Nc. 6. DIjU^ARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 401 



wax. To avoid this, at least in part, old combs should be soaked 

 in water until the cocoons are saturated, and then they will not take 

 up the wax. If they can be frozen after being thus soaked with 

 water, they can then be broken up into small pieces. Without this 

 breaking up, the cocoons, even if saturated with water, will act as 

 little cups to hold the wax. 



The cheapest wax extractor you can buy will cost you two or three 

 dollars, and if you have no great quantity of wax to extract you 

 can get along very well with nothing but a square tin pan split open 

 at one corner. Put your bits of comb to be melted into the pan, 

 and put the pan in the oven of a cook-stove. Let the open end of the 

 pan project out of the oven, of course leaving the oven-door open, 

 and put a stone or something under the end of the pan that is in 

 the oven, so that the melted wax will run out, and set a dish under 

 the dripping corner to catch the wax, having a little water in the 

 bottom of the dish. Avoid having hot wax in iron, as it blackens 

 the wax. Do not spoil wax by overheating. 



When you have rendered the wax out of the combs, there will be 

 more or less impurities in it. If the w^ax is melted and allowed a 

 long time in cooling, that will give the impurities a chance to settle, 

 when they can be scraped off the bottom of the cake. Here is a 

 good way: In the evening, when there is no longer so hot a fire that 

 there is danger of making the wax boil over, put the dish of wax in 

 the cook-stove oven and close the door. Let it stay there all night, 

 but be sure to take it out in the morning before kindling the fire. 



To clean wax from utensils, heat until the wax is very soft, and 

 then wipe off with old newspapers. Benzine will dissolve it so it can 

 be wiped off with a cloth. 



ROBBING. 



Bees are symbols of industry, and if there is any time when they 

 especially deserve credit for industry and perserverance it is when 

 they get thoroughly started at robbing. Do not believe the foolish 

 assertion that there is no danger that a colony of your bees will not 

 rob another in the same apiary. The matter of ownership does not 

 concern them, and they will be more likely to attack a colony near 

 by than one at a distance. 



As in many other cases, prevention is better than cure. Be care- 

 ful to do nothing to start robbing. A comb of honey or brood 

 left standing exposed for a short time when little or nothing is to 

 be gathered in the fields may start the whole apiary into a furore. 

 When honey is coming in freely, there is comparatively little danger. 

 Perhaps the worst time is at the close of a harvest, when the bees 

 are suddenly stopped from gathering in the field, and make every 

 26—6—1901 



