STATE bee-keepers' ASSOCIATION. 171 



Pres. York — Next, I was going to ask Miss Wilson to 

 tell about the man that helps her. 



Miss Wilson — If you could all have as good a man to 

 help you as I have to help me, I would advise you all to 

 have a man. 



Mr. Wilcox — Can you tell us any reason why a woman 

 producing comb honey cannot make it as profitable as a 

 man can? 



Miss Wilson — I don't know of any reason; I say it all 

 depends upon the woman. 



Miss Candler — I don't know, only as Miss Wilson says ; 

 bee-keeping is very nice, very profitable, and very health- 

 ful. 



PRESSURE OF THE GERMAN WAX-PRESS. 



"Will Mr. Root tell us what is the pressure of the Ger- 

 man wax-press?" 



Mr. Root — I don't believe that I can answer that in 

 pounds. Miss Wilson said a good deal depends upon the 

 woman in keeping bees. A good lead depends on the wax 

 you are pressing, and a good deal depends on what strength 

 you have. One great trouble is, it is a mistake to suppose 

 that a great deal of pressure is necessary; an intermittent 

 pressure is generally better than to squeeze the combs right 

 down. Suppose you fill your press clean up to the top, and 

 then squeeze it down in a solid mass, and consider you have 

 done the job. That is not the way it should be done. It 

 should be squeezed, and turned over, and turned over, and 

 squeezed, if you want to get it all out. Some experiments 

 are going to show that hot water is a great deal better than 

 steam. 



Mr. France — Just one thing there. I believe that some 

 of you get a wrong impression about the wax-press. When 

 Mr. Root said, "You fill that up," he won't recommend that, 

 or I have not found that from my experience. You want to 

 put in but a small quantity of slumgum at a time in order 

 to get the effect of the pressure. 



Mr. Wilcox — How thick should the cake be at the bot- 

 tom of the press when you press it? 



Mr. France — I should prefer not to have it over an 

 inch and a half thick. 



Mr. Reynolds— Dr. Miller, I believe, asked Mr. Hubert 

 Root last year what the pressure was of that press, and he 

 stated that there was between three and four tons. I claim 

 that there is no such pressure, for the simple reason that 

 the cross-piece of the wax-press will not stand it. The one 

 I use bends, and draws the side in on the basket, and it is 

 a hard matter to. get the basket out with the slumgum in. 



Dr. Miller — Is the bar of wood or metal? 



Mr. Reynolds — It is wood. I think it is not right that 

 that should be sent broadcast through the proceedings of 

 the convention as it was last year. 



Mr. Meredith — I believe if you take a 10-pound block, 

 and put it over the screw, turning or pressing the wax, that 

 the pressure at which I have used tlie press, the slumgum 



