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178 



NINTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE 



the stone. If this limb is shaken, 

 vigorously for a period of fifteen or 

 twenty minutes, the bees will lodge on, 

 some other point, usually nearer 

 gyound, where they can easily be hived 

 by means of a step-ladder, or step- 

 ladder and pole with basket." 



Mr. Bernschein — This reminds me 

 of a case that came -to my notice 

 last summer, a neighbor of mine who 

 was just starting in bee-keeping had 

 bought a few colonies in the neighbor- 

 hood and came over to me, and he 

 says, I will give you a. dollar to go 

 over to nny place and hive a swarm 

 of bees on a tree about twelve feet 

 from the ground. That wasn't much 

 of a job for me. He didn't tell me 

 the bees w^ere on the trunk of the 

 tree. "We had two ladders strapped 

 together, and I made as good use of 

 myself as I could to climb, and we 

 had a hive perched on the top of the 

 ladder. I went up well prepared to 

 smoke, with a veil over my face. They 

 were all around the tree about a foot 

 in diameter. As I began to brush and 

 smoke they began to fly, and they 

 went off about one hundred feet farth- 

 er west and clustered in a basswood 

 tree. They must have been at least 

 sixteen or twenty feet from the trunk 

 of the tree, and at least fifty feet 

 high. I said, I am done with them. 

 He said, What can I do? Said I, get 

 a couple of long poles and then tie 

 or nail them together, and then on top 

 of that get a strong wire with a 

 hook on and hook on to the limb 

 close by, and shake the bees off. 

 They will go back again if you stop, 

 but keep shaking. He said, all right. 

 He did so. The next morning he 

 came and said, we got the bees. I 

 said, how did you do it? He says, 

 we hooked on and shook, and shook 

 and shook, and finally they came down 

 and clustered low so that we could 

 hive them, and we did. 



Mr. Dadant — ^In the remarks made 

 by the gentleman who has just spok- 

 en he spesks of smoking the bees 

 on the trunk of a tree. If you take 

 a comb, especially one containing 

 brood or even dry comb, and if you 

 put that next to the bees, with a little 

 smoke they can easily be driven to 

 that comb, and you can then get your 

 swarm. 



Question — What is the average 

 weight of wax in a Langstroth frame? 



The President — It is suggested Mr. 

 Brown answer the question. 



Mr. Putnam — In conversation with 

 Mr. Brown he told me that he got 

 about four pounds of wax out of a 

 ten-frame hive. 



Mr. Poppleton — ^The com'os that I 

 use are about the size of the Lang- 

 strotih. I tested tftiat a little this 

 sumirh/er, and out of 100 of those comiba 

 I secured, I think it was, 32 pounds, 

 or nearly so. 



Mr. Hatch — The answer to that ques- 

 tion is based on the usual results 

 obtained w^here foundation running 

 seven sheets to the pound is used, or, 

 in other words, I iisually get two 

 and one-half pounds of wax as an 

 average from ten Langstroth frames. 



Mr. Dadant — The quantity of bees- 

 wax in a comb depends on the age 

 of the comb. A comb that has been 

 built the same season -will be lighter 

 in wax tftian combs that has been 

 built longer. I think you will all rec- 

 ognize that if you call attention to 

 your section. If you have a section 

 ibulllt the same year, you know the 

 comib is very light, but let that be 

 carried over till the next year, and 

 you will notice your comb is very 

 much tougher. The bees add wax to 

 the comb. The older your comb is, 

 the more beeswax it contains. The 

 edges of the comb will be built with 

 little projections — ^burr combs, we call 

 them. All that is beeswax, and adds 

 to tihe weigiht. 



Question — What percentage of wax 

 can a wax-press save? 



Mr. Hatch — Fifty per cent. 



Mr. Poppleton — I deny that, up hill 

 and down, positively. I get a good 

 deal more than fiflty per cent of the 

 entire weight of the combs before I 

 put themi in the extractor at all, and 

 how they can possibly get 50 per 

 cent of the wax lost wfhen I get a 

 good deal more tlhan 50 per cent before 

 if is extracted, is something I can't 

 understand. 



Question — Take 100 pounds of old 

 combs, what amount of wax can a 

 wax-press get out of them? 



TQie Presidenit — That is practically 

 a repetition of the former question. 



Mr. Poppleton — My answer does 

 not refer to the wax- press at all. 



The President — The question says 

 a wax- press. 



Mt. Hall' — That is an important ques- 

 tion, I believe, but it seems to me I 



