The Production and Care of Beeswax 339 



White (bleached) wax differs physically and chemically from 

 yellow wax. 



Adulteration of wax. 



Fortunately this also is a subject in which beekeepers 

 take no interest, but nevertheless beeswax is frequently 

 adulterated by the addition of mineral waxes, wax from other 

 insects or tallow or by cruder methods, such as the addition 

 of gypsum, starch or flour. The detection of these adul- 

 terations (except the cruder ones) must usually be left to 

 the chemist, but beekeepers rely on what is known as the 

 " break test." If a cake of pure wax is cracked it presents 

 a granular surface which is not seen in wax with even a 

 small percentage of paraffin. The determination of the 

 specific gravity is also useful to the beekeeper in confirming 

 his suspicions of a lot of wax. 



Preparation of wax for market. 



Usually the beekeeper ships his cakes of wax in bags or 

 barrels to the wax dealer and most commonly to the manu- 

 facturer of comb-foundation. To see a great pile of these 

 cakes as they come in is sufficient to convince one that bee- 

 keepers are not as a rule sufficiently careful in cleaning their 

 wax. One large company of beekeepers puts up wax in 

 cakes just large enough to go into a shipping case such as is 

 used in shipping two 5-gallon square cans of extracted- 

 honey. Each cake is wrapped in paper and there is not a 

 particle of dirt on the bottom of the cake. This firm re- 

 ceives an equivalent of about two cents a pound more than 

 beekeepers similarly located and in fact has received over 

 five cents a pound more than beekeepers through whose 

 territory the wax passes on its way to market. The fact 

 that they produce several thousand pounds of wax a year 

 makes this a considerable item and it may not be so well 

 worth while for a beekeeper with only a little wax to ship 

 at one time. 



