ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSO^ZilATION 



207 



Bohrer began to talk, I see that his 

 method of rendering wax has been 

 almost identical with my method. 

 During the last two or three years I 

 have talked with a few who have had 

 wax presses, and I began to think I 

 ought to have a wax press, and I or-' 

 dered one to be built for me for this 

 fall's use. I don't know whether it 

 has been built or not. The only differ- 

 ence particularly between Dr. Bohrer's 

 method and mine was, he said he put 

 his dry combs into hot water. My 

 method has been to put the combs, all 

 broken up as finely as I could break 

 them, into a barrel and keep 'it under 

 water, sometimes a week or two weeks 

 and frequently as long as three weeks, 

 and pour the water off occasionally, 

 and it would be as black as ink, espe- 

 cially these old combs, and my way 

 was to soak up the cocoons with water 

 so that they couldn't absorb any of the 

 wax and in that way cause the wax 

 to rise to the top of the water in place 

 of being absorbed in the cocoons. 



Dr. Bohrer — ^You wouldn't do that 

 with foul brood combs. 



Mr. Hall — I had no foul brood combs, 

 thank goodness. What difference it 

 would make I don't know except the 

 water that would drain off would have 

 to be dumped in a place where it would 

 be impossible for the bees to get to it. 



Mr. Darby — ^I just wanted to add a 

 few words to what Dr. Phillips said in 

 reference to this method of wax ren- 

 dering. I have heard these discussions 

 at different times and they nearly al- 

 ways end pretty much in the same old 

 way. I realize the fact that our meth- 

 ods of rendering wax are too slow, as 

 the Doctor has said. I don't like to 

 spend five dollars' worth of time get- 

 ting .$2.50 worth of wax, and then it is 

 a mussy, unsatisfactory thing anyway, 

 and I think in these discussions these 

 agritatlons should stimulate someone to 

 work out a better and more speedy 

 plan. 



Mr. Ramer — I have had a little expe- 

 rience in melting up wax the last few 

 years. I have tried the wax press and 

 the solar wax extractor and I never 

 got much satisfaction out of that, but I 

 believe that the siniplest and cheapest 

 method that I have lit upon is this — ^I 

 think I got it from A. B. C. — to take 

 an old boiler and make a couple of 

 pieces of slat work, one to lay in the 

 bottom and the other on top of the 

 sack — take a coarse sack. I never 



bother with my wax; as I get little 

 bits I squeeze them up in a bunch; 

 with an old comb that has been taken 

 off the hives, squeeze it in a bunch 

 and throw it in the sack. I tried the 

 method of soaking once, but I don't 

 think that amounts to anything. I put 

 it in the boiler, and it will soon boil 

 all to pieces, and then I take something 

 like a churn-dasher and churn that 

 good, and work it and skim it off; and 

 if you don't fill the sack too full, you 

 can take hold of the end of that sack 

 with something and get your wax all 

 into a little bunch and work it, press 

 it and churn it out. That way I have 

 worked out at the rate of about six 

 pounds an hour, and I think I got 

 nearly all of the wax, and the process 

 is cheap and not a long one. That is 

 the way I have proceeded to take out 

 all my wax in the last two or three 

 years. 



Mr. France — Just one word on this 

 wax business. With the solar wax ex- 

 tractor, slumgum, if from a diseased 

 apiary, is full of the disease, and if 

 thrown out will spread the disease 

 galore so that if you use the solar ex- 

 tractor beware of the product. I have 

 had) several instances in our State 

 where the melting of diseased material 

 has been the source of neighbor's bees 

 coming there and getting the disease. 



Dr. Bohrer — ^I advise burning it up. 



Mr. France — As Dr. Phillips says. 

 All our wax presses are, with me, too 

 slow. I have used the Hatch- Gem - 

 mell Press, the German Press and the 

 Hershiser. As I have gone over our 

 State, but few bee-keepers are equip- 

 ped at their home with a press suit- 

 able, while I am there a short time, to 

 render up the wax, so I have taken 

 with me as baggage, a press, and in 

 nearly every instance I have used 

 what is common on nearly all farms, 

 a large iron kettle to do the melting 

 in, using an abundance of water. 

 Just as quick as. the wax is melted I 

 get it out of that kettle; I don't want 

 to boil it as long as the Doctor was 

 speaking about here, from the fact 

 you remember Mr. Dadant called our 

 attention to the effect of over-boiling 

 in making the wax more like corn- 

 meal. I then take a long-handled dip- 

 per and put this melted wax and 

 slumgum into the wax press first, 

 however, to have that tempered up 

 right. I then use the press as a press 

 to get the wax out of the slumgum 



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