THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



247 



plication of the lieat and steam to its 

 bottom. Hence, it takes too long to 

 thoroiisihly melt the comb ; and. in 

 most ciises.after the retnse is emptied, 

 and cools, remnants of wax will be 

 found remaining in it. The heat and 

 steam are also dissipated through the 

 spoilt, which is required to be always 

 kept open, and between the extractor 

 and the pan which holds boiling 

 water. All these facts make the 

 melting of comb in this extractor, es- 

 pecially if they are black and tough, 

 slow, tedious, and imperfect. Hence, 

 I discarded it, and resorted to various 

 devices, including the old-time bag- 

 process. Xo plan, however, suited 

 me as being speedy, neat and per- 

 fectly effectual. 



I, at last, went back to the Swiss 

 extractor ; discarded the comb bas- 

 ket ; took out the receptacle in which 

 it rests, and had a bottom put in the 

 Can. I also had a rim soldered on the 

 inside of the Can, an inch above the 

 spout ; on this I placed a circular 

 piece of tin made strong by wire 

 around the rim, and full of perfora- 

 tions. Wire cloth, as coarse as pos- 

 sible, provided only that the inter- 

 stices are not so large that dead bees 

 will pass through, would be better 

 than tin. I also had a second story 

 added to the Can, thus doubling its 

 height and capacity. After the Can 

 is full of comb, I pour in water till it 

 flows from the spout. Care must be 

 taken not to allow the water to be so 

 high as to reach above the perforated 

 tin, as capillary attraction will retain 

 it, and prevent a free flow of the wax 

 from the combs. The spout is now 

 closed. I use a wooden stopper; but 

 an iron faucet would be better. Ileat 

 is now applied to the Can until the 

 steam thoroughly melts the contents. 

 The stopper is then removed, and the 

 wax run oil into a vessel. 



This plan suits me, as it cleans the 

 combs perfectly, and any quantity of 

 them ; and twice rendering will.make 

 very clean cakes of wax. My practice 

 is as follows : I keep my wax-extrac- 

 tor near my honey-extractor, and put 

 in all the cappings. As the honey is 

 easily run off through the spout, it 

 serves an excellent purpose in this re- 

 spect. When I get the extractor full 

 of combs, I set it in the sun. The in- 

 tense heat of the sun kills any moth 

 or larvfe, and causes the combs to 

 sink, and the honey to drip from the 

 cappings. I then add more comb, and 

 pour in water. Late in the evening I 

 build a small fagot-fire between two 

 sticks of wood, at my wood pile ; ad- 

 ding a few pieces of the refuse of the 

 conib from a previous melting, to 

 make a hot fire. The extractor is 

 placed over the fire. I then leave it, 

 giving it no further attention until 

 after, supper. I then remove the stop- 

 per, and let the wax and about half 

 the water flow into a vessel. The 

 stopper is then replaced, and the ex- 

 tractor placed over a few coals to 

 keep the contents hot, till every parti- 

 cle of wax drips from the combs. The 

 next morning I remove the refuse 

 from the extractor, by using a steel 

 garden trowel to loosen it ; and I 

 never find any particles of wax re- 

 maining in the refuse. 



I have thus been minute in describ- 

 ing my plan and machine, as its use 

 has been a great convenience an<l com- 

 fort to me, and may benefit other bee- 

 keepers. Any one who lives near a 

 tin shop, can easily liave one made. 

 As wax is one of the most valuable 

 products of the apiary, every bee- 

 keeper should produce and save as 

 much of it as possible. 



Grenada, Miss. 



For tho American Bee Journal. 



Bees Wasting Wax. 



C. r. DADANT. 



Several persons have lately spoken 

 of bees wasting wax for want of room 

 for building combs ; and held that this 

 proved that bees could not help pro- 

 ducing wax in a certain amount, even 

 if they have empty combs. 



If we open the '•' Mysteries of Bee- 

 Keeping,*' by ^I. tiuinby, page 2-51, we 

 read the following : "When con- 

 structing comb, bees are constantly 

 wasting wax, either voluntarily or ac- 

 cidentally. The next morning, after 

 a swarm is located, the scales may be 

 found, and will continue to increase 

 as long as they are working it ; the 

 quantity often amounts to a handful 

 or more. It is the best test of comb 

 making that I can give. Clean off 

 the board, and look the next morning; 

 you will see the scales in proportion 

 to their progress. Some will be nearly 

 round as at first ; others more or less 

 worked up, and a part like tine saw- 

 dust." 



