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S8 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 



vention, provided they save what he says they can save. You 

 have six people saving 25 pounds of wax in a year, and what 

 I want to see is if it would pay you to invest $14 in any 

 kind of a machine. 



Mr. Root — I don't think it would pay the small bee- 

 keeper to get a German wax-press. I don't know what my 

 brother would say, but I believe that. 



Pres. York — You can tell the truth here! [Laughter.] 



Mr. Root — I believe my brother tries to tell the truth. I 

 would try hot-water pressure. 



Mr. Baldridge — Especially on cappings. 



Mr. Root — You can get almost all the wax out of the 

 cappings. 



Mr. Baldridge — By setting in water it will all rise. 



Mr. Root — This I am speaking of is only in reference 

 to combs. 



Mr. Abbott — May I tell a small bee-keeper how I do? 

 It seems like a simple, small way. If you have 50 or 60 

 pounds of combs, pour warm water on it and let it soak 

 thoroughly. My wife does that; I don't suppose I would 

 bother with it. Then she has a large pan that fits inside of 

 the oven. She puts in the wax that would weigh four or five 

 pounds on top of a large sieve, and shuts the oven door and 

 goes on about her business. In a little while the wax is all 

 down in the water, and then she takes the sieve and puts 

 more in, and if done that way it about all goes to wax. 

 There isn't much left to throw away. 



Mr. Root — Are they old combs or new? 



Mr. Abbott — Any kind she wishes; just combs that are 

 thrown in a barrel or box, sometimes sections. Directly she 

 has a cake of wax that weighs eight or ten pounds ; but she 

 always soaks it in warm water and doesn't scald or do any- 

 thing else with it. 



Mr. Root — I have heard of that method before. You 

 put the wax in the receptacle right in the oven. 



Mr. Abbott — Yes, and she keeps it there and shuts up the 

 oven, and in the morning the settlings are all out and she 

 has a cake of pure, clear, yellow wax. She makes it in lit- 

 tle cakes, and we sell it for 60 cents a pound. 



Dr. Miller — I have been figuring that over, and it looks 

 to me a little like this, after raising the question of whether 

 I could afford it or not : The expense of the machine- and 

 time will cost me about. two dollars a year, perhaps, allow- 

 ing a good interest on it. Now, I must make that two dol- 

 lars every year, and if I get 28 cents a pound for my wax, 

 as I suppose I can, then I must get seven pounds of wax 

 extra in the year to pay expenses, and if there is left any 

 debris in the slumgum as much as one-fourth of the wax, 

 then that seven pounds represents the total of my wax for 

 the year at 28 cents a pound. So if I am getting 28 pounds 

 of wax every year, then I can afford to have the German 

 steam wax-press. 



Pres. York — It is all right outside of Missouri ! 



Mr. Moore — I think Mr. Abbott had these small bee- 



