60 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 



scheme — it wouldn't work. The Ohio farmers are not as 

 large, and they can work reciprocity more. The great secret 

 to get the wax out is to keep the wax from going into the old 

 brood-comb cells or cocoons that are left by the young bee, 

 and if you water-soak them in warm water — if the wax melts 

 and runs into these cells you have to heat them to get it out. 

 The wax is on the outside between the walls of these cells. 

 Itill the comb thoroughly with warm water, and mash, and 

 then put in the oven wet over a drip-pan, and you will get 

 better results than with an ordinary press, and you can do it 

 at any time. 



Mr. Root — I don't see how that can be done in a whole- 

 sale way. 



Mr. Smith — A man who has 30 or 40 hives — comb that 

 isn't brood-comb — can extract that at any time; but when you 

 come to an old brood-comb and lay it in the solar extractor 

 dry, the cocoons fill, and the center of gravity will lie in that 

 position so it can't get out. 



Mr. Root — I have the advantage over the wax-press. I 

 picked brood-comb many a time with a knife and have taken 

 a very small handful of it and put it in a little cloth package 

 in boiling water, and but very little wax could I find in there, 

 and that's doing it in a wholesale way. It is all done in bulk. 

 If a man had three or four barrels, I don't see how it would 

 pay him to do it in an oven. 



Mr. Starkey — About how many pounds of wax will 

 ordinarily be taken from one filling of the wax-extractor, of 

 mixed and broken combs? How much wax from one filling 

 of the machine? 



Mr. Root — Do you mean with the German wax-press? 



Mr. Starkey — Yes, sir. How much will its filling once 

 ordinarily do? 



Dr. Miller — Allow me to preface this question with this : 

 How much do you consider desirable to put in at one time? 



Mr. Root;— 10 pounds. 



Mr. Starkey — How much wax will you get out of that? 



Mr. Root — It averages a little less than three pounds. 

 I remember taking note of the fact that the average was 

 not far from the exact proportion that was obtained from 

 the hot-water press. 



Mr. Starkey — I would like to relate a little experience 

 that I had. I gathered together a great many old combs of 

 all descriptions and broken, and some that had a great deal 

 of cocoon. I had possibly a barrel full after it was well 

 packed. I had one of these ordinary lo-gallon wash-boilers, 

 and a two-burner gasoline stove. I filled the boiler with 

 four inches of water in the bottom and set the gasoline stove 

 to going with both burners. I put in this boiler almost two- 

 thirds of this barrel, so as to allow me to stir it as the water 

 heated. On top of that I put a board that I cut round so as 

 to fit inside loosely, and took an ordinary gunny-sack and 

 wrapped it over that so it would be around the edges, and 

 pushed that in sung. I boiled this about ij^ hours while I 

 went on about my other work. I took an ordinary Lang- 





