AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 31 



difficult to detect by the uninitiated, are the ordinary 

 commercial paraffins and ceresins, and for these the 

 simplest way of detecting them is by the alcohol test. 

 Too much reliance, however, must not be placed in it 

 as it is quite possible that something else might be 

 added to make the test unreliable. 



Into a clear glass bottle pour a little clean water, 

 then drop in a small piece of beeswax of known purity ; 

 the wax being lighter than the water, will float. Now 

 pour in gradually pure alcohol till the wax slowly sinks 

 to and touches the bottom, but no more. Then drop 

 in a piece of the suspected article : if it does not sink 

 slowly like the wax there will be every reason for 

 believing it to be adulterated. When there is more 

 than 5 per cent, of either of the two adulterants present 

 the stuff will float, while the pure beeswax lies at the 

 bottom of the liquid. 



WILL IT PAY TO RAISE BEESWAX? 



I am certainly inclined to believe that at the present 

 price of beeswax, and with every prospect of its getting 

 dearer, it will pay to raise it instead of honey, where 

 the latter is of a low grade, such as in some bush 

 districts. I know of bee-keepers living near bush that 

 would like to extend their operations, but owing to the 

 difficulties of getting their honey into shape for market, 

 and the low price received for it, prevents them from 

 doing so. To such people the raising of wax might 

 prove of enormous benefit. It occurs to me that some 

 inexpensive form of large home-made hive, carrying 

 fifteen or sixteen frames, of say, twelve or fourteen 

 inches deep, which could also be made on the spot, 

 might be used. Small fillets of wood dipped in wax 

 tacked along the centre of the underside of the top 

 bars would induce the bees to build straight combs 

 within the frames in the first place, after which there 

 would be no trouble, as a small strip of comb could be 

 left in each time they were cut out. Most of the 

 combs could be removed as they were built, and in this 

 way the bees would be kept chiefly at comb building 



