ee- 



eepeps' 



eCu 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL 



Devoted to tl^e Iqterests of Hoqey Producers. 



$1,00 A YEAR. 



W. Z. HUTCHlflSOri, EditoP & PPop. 



VOL, IV, 



FLINT, MICHIGAN, OCT. 10, 1891 



NO. 10. 



The special topic of this issue is 



" Rendering Wax," 



That of the next issue tuill be 



Moving Bees Into the Cellar. 



Adapting the Ways to the Circumstances. 



E. E. HASTY. 



["OW do I make beeswax ? Why, " all 

 sorts of ways," — and that's as how 

 yon all ought to do. don't you know V 

 In the different sorts of wax material there 

 are several very different sorts of refuse to 

 be dealt with, and get rid of; and they re- 

 quire different sorts of treatment. One lot 

 is full of dead bees crawled into the comb; 

 another is full of old pollen; another is 

 simple old comb, four-fifths cocoons and 

 dirt; another is scraps and scrapings, nearly 

 half propolis; another is cappings, and honey 

 well dried or candied is the main refuse, 

 with fiber and dirt and propolis as auxili- 

 aries; and still another sample is comb with 

 young brood in it. If I should tell you all I 

 know, and all I don't know, about proceed- 

 ings in these six different cases — well, I ain't 

 a going to. 



To dip in a little around the edges, there 

 are the chunks of drone brood you cut out 

 and fill the place with worker coml) — or 

 vainly hope the bees will do so. My, what a 

 lot of it I had the first year I owned the 

 apiary! I was green then, and thought I 



must have my combs all worker cells, and, 

 moreover, that I must not let any drones be 

 raised except by the choicest queens. All 

 comb with brood in it must be dealt with 

 promptly or it will become putrid. It is a 

 part of my apiary morals, that comb with 

 decayed brood in it must be buried, not ex- 

 tracted. To digress a little, is it not possible 

 that some of the brethren need a little reform 

 along this line? No way I have tried yet of 

 extracting wax from comb with brood in it 

 satisfies me. I squeeze out the white juice 

 with my hands, thus making the remainder 

 into wads, and then boil up the wads. 

 Nearly all wax material may as well be made 

 up into hand wads, on hot days, or by first 

 putting the material into hot water. Much 

 more can thus be got into the same space; 

 and space is valuable in wax rendering. 



I guess I must tell you about my pail ren- 

 dering. Take a tall tin pail and devote it 

 to boiling up wax, and absolutely nothing 

 else. Then you won't have to wash it much, 

 but can let it remain varnished with beeswax 

 all the while. It wants a false bottom of 

 tin, punched full of big holes, and fixed to 

 rest about a "bee space" above the real 

 bottom. A yard square of cheese-cloth is 

 also devoted to the same purpose, until worn 

 out or spoiled. You need never do it up as a 

 pocket handkerchief; but it is to be rinsed 

 and dried always as soon as the warm refuse 

 is turned out of it. Then you want a big 

 wire, like a coiled up snake half uncoiled, 

 and sized to go in the top of the pail. Dent 

 the cloth down into the pail; put in wads of 



