BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
About 1862 the first solar wax extractor was invented in California, and was first used for extracting the honey from the combs, but later it was used solely for melting wax, and even to-day is extensively used in many of the largest apiaries in the world. These solar wax extractors were little more thanHow to keep be e for profit large boxes covered with glass in which old combs were placed and exposed to the rays of the sun, and toward evening as the day grew cooler the wax, because of its lightness, was found in sheets on top of the honey.
Doolittle, Boardman, Rauchfuss, and others invented solar wax extractors which were more or less adopted, but in principle they were practically the same, and depended upon the sun's rays shining through glass to do the work.
While the solar wax extractor can be depended upon to do a certain amount of rendering, especially where capping and new combs are put into them, yet when it comes to getting the wax out of old dark combs, they have their limit, and compel us to resort to another method. The only satisfactory way to render wax is by some method by which the old combs can be enclosed in a sack and subjected to pressure while surrounded by steam. This method is not entirely new, though some of the appliances are, and were used in Germany many years ago, where it originated, but it remained for America to invent a satisfactory press, several makes of which are on the market, all capable of doing excellent work.
Some of these presses extract the wax under pressure at the time the steam is surging through the mass, as in the case of the German Wax Press and the Hershiser Wax Press, while others extract the wax under pressure after the heated sack has been taken from the steamer, and Messrs.Hatch and Gamil were successful pioneers in the perfection of the press that bears their names. The latter plan is perhaps the best, and is fast being adopted, as experience proves that there is 228less wax left in the slumgum, as the refuse is called, than under other methods.
The old combs and pieces of wax are encased in a stout bag and boiled for a few minutes, then lifted and poured out of the bag, about a gallon at a time, and, when the cloths of the press are firmly secured about it, pressure is exerted, and the water and practically all of the wax will run out of the press into the bucket or other vessel that has been put into position to receive it, and when the water is cooled the cake of wax is ready for removal. Repeating the process, using about a gallon of the mass at a time, it is surprising how much wax will be secured within a short time. An up-to-date wax press is not expensive, and as it does its work so much better than the many homemade makeshifts that are used, it is economy to buy one, as the extra amount of wax obtained from the slumgum will pay for it in a short time.
If the wax secured is intended for the manufacturers of foundation, it can be shipped just as it comes from the press; but if it is for general use, it should be remelted and molded in little tins, and in the melting an iron kettle should be avoided, as it has a tendency to discolor the wax and render its sale difficult.
Manufacturers of comb foundation say that hardly two lots of wax that they receive are uniform in color; this is due to the presence of more or less foreign substances, and to reduce it all to its original yellowness, it is necessary for them to treat it to a bleaching process with sulphuric acid.
The following is the method of bleaching used by the A. I. Root Co.
how to refine wax with sulphuric acid
Wax cakes, as they are bought up, are usually of all grades and colors. The difference in color is due largely to the amount of impurities the wax contains. In all the years that we have been in the business we have found no practical or satisfactory way
## B Eeswax
surplus foundation, not more than three quarts are used. If the wax is already of good quality, so small an amount as two quarts of acid will answer. On the average, therefore, we use three quarts of acid to eighty gallons of water for fifteen hundred pounds of wax. Soon after this is poured in, the color of the boiling wax will be seen to grow lighter, and, after a minute or so, the boiling is stopped.
The steam pipe is now drawn out, and the tank covered with a cloth or carpet, and allowed to stand as many hours as the wax will remain liquid, or about twenty-four hours. At the expiration of this time the water and acid will have settled to the bottom by reason of their greater specific gravity; and the acid, in turn, having a greater specific gravity than that of water, will settle to the bottom of the water; and the consequence is, that the wax itself, after being purified, is allowed to become thoroughly cleansed of any residue of acid, and the dirt accumulation will all have settled to the bottom of the wax and into the
water. The melted wax is now drawn off from the top, and poured into any sort of receptacles with flaring sides. When the wax is nearly to the bottom, or when it shows evidence of coming near the dirt, the rest is allowed to stand. As soon as it is caked in the tank it is lifted out, and the dirt clinging to the bottom scraped off.
Rendering wax at best is a troublesome and messy job, and it is possible to work much damage to a carpet or a suit of clothes that is of far more value than the little wax that may be secured where the beekeeper has but a few hives.
