7G 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



February, 1918 



SAVING THE WASTE BEESWAX 



The Importance of 'Beeswax as a 



By-Product of the Apiary ; How to 



'^nder it for the Market 



By Geo. L. Emerson 



BEESWAX is 

 the most im- 

 portant by- 

 product of the 

 honyebee, and 

 yet it has been 

 neglected by 

 beekeepers gen- 

 erally, and great 

 quantities wast- 

 ed. I can show where twenty Per c-^nt or 

 more of the entire amount produced by the 

 bees is thrown away or lost by carelessness 

 or ignorance. 



The Value of Wax. 

 First, let us consider its value. The de- 

 mand is unlimited, and the price does not 

 vai-y as greatly as does the price of honey. 

 It would not be difficult for the producer to 

 contract with any one of several firms to 

 take all the beeswax he could furnish, and 

 pav him a cash-on-delivery price during a 

 period of several years. Could this be done 

 with honey? Koughly speaking there are 

 some two hundred million pounds ot honey, 

 about fifty million pounds of which is 

 comb— an average of about twenty million 

 dollars ' worth of honey per year m the Unit- 

 ed States. The United States Bureau of En- 

 tomology estimates that the beeswax output 

 is equal to about one-tenth of the honey va - 

 ue Taking this as a basis, we have two mil- 

 lion dollars' worth of wax. Now, if my con- 

 tention is true that twenty per cent is lost to 

 the producer, then the beemen are throwing 

 away 400,000 dollars' worth of wax a year. 

 If that money could be saved, and used to 

 encourage the consumption of honey thru ad- 

 vertising and marketing, would it not be bet- 

 ter? 



Now in our own state it is weH known 

 that we have shipped away over five hun- 

 dred cars of extracted honey in one season, 

 and we are beginning to use a lot of honey 

 at home— not less than one hundred cars a 

 year If we produce six hundred cars ot 

 extracted honey, it would be worth some- 

 thing like nine hundred thousand dollars, 

 and the beeswax ninety thousand dollars; 

 twenty per cent of which would be eighteen 

 thousand dollars. This, I believe, the bee- 

 keepers could use to advantage; and it is 

 to bring it forcibly to their attention that i 



have taken this up. -.v, +1,0 



From my constant association witli tne 

 honey-producers for many years I have 

 found that the average producer knows very 

 little about beeswax and is not fitted with 

 equipment to save this valuable by-product. 

 Even some extensive producers who think 

 that they are saving all it wDl pay to fool 

 with ' ' are losing as high as thirty per cent, 

 and only a very few arc making an honest 

 effort; knd most of these, like myself, ac- 

 knowledge only a certain degree of success; 

 but I feel positive that I can extract twenty 

 per cent more than was originally taken it 

 I have all the waste, slumgum, and scrapings 

 from the bottoms of the cakes of beeswax. 



Never put a 

 cover back that 

 needs scraping. 

 When uncap- 

 ping, scrape all 

 bits of comb 

 from the outside 

 of the frame. Do 

 not allow moths 

 to eat up comb. 

 If you cannot save them, melt them up. The 

 wax will furnish you with nice new sheets 

 of foundation and pay for your work be- 

 sides. Melt up the drone combs at the end 

 of the season. Do not leave them in the hive 

 for the queen to lay in in the spring. 



Eq,uipment. 



For those who produce extracted honey 

 a capping-melter is a necessity. In these 

 times of disease one cannot afford to have 

 the old sun extractor around to spread con- 

 tagion. The capping-melter, a good wax- 

 press, a large wax-kettle (made of galvan- 

 ized iron), and a wooden-settling tank, to 

 hold as much wax as you would ever have 

 to cake in one batch, and you have an equip- 

 ment that will take care of all conditions, if 

 you know how to use it. 



Preparing for Market. 



In preparing your wax for market, re- 

 member that the longer it is kept hot the 

 better it will settle; and the principle work- 

 ed on by the larger refiners is to have such 

 a quantity melted at one time that it will 

 remain from twenty-four to thirty-six hours 

 in a liquid condition before it is drawn off 

 in buckets and allowed to cake. Several 

 faucets are put in the large wooden tank at 

 various heights from the bottom, so that the 

 clean wax may be drawn off and the refuse 

 allowed to remain in the tank. Old five- 

 gallon honey-cans are commonly used by 

 the beekeepers to cake the wax in; but they 

 should be clean, or the dirt which is on them 

 will adhere to the wax and spoil the outside 

 appearance of the cake. One should be 

 particularly careful that there be no honey 

 on these cans, for it seems to make the wax 

 adhere to the tin so strongly that it is al- 

 most impossible to remove the cake without 

 cutting the can fi-om it. If there is any 

 dirt or foreign matter on the bottom of the 

 cake, scrape or hew it off and render the 

 refuse over at the next melting. If you 

 use sulphuric acid be sure not to use too 

 much, and never use it when the wax is in 

 metal, as the acid will eat off some of the 

 tin or iron and darken the wax. Also, be 

 veiy sure that there is no honey or honey- 

 sweetened water with your wax when acid 

 is used. The acid will burn the honey black 

 and will darken the wax . Be careful not 

 to burn the wax in cooking; keep plenty of 

 of water under it; for if even the slumgum 

 burns to the kettle it will not only affect the 

 color, but will leave a burned offensive odor 

 in the wax that is very difficult to remove. 

 A simple and inexpensive method of re- 



