]36 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Feb. 2, 1920. 



•or queens, which must be removed. The parent colony should be inspected, 

 .and all queen cells destroyed, and then the best-looking virgin should be 

 -allowed to run into the hive. 



Absconding Swarms. 



Tt is not unusual for an apiarist to have one or two colonies become dis- 

 satisfied and desei"t their homes ; this is more likely to happen during spring. 

 The bees issue and cluster in a similar manner to a natural swarm. Their 

 home should be made as comfortable as possible, with ample stores, and the 

 swarm then returned. In the case of a clipped queen, the work can be 

 ■carried out while the swarm is flying. Do not experiment with killing the 

 -queen and shaking the bees with a weak colony, for they will often cause the 

 ■queen to be destroyed. 



Two Processes eor Refining Beeswax. 



Although beeswax has already been through some process of purification 

 ):)efore it leaves the apiarist for the merchant, it is still com2:)aratively rough 

 in many cases. Dift'erent methods of refining the product are adopted. 

 Messrs. A. A. Burnett & Co., Ltd., of Sydney, lately communicated to the 

 Department information received by them from a very successful wax 

 •exporter, who described his method as follows : — 



" I receive the wax in square blocks, purified in the first but poor way in 

 use by the traders in the interior. Here I have proper kettles large enough 

 to melt half a ton, and the taps of which are about 18 inches above the 

 bottom. After being filled with water up to about 2 inches below the tap, 

 the kettle is filled with wax. As soon as the wax commences to boil the fire 

 is taken away, and after a rest of about six hours, the wax is tap2:)ed ofi" into 

 the ' forms.' Before turning on the tap I first of all pour into the form a 

 bucket of boiling water so that any dirt which may run with the wax may 

 sink through the water. After twenty-four hours I turn the form out, when 

 I nearly always discover a dark-coloured skin at the bottoi;! of the form 

 touching the water. This is scraped off and the block covered with hessian 

 ready for ex})ort." 



While commending the foregoing metliod. Mr. W. A. Goodacre, Senior 

 Apiary Ins])ector, adds: "A similar method on a smaller scale is generally 

 nised by competent apiarists. A vessel is quarter filled with water and the 

 -wax added, heat being then applied and the wax melted slowly but thoroughly ; 

 it is then allowed to rest for about five hours for the ])ur])Ose of letting the 

 water and impurities settle. The wax is tlien drawn off from the toj) until 

 it shows evidence of coming near the im})ure matter; it is then usually 

 strained into the form or mould, which should contain a small quantity of 

 Tiot water. After being poured into the mould it is covered and allowed to 

 cool slowly so as to prevent cracking. In a})out twenty-four hours it can be 

 Temoved from the mould and any adhering impurity scraped off. In the 

 ■commercial handling of wax in large quantities it is often found desirable to 

 "use sul])huric acid, about 2 lb. of acid to every 1.000 lb. of wax being 

 nece.ssary when the parcels have first been treated in a poor way by apiarists." 