If the rendering is done in the house kitchen, spread some paper -- newspapers will do -- on the floor, and go about the work slowly and carefully. If at the close of the work the wax is smeared over kettles and pans, it can be removed by immersing the utensils in boiling water for a while, and rubbing them with a cloth that has been saturated with benzie.
**Muffin tins, egg cups,** **pails, or any receptacles of proper size may be used to pour the melted wax into for molding, first wetting the vessel with water, and when the wax has cooled into solid cakes it can be dumped out and is ready for market. Some of the supply houses make little tins for molding the wax into cakes that retail for ten cents, and these are a help where the wax is to be sold in the home town or placed with the grocery trade for sale. Little candles made of bees wax give a brilliant light and throw off a delicate perfume; the molds and wicks for making them can be had at slight cost, and their sale brings the highest prices for the wax that is used.**
**I know of one beekeeper who is able to make a dozen of these little candles from a pound of bees wax, and he has no difficulty in getting $1 a dozen for them. By all means husband your old combs and cappings, as the revenue derived from them will often pay for the foundation that from time to time has to be bought for brood frames and section boxes.**
## Chapter 3 Honey as a food and medicine
PONEY is being more and more recognized as a necessity and not as formerly a luxury, and could its food and health-giving qualities be better known, it would appear more often on the bill of fare than it does.
**In looking over the various dictionaries 1** fail to find a correct scientific definition of the constituents of honey, and only succeeded in finding the following definition in Phin's Dictionary of Beekeeping:--
**"Honey contains four different kinds of sugar:** (1) Cane sugar (though this is not always present);** (2) fruit sugar or glucose;** (3) invert sugar, so-called because it turns the plane of polarization to the left, or inverts the action of the fruit sugar;** (4) a sugar of
**Honey A Food and Medicine**
which little is known, but which is evidently a distinct variety.
**" Under the peculiar action of the ferment (enzyme) previously mentioned, and which is generally present, the cane sugar gradually changes to sugar of the second and third kinds; and as these are less soluble than cane sugar, the clear limpid fluid gradually becomes opaque and granular, or in other words the honey is said to granulate."**
**However vague the above description may be, honey in the public mind means nectar secreted by the flowers of the field and gathered by the bees and thoroughly ripened in the hive. Honey will vary in its color and flavor according to the source from which it was gathered, the clover being mild in flavor while that from buckwheat is pronounced. Notwithstanding this variation in color and flavor, the food value of all honey is practically the same, the particular flavor desired being largely a matter of choice.**
**Before the passage of the Hepburn PureHow to keep bees for profit
Food Law in America on June 30, 1906, a great deal of adulterated honey was sold to the public, but since the passage of the above law, the public is reasonably certain of getting pure honey.
Honey as Food
**The American nation consumes an enormous amount of sugar, averaging nearly eighty pounds per head, and the people of the British Isles ten pounds more. The increased consumption of sugar during the last few years has been phenomenal, and even people in moderate circumstances consume a large amount. Honey sells in some states for very little more than good cane sugar.**
Honey is much superior to sugar in several respects. It has far more flavor and aroma, and for baking certain fancy cakes it has no equal; and for this reason will always command a higher price than sugar. We know fastidious people are always willing to pay high prices for foods having fine flavors, and
## Honey A Food and Medicine
all physiologists are agreed that flavor has much to do with the dietetic value of a food by inducing a free flow of saliva and promoting digestion by its palatability.
Honey is an excellent food in the prevention of fatigue, owing to the fact that, while it builds up the body, or rather makes up for the loss of tissue, it does not tax the system. The latter is not called upon to throw off or get rid of a mass of perfectly useless material, for it is undoubtedly true that not more than one two-hundredth part of honey is actual waste. Practically the human system uses up almost every particle of honey placed in the stomach. This can be said of no other food except sugar, which must undergo a process of _inversion_ before the system can utilize it. Honey, on the other hand, is in a state of partial digestion before being eaten; and this, in addition to the very free flow of saliva induced by the flavor, causes it to be completely used up by the digestive system without straining it in the least -- so
much so, in fact, that many invalids and infants may use honey when sugar would be prejudicial.
Honey, it is believed, after passing through the stomach, becomes glycogen by the action of the liver, and in this way is converted into heat and work. It differs from sugar in two important particulars. First, it does not require to be "inverted," or converted into natural glucose (it is that already), a process which frequently leads to diabetes, and, again, it possesses an aroma and flavor which sugar does not. Moreover, it does not contain powerful chemicals, as sugar sometimes does. It is a purely natural production, and requires no cooking or preparation.
