324 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



both England and Scotland. Mr. A. Wash- 

 burn, of Medina, O., is the inventor and 

 manufactixrer of these machines. Many tons 

 of wax Irave been worked up during the 

 present year— 1877— and the demand is in- 

 creasing so steadily, that it is quite probable 

 the supply of wax will be the only limit to 

 its manufacture and use. 



Many experiments have been made with a 

 view of substituting something in place of 

 real bees- wax, such as paraffine, ceresin, and 

 the like, but all, S3 far, have resulted in fail- 

 ure. Paraffine will make beautiful fdn., and 

 the bees will adopt it at once, but as soon as 

 we have warm summer weather, the beauti- 

 ful comb will, honey and all, fall down in a 

 shapeless mass in the bottom of the hive. 



HOW TO MAKE THE AVAX SHEETS. 



This is done by dipping a sheet of galva- 

 nized iron in a tall vessel of melted wax. 

 The wax must be neither too hot nor too 

 cold, and the dipping plate must be kept 

 cold, by immersing it in cold water, before 

 each sheet is dipped. The dipping plate is 

 about the thickness of a silver dime, and a 

 handle of wood is fixed to its upper edge. 

 When the plate is first used, you will prob- 

 ably have to rub it lightly with soap and 

 water, to make the wax come off readily, 

 and you will need to use a little soap at the 

 upper edge, all the time, to get the sheet 

 started. As soap seems disagreeable to the 

 bees, we now dispense with its use entirely, 

 using instead, a bark to be had of the drug- 

 gists, called .soap hark. This bark is simply 

 broken into bits, and thrown into a little 

 water, until the water becomes sufficiently 

 soapy. This leaves no trace on the wax 

 sheets in the way of either taste or smell. 

 Brush the water over the pl^xte well, to make 

 it adhere, soap the upper edges, as directed, 

 and you are ready to plunge it into the melt- 

 ed wax. When it touches bottom, lift it out 

 inmiediately, and hold it above the melted 

 wax imtil you see by its looks, that the wax 

 has cooled enough to allow it to be dipped 

 again. We usually dip twice; but if the 

 wax is pretty warm, you may have to dip 

 three times. After the last dipping, as soon 

 as it has ceased to drip, dip it all over in the 

 tub or tank of cold water. Take it out and 

 commence to strij) off the sheets. If too hot, 

 the wax will break, and if too cold, it will 

 stick; in the latter case you must scrape the 

 wax off with a knife, and try again. After 

 a little practice, you will make it go as fast 

 as the sheets can be handled. Two men and 

 a boy are needed to work rapidly. One dips, 

 another takes off the sheets, and the boy 



brushes and wipes the dipping plates. Now 

 your tub of water will very soon get warm, 

 and as this will not do at all, ice must be 

 constantly added. If much work is to be 

 done, a tank made of boards is best, with an 

 apartment for a block of ice in one end. 

 Besides, the wax will be rapidly cooled, and 

 at the same time lowered ; to keep up the 

 supply, we have a boiler on the stove, with 

 a honey gate attached. This boiler is made 

 large enough to take in the ordinary cakes 

 of wax of commerce, and should be made 

 deep so as to set down into the stove for the 

 purpose of getting the advantage of rapid 

 heating, and to allow all impurities to settle. 

 Besides this, the boiler must be made doub- 

 le, and the outer space filled with water, for 

 if wax is burned in the least, it is utterly 

 spoiled for comb making. That we may get 

 only the pure wax, the gate is put in near 

 the top of the boiler, to allow all tJie impur- 

 ities to settle to the bottom, and it has a 

 sheet of fine wire cloth put in so as to strain 

 the melted wax before it passes through it. 

 Wax sheeted in this way, is of a light beau- 

 tiful yellow, and the fdn. is fit for use in the 

 surplus boxes, without any sort of bleaching. 

 When you start up, your dipping boiler must 

 be full of melted wax, and we have this also 

 made double, with hot water all round it, 

 that we may set it in the stove in place of 

 the other when starting. With the above 

 arrangement and number of hands, 400 lbs. 

 can easily be dipped in a day. It will re- 

 quire considerable fuel, and perhaps 200 lbs 

 of ice, for the day's work. When working 

 rapidly, the water is apt to boil over on the 

 stove ; on this account a broad flaring lip 

 of tin should be soldered to the top edge, 

 and the inner boiler that holds the wax, 

 should be carried up pretty high. Separate 

 lots of wax cannot well be worked alone, 

 unless of 100 lbs or more ; as the above pro- 

 cess will make bright wax out of the worst 

 lookhig, it can hardly be thought desirable, 

 to work lots separately. 



KOT.T.ING THE WAX SHEETS. 



The machine shown (p. 3) is one of the 

 small sized ones for rolling sheets only 5 

 inches wide. We at first covereil the rolls 

 with a lathei; made of soap and water, to 

 prevent the wax sticking, but for the reason 

 mentioned, slippery elm was substituted for 

 the soiip, :ind afterward it was found tliat 

 starch, prepared just as the Avomen use it, 

 was just as good as anything. When the 

 rolls are new ; the wax will sometimes both- 

 er a great deal, but if the i>articles are care- 

 fully picked out with a quill tooth pick— any 



