180 



NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THK 



little tighter. Take more time and 

 you will get better results. 



Mr. Brown — I have always found in 

 working wax in order to get a good 

 result from it, it should, if possible, 

 be melted up and pressed as quickly 

 as possible after it is melted. If your- 

 water, or the apparatus, or whatever 

 you have got, is hot enough so that 

 they boil up with a good bright, yel- 

 low fluff, the slumgum will come out 

 better than if it stands for any length 

 of time. If it is allowed to stand, 

 all the cocoons will raise above the 

 water and the wax seems to go right 

 under, and while you will press prac- 

 tically nothing but clear wax, you 

 don't get the value out of it. There 

 is not water enough in it to take 

 the place of the cocoon and carry 

 out the wax when pressure is ap- 

 plied. 



The President — ^What is the experi- 

 ence of the Convention in overheating 

 of wax? Mr. Dadant, can you give 

 us some thoughts on that? 



Mr. I>adant — Beeswax can be over- 

 heated with water by over-boiling. 

 The water in boiling through the 

 beeswax will beat it into a grainy 

 substance which looks like a pulp. You 

 can change your cakes into powder 

 from one end to the other by over- 

 boiling — by allowing the water to beat 

 your wax into a grainy mass. If you 

 have seen something like corn meal 

 at the bottom of your cakes, it is 

 beeswax, and the only way in which 

 you can return that is by dry melt- 

 ing. There are several things about 

 the rendering of combs that are of 

 some importance to know. Do not 

 melt your beeswax with water in pans 

 that contain iron at all; iron will 

 turn your wax black. There are a 

 nxmiber of little points that should 

 be considered. Do not use any acids 

 in rendering wax. Most people, when 

 they do use acid, use twenty times 

 as much as they need. It takes the 

 smell of the bees out of the bees- 

 wax. Our friend, Mr. Kretchmer, said 

 soak your combs a long time. That is 

 right. Take the old combs and crush 

 them as much as you can, so tihat 

 tihey will not take in the beeswax. 

 Those cocoons have the shape of a, 

 honey cell, and they remain there 

 afiter they are crushed, and there is 

 no chance of the beeswax getting 'into 

 them. Put your combs in clean water 

 and imelt them. It is not necessary 



to use a press until you have taken 

 the best of your wax out. We never 

 do use a press with cappings, tout 

 we use a press for the residue. A 

 gentleman asked me a question. The 

 boiling must be with water, and if 

 you spoil the beeswax and get it 

 grainy, that part which is grainy, and 

 which is more or less dirty, and which, 

 contains a good deal of water, must 

 be returned to good shape by dry 

 heat. Then you will not have as good 

 beeswax as you would otherwise have. 

 I have had shipments of beeswax that 

 were so badly beaten with water that 

 they would lose 20' per cent; it 

 woul'dn't look very much like beeswax; 

 it would look like a cake made of 

 ground corn. I had a discussion, a 

 long one, in regard to pollen and 

 beeswax. I didn't know at first that 

 there was any such thing, but I found 

 it out when we were making founda- 

 tion. We were throwing away our 

 residue containing that grainy sub- 

 stance. In the course of time it melted 

 in the sun, and in the course of time 

 we took up this residue and got 100 

 pounds of beeswax from it. 



Mr. Brown^ — ^What would cause wax 

 heaited In a copper tank, being used 

 for dipping foundation, to turn black 

 and became grainy that way? It was 

 kept Ihot, but there was no boiling or 

 water connected with it. 



Mr. Dadant — It would be impossi- 

 ble for me to answer the question 

 unless I knew all the particulars. We 

 use copper tanks, but they are tinned 

 inside. If wax remains in a copper 

 boiler that is not tinned, it will turn 

 it green; it makes verdigris — Paris 

 green. But, I do not know, I have 

 never seen the effects mentioned; that 

 is, of wax becoming grainy if there is 

 no water in it. 



Question — What are the relative 

 merits of the Caucasian and Italian 

 bees? 



Dr. Pttiillips — I suggest you call on 

 Mr. R. A, Morgan. 



Mr. Morgan — Some few years ago I 

 received from the Government some 

 Caucasian queens, and I have been 

 testing and trying ever since what 

 their merits were. Before that I had 

 been using the yellow bees, the Ital- 

 ians; some I got from Root; some 

 from Doolittle. and some back as far 

 as those that Langstroth sold, and 

 my experience !has been that, the 

 Caucasians are superior to the yel- 



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