There is almost an infinite variety of flavors in honey, so that the peculiar palate of every one may be suited. In dealing with children and delicate people this is important. In countries where the consumption of sugar is large, as in the United States, Canada, and the British Islands, Germany, Holland, and 234
## Honey A Food And Medicine
other northern lands, diabetes is quite common. This is due to the fact that the system of those afflicted is so constituted that they are unable to convert ordinary sugar into glucose. There is always a certain number of such people in every community. Diabetes bears considerable resemblance to Bright's disease of the kidneys, which is, however, due to an excess of albumen -- not sugar.
Children generally crave something sweet, and this is a perfectly healthy and natural longing which ought to be satisfied in some way. This is generally done by giving confectionery and sweetmeats, which frequently are indigestible. Honey can be made to take their place with many children if it is allowed in the regular dietary. In this way the craving for sweets is very effectively met. In France and other parts of Europe the doctors recommend honey and cream, or honey and butter, in the treatment of consumptively inclined children. They say this combination is better than cod-liver-oil emulsion,for the reason that it is much more palatable, and more satisfactory to the patient's stomach. A fine combination for fast-growing thin children is bread, butter, and honey. In this country any mother may try this bill of fare on her well-beloved children. She may feel certain that no better menu for a child can be suggested. Honey may be very effectively used in summer drinks, and should take the precedence of sugar in this respect, more particularly where workmen are employed in hot and fatiguing work such as takes place in glass and iron factories.
Inmense quantities of honey are used by bakers, both in America and Europe. In this country alone the National Biscuit Company uses an amount which seems staggering to a man unacquainted with the industry. This concern recently purchased in one lot seventy carloads of good honey, and is always in the market for honey in big lots. There are no means of knowing just how much honey the baking industry uses in this country; but
## 10.1 Howy a food and medicine
we do know it is very large indeed. The best bakers have discovered that honey is far superior to sugar as a sweetening agent. The latter causes the cakes and bread made with it to dry up and become unpalatable in a few days; whereas honey, on the other hand, causes them to remain sweet and moist for a long period. Cases are reported of honey-jumbles remaining moist for twelve years; and in France nobody thinks it is anything very wonderful to keep honey-bread a year or eighteen months, and yet have it remain perfectly good and satisfactory. If it is hard, it is simply put into a damp place for a few days, when it returns to its original condition.
It is perfectly clear that, where bread and cakes are made in factories, they must have some "keeping" qualities; and by experience the managers have found honey is the only acceptable agent for this purpose. At Dijon, in France, from time immemorial a kind of honey-bread (_pain d'epice_, or _Lebkuchen_, as the Germans call it) has beenhow to keep bees for profit made which has acquired a wide fame. It is made in other parts of Europe, but this place seems to excel in its production. The bakers there are fastidious, and cannot be induced to use any but buckwheat honey. They say they cannot risk their reputation by using any other. The honey is obtained in Brittany; and when it is used up the bakers will stop baking rather than use a substitute.
**Honey-bread** is now made and sold in New York, and what we have used of it here in Medina proved to be very fine eating indeed. The general opinion of it is, it would be very acceptable to dyspptics or persons of impaired digestion, as it is very open and porous, and easily masticated.
**Honey-cakes and jumbles have been consumed in steadily increasing quantities of late years, and the demand increases by leaps and bounds, showing that consumers appreciate a really delicious and satisfactory food, no matter if it seems somewhat higher priced than similar foods.**
and similar preparations sought by ladies for softening the cuticle and improving the complexion. Salves are also improved by the use of honey and bees wax; in fact, the latter is considered the only proper substance for forming the base of ordinary salves.
Very many of the so-called honey cooking recipes are untested, and hence worse than none; for when the ingredients are put together and cooked the result is vile. The recipes given below have been tested, and every one is guaranteed to be good. The honey-jumble recipe, for instance, is especially good, as is the honey-cake recipe by Maria Fraser.
Honey-gems. -- 2 qts. flour, 3 tablespoonfuls melted lard, \(
rac{3}{4}\) pt. honey, \(
rac{1}{2}\) pt. molasses, 4 heaping tablespoonfuls brown sugar, \(1
rac{1}{2}\)!evel tablespoonfuls soda, 1 level teaspoonful salt, \(
rac{1}{2}\) pt. water, \(
rac{1}{2}\) teaspoonful extract vanilla.
