STATE bee-keepers' ASSOCIATION. £9 



keepers scared. You know how much you expect from your 

 bee-hives and wax-press. The cost is $14. If you can make 

 20 per cent, $2.08, that makes nine pounds of wax per year 

 extra ; then you can aflford to have a German wax-press. 



Dr. Miller — I called it 7 pounds. 



Mr. Meredith — Cannot a German wax-press be made 

 on a smaller scale, and price in proportion? 



Mr. Root — The way the press is made, the money is in 

 the workmanship more than in the material, and it would be 

 just as hard to make a small one as a larger one. Another 

 thing, the small machine wouldn't begin to be as effective. 



Mr. Meredith — In what way? 



Mr. Root — You could get about the same amount of wax, 

 but the pressure has to be just about as great for the small 

 machine as for the large, and, if you make a small machine, 

 you have to make it as strong as a big machine, and the 

 workmanship on it requires about as much brains and tools. 



Mr. Abbott — What would a home-made machine cost? 



Mr. Root — Not 60 cents. 



Mr. Abbott — How much better would the German wax- 

 press be? Would it get more wax? 



Mr. Root — You wouldn't get any more wax, but you 

 would get it so much quicker. As I said, I can get just about 

 as much wax from the hot-water method as I can =with the 

 steam, but it is more mussy, and I have to work harder. 



Mr. Abbott — My wife attends to the work! 



Mr. Root — May be the bee-keepers are not all blessed 

 with wives. 



Mr. France — I was at a local bee-keepers' convention and 

 this subject was brought up. They decided the wax-press 

 was a good thing, but in a small way could they afford it? 

 We, as members of our local association, can afford to own 

 one, and that one press has gone the rounds, and each mem- 

 ber has rendered all the wax he has, and at only a cost of 

 15 cents. 



Dr. Miller — I want to say that of all the mean things 

 Mr. France ever did to me, that was the worst. I was going 

 to tell what they did in Germany. That's what they do there. 

 The local societies own the machine. That's the way to bring 

 the price down. 



Mr. Root — Isn't it a fact that farmers will club together 

 and get a binder or mower, and then they trade around? 



Mr. Smith — They might do that in Ohio, but not -in 

 Illinois. 



Mr. Root — I know of several who do. 



Mr. Wilcox — Partnership ownership of necessary tools 

 is not satisfactory. 



Mr. Root — I won't dispute you about that. 



Dr. Miller — That's a matter of locality! ' 



Mr. Smith — I was born and raised in Ohio, and I re- 

 member we used to have an apple-butter kettle, and that's 

 the way they boiled their apple butter. In the spring, when 

 it came sugar-making time, we couldn't do that because the 

 sugar had all to be made at the same time, and that spoiled the 



