 companying engraving was made before 

 the experiment was performed, hence a 

 few changes will t)e apparent, as all theo- 

 ries are more or less changed in actual 

 practice. 



The tub can be made of an ordinary 

 water-tight barrel, sawed off to make it 

 about one foot in depth. The sides and 

 bottom should be ribbed with slicks to 

 allow the wax to flow off more easily. 

 The plunger is simply a heavy round 

 board with cro.ss pieces to strengthen, and 

 also ribbed underneath. 



To begin operations, wrap up securely 

 about five pounds of old comb or slum- 

 gum in cheese-cloth, and place the pack- 

 age in the tub. The best results can not 

 be obtained if, after pressing, the "cheese" 

 is more than an inch and a half thick. 

 By expeience only can one tell how much 

 slumgum to take, for the amount of wax 

 differs. 



Next, pour over the package of slum- 

 gum one good sized pailful of boiling wa- 

 ter, and, after letting it stand a moment, 

 until the wax begins to come to the sur- 

 face, apply the pressure. We do not 

 think it is practicable to try to get the 

 wax off the top of the hot water, either 

 by dipping or by a spout, as is shown in 

 the engraving. The layer of wax is so 

 comparatively thin that it is better, after 

 pressing, to pour oflf water and wax to- 



