128 HOW TO KEEP BEES 



We were wont to make beeswax as follows: The 

 broken combs were packed in a muslin bag which 

 was weighted by a sinker and hung in the wash- 

 boiler by tying the bag to the poker, which was 

 placed crosswise the top. By this contrivance the 

 bag was completely surrounded by water, which 

 filled the boiler, and yet did not touch the bottom, 

 and so there was no danger of burning; the cloth 

 acted as a strainer and the bag was pressed occa- 

 sionally; this act being judiciously performed by 

 means of the tongs, which had previously been 

 cleaned. After the wax had boiled out the boiler 

 was taken off and the whole contents cooled, after 

 which the wax was taken from the top in pieces and 

 remelted in a dish set on the back side of the stove 

 so as not to burn, then poured into oiled bread-tins, 

 and thus caked for the market. Some of it was 

 clarified for special use thus: It was allowed to 

 simmer on the back of the stove for some hours in 

 water to which vinegar had been added, and then 

 was dipped off into scalloped patty-tins and a neat 

 little loop of cord inserted at one side. These cakes 

 when cooled had a long though scarified existence 

 ensconced in work-baskets with spools of thread, 

 for wax thus cleaned and prepared made very 

 pretty little gifts for lady-friends. But the ex- 

 perience of rendering wax was never complete 

 without spilling some of it on the stove, which 

 spread with fearful rapidity and smoked with 

 stifling smoke; because of the certainty of this 

 accident we always made the beeswax in the late 



