lo Feb., 1910.] Production aud Marketing of Beeswax. 85 



Chrysanthemums should be thinned out, and staked, if this has not 

 previously been done. The lloral buds should be selected, and all others 

 pinched out ; and the plants should then be well fed wherever necessary. 



All old flower heads should be removed from the rose bushes. In 

 March the plants may be thinned out, manured, and generalh prepared in 

 anticipation of the crop of autumn blooms. 



All shrubs and trees that have bloomed should have their old flowering 

 stems and shoots thinned out, so as to start fresh growths for filling in 

 spaces, and for next year's blooms. 



PRODUCTION AND MARKETING OF BEESWAX. 



{Continued from page 774, Vol. VII.) 



R. Beuhne, President, Victorian Apiarists' Association. 



When an apiary has been in existence for a number of years it becomes 

 necessary to replace some of the old black brood combs. This should be 

 done every season — whenever an opportunity offers to withdraw them from 

 the brood-chamber. They should then be replaced with new ones. 



There are also occasional cases of foul brood necessitating the removal 

 of all the combs of infected hives. Although burning of combs and frames 

 is frequently recommended to rid an apiary of disease, there is no neces- 

 sity whatever for the destruction of the wax contained in the infected 

 combs; all that is needed is to carefully put them away indoors, out 

 of the reach of bees, until they can be boiled down, which should be done 

 as soon after as possible. 



A Langstroth comb, if built on a full sheet of foundation, contains 

 about 2 ounces of wax when new, but somewhat more after it has been 

 in use for some years, as .the bees add wax after the foundation is first 

 drawn out. When very old combs are boiled down for wax, not more than 

 eight should be put into each tin with three gallons of water, otherwise 

 the mass becomes too stiff and difficult to press clean of wax. Sometimes, 

 hundreds of combs have to be cut out and boiled down and a great number 

 of vessels would be required to hold the water and liquid wax coming 

 from the press until the wax is set, unless it is skimmed off while hot 

 which is tedious work. 



By the use of a separating tank, wax and water can be separated 

 automatically, the wax being retained in the tank while the waste water, if 

 not too thick and black, can be used for boiling down more combs or else 

 at once disposed of. Waste water from boiling down combs or water 

 containing honev should not be thrown out so that bees have access to it, 

 but should be buried ; apart from any risk of spreading disease it may 

 start robbing or stinging. 



This separating device (Fig. i) consists of a plain box lined with tin. 

 One corner of the lining is covered by an L-shaped piece of tin soldered 

 to the side and end. open on top and reaching onlv to within half an inch 

 of the bottom, with an outlet stud through the end board of the case about 

 four inches from the top. At the opposite corner of the case is another 

 outlet stud two inches from the top. 



Before allowing the wax to run into the tank from the press, sufficiert 

 hot water should be poured in to cover the end of the enclosed corner so as 

 to prevent the wax escaping into it. After several lots of boiled comb 

 have been put through the press, the wax and water will have risen in 