The above being the report of one 

 of the ablest, observing, and practical 

 bee-keepers of this century, it is cer- 

 tainly worthy of attention. It proves 

 tliat bees can, and do waste wax when 

 they are building combs, at times, 

 and not especiallv when short of 

 room for comb building. Now for the 

 explanation, or cause, which Quinby 

 did not give. 



Bees do not willingly waste wax, 

 and their saving and industrious 

 liabits will convince all that some- 

 thing must be wrong when they thus 

 throw away the costly wax. 



The cause can be told in two words: 

 cool nights. When bees harvest honey 

 in largest quantities, the weather is 

 often cool in the night, and very hot 

 in the day. The wax-producing bees 

 hang in clusters ; but in a cool night 

 those which are on the outside of the 

 cluster feel the change of temperature, 

 and when the scales of wax come out 

 of the rings of their abdomen, if they 

 are not at once taken by other bees 

 and fastened to their place, they be- 

 come too hard for easy manipulation, 

 and are then allowed to drop to the 

 floor. 



We saw a very clear instance of 

 this, one day, in a small swarm (about 

 two handfuls) that had been hived 

 late in September. On opening the 

 hive, in which they had been given 

 only narrow strips of foundation, we 

 found a couple of pieces of comb,3 or 4 

 inches square, a lot of wax scales, 

 white as snow, on the bottom-board ; 

 and about 3 dozen bees upon which 

 the wax had cooled so promptly that 



the little white scales vv-ere still fast- 

 ened in the rings of their abdomen. 



It is very probable, also, that when 

 bees harvest honey in large quantities 

 and have no empty combs in which to 

 place it, such a large proportion of the 

 bees devote themselves to wax secret- 

 ing, that when this wax is produced, 

 there are not enough other bees to 

 take care of it as fast as it comes, and 

 part of it is wasted. 



If, on the other hand, the bees have 

 plenty of empty combs, only a few of 

 them will produce wax, and it will 

 easily be cared for ; the greater part of 

 the bees depositing the honey in the 

 cells as fast as harvested ; the small 

 amount of wax produced will be used 

 in sealing and lengthening the short 

 cells, or filling up deficient places. 



There are, however, some other oc- 

 casions in which bees will unwillingly 

 waste wax. When the heat of the 

 sun, or lack of ventilation in hot 

 weather, causes one or more of the 

 combs to melt down, the bees have to 

 gorge themselves with the wasting 

 honey, and nearly all the bees in the 

 hive are forced to produce wax, so to 

 speak ; since they have no comb in 

 which to place it, and if the hive is 

 still inhabited, in 24 hours, on account 

 of the damage and heat, they will de- 

 posit their wax in small lumps where- 

 ever they may happen to be. 



In 1878 we had some 20 cases of this 

 kind, in an apiary, exposed to the 3 

 o'clock sun. The bees had stopped 

 the ventilation by clustering in front 

 of the entrance, and nearly all the 

 combs in each of the 20, broke down. 

 There is also a waste of wax when 

 the hive is completely full of both 

 comb and honey ; and in such case, 

 the vfaste is very easy to understand ; 

 but our many bee-keeping friends 

 around us, all agree that they have 

 never seen wax wasted in a hive con- 

 taining plenty of empty combs. 



Now for the cost of producing this 

 wax. All large honey-producers can 

 test this to their satisfaction, in 2 or 3 

 seasons. Select the best 20 colonies 

 of your apiary ; let them be of the 

 same size, and all without drone 

 comb. Divide them into two lots of 

 equal force, so that by treating them 

 alike you would stand a fair chance 

 of having a like result from each side. 



Novy run 10 of them for comb honey, 

 giving them supers with only starters 

 enough to have straight combs ; and 

 run the other 10 for extracted honey, 

 with all the empty combs (not foun- 

 dation) they can fill ; but not too many 

 at a time. 



Let each colony that swarms be dis- 

 carded ; also a colony of equal strength 

 from the other side, and keep account 

 of all the net honey harvested, clear of 

 wood or glass. One year will not de- 

 cide it, as it might be that a few 

 changes will take place in the condi- 

 tion of some colonies, that would 

 alter the result ; but try it for 3 years, 

 and tell us the result. The net cost 

 of the wax will be the difference in 

 the amount of the crop. Did we try 

 this ourselves V Yes ; but we will not 

 here tell it for fear of frightening our 

 comb-honey producers. Let them try 

 it for themselves. 



Hamilton, 111. 



