. ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



59 



the solar wax-extractor is very slow. 

 I think it is a good thing for bits of 

 wax you have during the summer 

 season, a little wax you gather and 

 don't know what to do with — throw it 

 in the solar extractor; but not to use 

 it for ilarge quantities of wax. "We 

 think the solar extractor is useful for 

 small quantities of wax. 



Mr. Becker — ^I want to tell you one 

 way to get the wax out of old combs — 

 for those that haven't two hundred 

 colonies, but have about fifty or sixty. 



Three years ago I lost, one winter, 

 about forty colonies, and I saw that 

 I could not save the combs, so many 

 of them had bee-bread in them; those 

 that had no bee-bread, I put them 

 away and saved for the "bees, and the 

 others I cut out and put in a big box — 

 I had two boxes full. They set out in 

 the open for a long time, until they 

 got well soaked, or rained on. Finally, 

 I concliided one day I would melt those 

 combs down. I got a kettle ready and 

 went to work on them, and I saw I 

 had trouble in hand. I happened to 

 be down to the postofHce, and I said 

 to one of my neighbors: "If I only 

 had a beeswax press now, I would 

 like it;" that I would like to buy one, 

 but I never got it. I said to him: "I 

 don't know ihow I am going to get 

 those combs pressed out." He asked 

 me if I 'had ever used a lard press. I 

 had a lard press, and I went home and 

 went to work. I got out the lard 

 press; got a couple of small gunny 

 sacks, and put in a gallon of combs: 

 put them down into the hot water in 

 my kettle; got another sack and filled 

 it, and got it soft, and put it in the 

 press. It worked the same asi other 

 presses; and, by myself, in two hours, 

 I had extracted sixty pounds of bees- 

 wax out of those combs. If you have 

 only a small number of colonies, that 

 is, between five and seventy-five; if 

 you have lots of old combs, just get a 

 lard press; it costs j'^ou only about a 

 quarter of what one of those big 

 presses cost, and you can press out 

 every bit of wax in it. Of course, old 

 combs I put back a second time, after 

 pressing out all I could at first, I put 

 it 'back again into hot water and let 

 it boil once more; get it all good and 

 hot again, and put it back in the 

 press. I first pour hot water in my 

 press, so that the press gets good and 

 hot, and then I put in the wax. After 



you are through with it, if you want 

 to use it for lard, you can take a clean 

 rag and wipe it out, and it wipes right 

 out, and your press is ready for lard. 

 That is the way I did my extracting. 



Mr. Stone — ^You will run the other 

 presses out of the market! 



Mr. Dadant — I always like to figure 

 on what things cost. If the press 

 costs $18.00, interest, at 6 per cent, 

 would ibe $1.08 a year. I am satisfied 

 that if you have only fifty colonies of 

 bees, you have saved $1.08 from that 

 press over the one Mr. Becker recom- 

 mends, by buying the Hershiser press. 

 I am satisfied he leaves that much 

 wax in his combs. We have seen stuff 

 look as though there was no beeswax 

 in it, and we would produce quite a 

 little from it, when pressed right. 



Mr. Stone — I believe it is a good deal 

 like the cider press. A man came to 

 our house to get some apples to make 

 some cider; he had been told that 

 eight 'bushels of apples (Jonathans) 

 would make a barrel of cider, so he 

 thought he would get twelve, .and be 

 on the safe side. I afterwards inquired 

 of him how many bushels of apples it 

 took, and he said he lacked about ten 

 bushels of making a barrel; I asked 

 him what the trouble was. I knew of 

 a man who got a barrel of cider out 

 of twelve and a half bushels of 

 Ben Davis apples, and they were not 

 considered as good as Jonathans. I 

 believe the reason he did not have bet- 

 ter success was because he run the 

 press down too quick, and left the cider 

 in the middle. That is the way bees- 

 wax is left in the middle of the comb; 

 it does not come out, but the 

 Hershiser press will bring it out. 



Reports of Committees. 



Mr. Moore — The Auditing Committee 

 is ready to report. It found the re- 

 ports all correct, with, one exception. 

 Mr. Stone had turned over to Mr. 

 Becker $64.00 that he included in his 

 last year's report. Mr. Becker had 

 carried it on in this year's, so he re- 

 ported a balance of $1,438.38, 'but that 

 $64.00 should come out of that; his 

 balance really was $1,374.38. He re- 

 ported $64.00 too much. With that ex- 

 ception, everything is straight. 



President Kildow — ^Tou have heard 

 the report. What will you do with 

 it? 