Honey-jumbles. -- 2 qts. flour, 3 tablespoonfuls melted lard, 1 pt. honey, \(
rac{1}{2}\) pt. molasses, \(1
rac{1}{2}\) level tablespoonfuls soda, 1 level teaspoonful salt, \(
rac{1}{2}\) pt. water, \(
rac{1}{2}\) teaspoonful vanilla.
## Hony A Food and Medicine
These jumbles and the gems immediately preceding are from recipes used by bakeries and confectioneries on a large scale, one firm in Wisconsin alone using ten tons of honey annually in their manufacture.
Honey-cake or Cookies without sugar or molasses.--2 cups honey; one cup butter; four eggs (mix well); one cup buttermilk (mix); one good qt. flour; one level tea-spoonful soda or saleratus. If it is too thin, stir in a little more flour. If too thin it will fall. It does not need to be as thin as sugar-cake. I use very thick honey. Be sure to use the same cup for measure. Be sure to mix the honey, butter, and eggs well together. You can make it richer if you wish by using clabbered cream instead of buttermilk. Bake in a rather slow oven, as it burns very easily. To make cookies, use a little more flour, so that they will roll out well without sticking to the board. Any kind of flavoring will do. I use ground orange-peel mixed soft. It makes a very nice gingerbread. _Maria Fraser._
Howell Honey-cake.-- (It is a hard cake.) Take 6 lbs. flour, 3 lbs. honey, 1\(
rac{1}{2}\) lbs. sugar, 1\(
rac{1}{2}\) lbs. butter, 6 eggs, \(
rac{1}{2}\) oz. saleratus; ginger to your taste. Directions for mixing.--Have the flour in a pan or tray. Pack a cavity in the centre. Beat the honey and yolks of eggs together well. Beat the butter and sugar to cream, and put into the cavity in the flour; then add the honey and yolks of the eggs. Mix well with the hand, adding a little at a time, during the mixing, the \(
rac{1}{2}\) oz.
sideratus dissolved in boiling water until it is all in. Add the ginger, and finally add the whites of the 6 eggs, well beaten. Mix well with the hand to a smooth dough. Divide the dough into 7 equal parts, and roll out like gingerhead. Bake in ordinary square pans made for pies, from 10 \( imes\) 14 tin. After putting into the pans, mark off the top in \(
rac{1}{2}\)-inch strips with something sharp. Bake an hour in a moderate oven. Be careful not to burn, but bake well. Dissolve sugar to glaze over top of cake. To keep the cake, stand on end in an oak tub, tin can, or stone crock -- crock is best. Stand the cards up so the flat sides will not touch each other. Cover tight. Keep in a cool dry place. Don't use until three months old at least. The cake improves with age, and will keep good as long as you will let it. I find any cake sweetened with honey does not dry out like sugar or molasses cake, and age improves or develops the honey flavor. \(E.\ D.\ Howell\).
Aikin's Honey-cookies.--1 teacupful extracted honey, 1 pt. sour cream, scant teaspoonful soda, flavoring if desired, flour to make a soft dough.
Soft Honey-cake.--1 cup butter,2 cups honey,2 eggs, 1 cup sour milk,2 teaspoonful soda, 1 teaspoonful ginger, 1 teaspoonful cinnamon, 4 cups flour. \(\qquad\)_Chalon Fowls._
Ginger Honey-cake.--1 cup honey, 1 cup butter, or drippings, 1 tablesoonful boiled cider, in half a cup of hot water (or \(
rac{1}{2}\) cup sour milk will do instead). Warm these ingredients together, and then add 1 tablesoonful ginger 242
## Hony A Foud A nd ndemic
and 1 teaspoonful soda sifted in with flour enough to make a soft batter. Bake in a flat pan. _Chalon Fovls_.
**Fowls' Honey Fruit-cake.**--\(
rac{1}{2}\) cup butter, \(
rac{3}{4}\) cup honey, \(
rac{2}{2}\) cup apple jelly or boiled cider, 2 eggs well beaten, 1 teaspoonful soda, 1 teaspoonful each of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, 1 teacupful each of raisins and dried currants. Warm the butter, honey, and apple jelly slightly, add the beaten eggs, then the soda dissolved in a little warm water; add spices and flour enough to make a stiff batter, then stir in the fruit and bake in a slow oven. Keep in a covered jar several weeks before using.
