GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF BEESWAX 



Running Combs, Honey, and all thru the Solar Extractor 



BY JOSEPH GRAY 



The editor has struck a line of thought 

 that interests me greatly since honey is 

 going down in price and wax rising. Fur- 

 thermore, the cost of cans and cases is going 

 up. For 500 lbs. of beeswax we need only a 

 few sacks for shipment, and a one-horse rig 

 will haul it. At 30 cents per lb. it repre- 

 sents a value of $150. 



I was well satisfied with last year's wax 

 production, which I considered as impor- 

 tant as the honey production. In certain 

 parts of the season, ready-built comb is a 

 big advantage; yet there are times when 

 bees want and will build comb. When hon- 

 ey comes rolling in I space eight combs in a 

 ten-frame super. This 

 makes the combs weigh 8 

 to 10 lbs. each ; and when 

 uncapped they yield an ,« 5£.pApPj^ 

 abundance of wax. To [g,..,^^'^^^'^^ 

 uncap I use a butcher's 

 saw, and use it in the 

 same manner as a butcher 

 uses it — with a down- 

 ward cut and a sawing 

 motion. The thin narrow 

 blade cuts the cappings 

 readily. I have a wet 

 sack in my uncapping- 

 box, and when full of 

 cappings it is lifted out 

 so that there is no han- 

 dling of mussy cappings. 

 An extra tub is handy to 

 carry the sack of cappings. 



The illustration shows my solar extractor 

 which was originally a milk-cooler — the best 

 solar I ever used. It is 6 feet long, 3 wide, 

 and 1 deep, with a iy2-inch faucet. The 

 capping^ are carried and dumj^ed on to a 

 loose canvas tray, the tray supported by 

 wire cloth, and having an extra canvas fast- 

 ened down with the wire cloth. A catch tin 

 "is slipped under the lower end of the can- 

 vas tray, which holds back the refuse. This 

 is made out of the end of a five-gallon can. 

 The honey and wax run into a five-gallon 

 oil-can that has a turned spout. The honey, 

 when it reaches the level of the spout, runs 

 out into the lower end of the solar, and is 

 drawn of¥ by the faucet. The sack shown 

 in Fig. 1 protects tlie honey from the direct 

 rays of the sun. The wax furnishes all the 

 protection needed in the wax-mold. The 

 mold is in the sun all day, so that the wax 

 keeps li(|uid and makes a uniform cake 



which cools during the night. In the morn- 

 ing the wax is taken out and left to finish 

 cooling, and a fresh mold put in. It facili- 

 tates the work to have an extra catch pan 

 and canvas as well as an extra mold. 



There is no better material for a mold 

 than the thin tin of a five-gallon can. The 

 sides will spring out and release the cake of 

 wax. The cake of wax is washed, and, if 

 necessary to free it of honey, scraped on 

 the under side, leaving it in good condition 

 for market. 



So satisfied am I with wax production on 

 account of its low cost in labor, etc., that I 

 have been seriously thinking of extending 



its production by cutting out the combs one 

 inch from the top-bar and increasing the 

 number of solars. I would melt everything 

 in the solars, discard the uncapping and 

 extracting, and 1 would put back the frames 

 with one-inch strips of comb and allow the 

 bees to rebuild the same above an excluder. 

 My reasons for doing this are threefold : 



1. Less work ; the manipulation of combs 

 in the solar, instead of uncapi3ing and ex- 

 tracting, would cut the labor bill in two. 



2. We have sufficient sun heat to make it 

 a success here in Imperial Valley — no cost 

 for artificial heat. 



3. By the method used in my arrange- 

 ment of the solar, the honey, as soon as it is 

 melted, is under cover, and never burned. 

 In fact, it is imiDroved rather than impaired 

 by passing thru the solar. I figured that, 

 when I had once a full set of combs, 

 (he work would be clean — no refuse — and 

 I would have a fine grade of honey and 



