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NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



never seen any such revelations by the 

 microscope. 



Rendering Combs Into Wax. 



"What is the best way of rendering 

 old brood-com-bs into wax, w^here a 

 person ha,s from 150 to 200 hives of 

 fouil' broody combs? Who knows any- 

 thing about the Hershiser wax-press?" 



Mr. Dadant — The old combs — I don't 

 care whether foul broody combs or not, 

 if you don't leave them where the bees 

 can get at them — the old combs, in 

 order to get the most beeswax, should 

 first be soaked, and they should be 

 crushed, because, if you melt combs 

 when they are not crushed, there is a 

 cihance of wax lodging in the cells. 

 The cells are very heavy; the skins of 

 the larvae that are left, one after 

 another, in the cell, make little 

 tubes, and when you melt those 

 combs, those little tubes are still in 

 existence. If any wax lodges in there, 

 it is difficult to get them out; if you 

 crush the combs, you destroy those 

 things, and if you soak the combs, it 

 will wet the wax so it will not stick 

 to any of those particles. By wetting 

 the combs, you have the advantage of 

 taking a great dfeal of color out; you 

 will find that out if you soak the 

 combs for from twenty-four to forty- 

 eight hours; the water is of a brown- 

 ish color. After the broken combs 

 have been soaked, melt them; you can 

 melt them In a kettle and dip out the 

 beeswax from the top — ^take all the 

 wax and then purify it again the sec- 

 ond time. But if you can afford the 

 Hershiser press, it is certainly the 

 best, to my knowledge, and I believe 

 those who have tried it, have found it 

 good. The Hershiser press is made on 

 a rational principle. When you have 

 a large, round press in which you put 

 a considerable quantity of old combs, 

 the wax in the center will come out 

 with difficulty, after it has been pressed 

 quite tight, because it is imprisoned 

 in there; ibut if your wax is put in a 

 press like the Hershiser, it is in lay- 

 ers — a full layer, then a spacing frame; 

 another layer, another space, and so 

 on until the top; your layers 

 of beeswax are from an inch to 

 an inch and a half in thickness, and 

 when you press, you have all of those 

 spaces through which the liquid wax 

 can escape; and for that reason it is 

 very much better. The residue that 



other presses would leave in such a 

 manner that never could be extracted, 

 would still furnish some wax, with the 

 Hershiser press. We have used one 

 now, I think, for two seasons, and it 

 has 'been used very ihard, but it has 

 done a great deal of work. It is ex- 

 pensive, but it is good. 



Mr. York — It costs $18.00. 



Mr. Stone — Is it not a fact that Mr. 

 Hershiser sends all over the country 

 and gathers up the old refuse that has 

 gone through other presses? 



Mr. Dadant — Yes. I suppose you 

 know, we have had a good deal of 

 experience with residues, they are 

 worse tlhan beeswax in the old comb. 

 Tak« our residue, and we have rags 

 and sticks of wood; in fact, anything 

 you please, that would stick to bees- 

 wax; and when we come to the last 

 pressing of our residue, we have a lit- 

 tle press made of steam coils, about 

 the size of a cider press — 1% feet in 

 diameter; we have a steam coil going 

 around that, and we put our wax in 

 and turn on the steam to keep it at a 

 boiling heat all the time, and press it, 

 and we get very black stuff out of 

 the residue; hut it is wax. We find 

 the same trouble with that as with 

 other presses, the center does not run 

 out very good. If any of you have 

 any of the German wax-presses, bear 

 in mind that, in order to succeed in 

 getting the most wax out, you must 

 not hurry it. It is just like pressing 

 grapes to make wine; if you hurry it, 

 you imprison the center in such a tight 

 way that the wax can't get out; press 

 a little and then let it leak; then press 

 a little more, and the liquid in the cen- 

 ter will not be imprisoned; but if you 

 go too fast, you are going to get the 

 thing too tight, and some liquid will 

 be in the center, you cannot get out; 

 give it plenty of time. I can only see 

 one improvement possible in the 

 Hershiser press; that would be, to have 

 those layers on edge, instead of hori- 

 zontal; for the reason that the wax 

 that is under will less readily escape. 

 I have thought several times of design- 

 ing something that would be an im- 

 provement on the Hershiser press. 



The Solar Wax- Extractor. ' 



"Would you advise the use of the 

 solar wax-extractor in rendering up 

 foul brood combs?" 



Mr. Dadant — No. In the first place, 