**Muth's Honey-cakes.**--\(1\) gal. honey (dark honey is best), 15 eggs, 3 lbs. sugar (a little more honey in its place may be better), 1\(
rac{1}{2}\) oz. baking-soda, 2 oz. ammonia, 2 lbs. almonds chopped up, 2 lbs. citron, 4 oz. cinnamon, 2 oz. cloves, 2 oz. mace, 18 lbs. flour. Let the honey come almost to a boil; then let it cool off, and add the other ingredients. Cut out and bake. The cakes are to be frosted afterward with sugar and white of eggs.
**Fowls' Honey Layer-cake.**--\(
rac{2}{3}\) cup butter, 1 cup honey, 3 eggs beaten, \(
rac{1}{2}\) cup milk. Cream the honey and butter together, then add the eggs and milk. Then add 2 cups flour containing 1\(
rac{1}{2}\) teaspoonfuls baking-powder previously stirred in. Then stir in flour to make a stiff batter. Bake in jelly-tins. When the cakes are cold, take finely flavored candied honey, and after creaming it spread between layers
Fowls' Honey-cookies. -- 3 teapoonfuls soda dissolved in 2 cups warm honey, 1 cup shortening containing salt, 2 teaspoonfuls ginger, 1 cup hot water, flour sufficient to roll.
Honey Nut-cakes. -- 8 cups sugar, 2 cups honey, 4 cups milk or water, 1 lb. almonds, 1 lb. English walnuts, 3 cents' worth each of candied lemon and orange peel, 5 cents' worth citron (the last three cut fine), 2 large tablespoonfuls soda, 2 teaspoonfuls cinnamon, 2 teaspoonfuls ground cloves. Put the milk, sugar, and honey on the stove, to boil 15 minutes; skim off the scum, and take from the stove. Put in the nuts, spices, and candied fruit. Stir in as much flour as can be done without making the dough too stiff. Set away to cool, then mix in the soda. Cover up and let stand over night, then work in flour enough to make a stiff dough. Bake when you get ready. It is well to let it stand a few days, as it will not stick so badly. Roll out a little thicker than a common cooky; cut in any shape you like.
This recipe originated in Germany, is old and tried, and the cake will keep a year or more. _Mrs. E. Smith._
Honey Drop-cakes. -- 1 cup honey, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup butter or lard, 12 cup sour milk, 1 egg, 1 tablespoonful soda, 4 cups sifted flour.
Honey Shortcake. -- 3 cups flour, 2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder, 1 teaspoonful salt, 12 cup shortening, 12 cups sweet milk. Roll quickly, and bake in a hot oven. When 244done, split the cake and spread the lower half thinly with butter, and the upper half with \(
rac{1}{2}\) lb. of the best-flavored honey. (Candied honey is preferred. If too hard to spread well it should be slightly warmed or creamed with a knife.) Let it stand a few minutes, and the honey will melt gradually and the flavor will permeate all through the cake. To be eaten with milk. Honey Tea-cake. - 1 cup honey, \(
rac{1}{2}\) cup sour cream, 2 eggs, \(
rac{1}{2}\) cup butter, 2 cups flour, scant \(
rac{1}{2}\) teaspoonful soda, 1 tablespoonful cream of tartar. Bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven. _Miss M. Csmaller._ Honey Gingersnaps. - 1 pt. honey, \(
rac{3}{4}\) lb. butter, 2 teaspoonfuls ginger. Boil together a few minutes, and when nearly cold put in flour until it is stiff. Roll out thin, and bake quickly. Honey Fruit-cake. - 1\(
rac{1}{2}\) cups honey, \(
rac{3}{4}\) cup butter, \(
rac{1}{2}\) cup sweet milk, 2 eggs well beaten, 3 cups flour, 2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder, 2 cups raisins, 1 teaspoonful each of cloves and cinnamon. Honey Popcorn-balls. - Take 1 pt. extracted honey; put it into an iron frying-pan, and boil until very thick; then stir in freshly popped corn, and when cold, mold into balls. These will specially delight the children. Honey-caramels. - 1 cup extracted honey of best flavor, 1 cup granulated sugar, 3 tablespoonfuls sweet cream or milk.
## How to Keep Bees for Profit
Boil to "soft crack," or until it hardens when dropped into cold water, but not too brittle -- just so it will form into a soft ball when taken in the fingers.
Pour into a greased dish, stirring in a teaspoonful extract of vanilla just before taking off.