120 



NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



supply dealer, and the bees didn't like 

 it, and it sagged; it was soft. I made 

 up my mind it must be adulterated. 

 I knew it was not Canadian wax. It 

 came from South America. I sent it 

 to the Department of Inland Revenue, 

 at Ottawa, and had it analyzed, and 

 they pronounced it pure. I am thor- 

 oughly satisfied thiat wax had 'been 

 over-heated, and had lost its texture; 

 a good many others, who had comb 

 foundation made from that wax, said 

 it was no good. 



While I have been sitting here, I 

 have been thinking that we are talking 

 about a good many things that we 

 don't know much about. I believe 

 there is a work for the Government 

 to undertake to advantage, in con- 

 nection with wax. You go to a fair, 

 and one time you will see bright yel- 

 low wax gets the prize; another time, 

 white wax; one judge will pronounce 

 it too hard; another too soft, and so 

 on; in fact, if I knew who the judges 

 were to be, and intended making an 

 exhibit, I would take around a few 

 samples, and ask them what kind they 

 liked best. I believe the Govern- 

 mental Station should take up this 

 question of rendering wax; it should 

 be rendered at a certain temperature 

 and treated in certain ways. We will 

 then get to know more about wax than 

 we do at the present time. 



Color of Wax-Scales. 



"Wlhat color is wax when first se- 

 creted, or still in the scales?" 



I>r. Bohrer — ^White. 



Mr. Wilcox — All the wax- scales I 

 have ever seen "were white. 



Mr. Holtermann — Take a cake of 

 beeswax, and take a fine shave off of 

 it, and you say it is white; you have 

 to be very careful about that — I am 

 not saying it is not white; it appears 

 white. 



Mr. Trickey — In my neighborhood, 

 the dandelions blossom in great sihape, 

 an in the spring of the year, when 

 they come in bloom, the bees gather 

 the honey in sufficient quantities to 

 build new comb, and that comb is in- 

 variably yellow at first. 



Dr. Miller — That is not the question; 

 the question is: What color is it 

 when first secreted? I don't say what 

 color it is; it might be white, but, in 

 the building, they might make it yel- 

 low. 



Mr. Holtermann — Like with golden- 

 rod, the whole hive is made yellow. 



Mr. Trickey — As quick as those yel- 

 low flowers go out of commission, 

 and the bees get to work on flowers 

 that will produce white honey, the 

 comb becomes white as well, every 

 time. 



Mr. Wilcox — Is the comb whiter 

 from clover? 



Mr. Holtermann — Yes. That brings 

 in again a point, how very careful we 

 must be. I will confess I don't know 

 what color that scale is, and I want 

 to be very careful about coming to a 

 conclusion. Now, this fact that the 

 comb is yellow when the bees work on 

 the dandelion, does not prove that the 

 scale is yellow, because I know when 

 the combs are being built, in buck- 

 wheat season, that, with me, is nice, 

 white wax; and that when the bees 

 begin to work on goldenrod, where 

 the yellow pollen is, it is not alone in 

 the comb they build, but even the 

 wood in the .'hive gets a yellow tinge. 

 So, is it not possible the same is true 

 of the dandelion? 



I don't know that it was understood 

 what I said 'before about taking a cake 

 of beeswax, and take a thin shave off 

 of it, and it appears to us white; when 

 you get a lot of it and melt it together, 

 it might have a yellow appearance, 

 when, in the scale, it would not. I 

 would like to hear Mr. Dadant on that. 



Mr. Dadant — I don't believe I can 

 give much light on that. 



Mr. Wheeler — I would hate to see 

 this Nevada man voted down. I am 

 absolutely certain that the wax the 

 bees secrete from dandelion has a yel- 

 low scale. 



Mr. Holtermann — What is the proof? 



Mr. Trickey — The wax itself. 



Mr. Holtermann — How do ^ou know 

 but what a little pollen in the comb, 

 added to the wax, will change the 

 cplor? I want to know; where is 

 the proof? This question has inter- 

 ested me for a long time. ■ I am look- 

 ing for evidence before I accept; I 

 want to sift that evidence. Where is 

 the proof that this pollen — as in the 

 golden-rod — does not come in contact, 

 witih these scales and work in with the 

 scales, and then after the wax-scale 

 has been secreted and in the building 

 of the comb it becomes yellow? That 

 is what I want to know. 



Mr. Wheeler — The scales that drop 

 on the bottom of the ihive are j-ellow.. 





