268 N. H. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



"Wax is a secretion from honey, and is grown at the will, 

 of the bees. When wax is wanted, the working class of 

 bees eat honey for the purpose of growing it, and at their 

 will it is digested in a peculiar manner, and circulated to 

 the region of the wax packets, which are eight in number, 

 the mouths of which arc directly under the rings of the 

 belly ; here it makes its appearance in little thin scales, 

 white in color, somewhat resembling little particles of snow. 

 It is then removed by the bee who grows it, and also by 

 other bees. It is then plaited into combs by a pair of man- 

 dibles or jaws that open to the right and left like a pair 

 of pincers. The tongue performs no operation in building 

 comb, neither is wax rendered plastic with saliva from the 

 mouth of the bee. It is rendered soft and pliable only by 

 a high temperature. Bees can neither grow nor work their 

 wax at a temperature much below blood heat. This is the 

 reason why small swarms do not' build as much comb, ac- 

 cording to their numbers, as large swarms, in hives of the 

 same dimensions. They cannot generate the same amount 

 of animal heat. But the man who makes his hives laru'e or 

 small as his swarms may be, will ultimately end in failure 

 and disappointment, for a swarm put in a small hive can 

 never be profitable as a large one, for want of suitable ac- 

 commodations. 



Bee, keeping is sadly neglected by almost all of our agri- 

 culturists in New England. There in nothing within my 

 knowledge that pays so large a percentage on the capital 

 invested as the culture of the honey bee when properly 

 managed. 



