84 DADAXT SYSTEM OF BEEKEEPING 



should be used. We have several of them, so that we can allow 

 the cappings to drain dry. 



We do not like the capping melter sold by dealers, which 

 heats the cappings enough to melt the combs and separate the 

 wax from the honey as fast as harvested. True, it does fast 

 work, but it colors the honey, injures its flavor, and produces 

 too much heat at a time when the weather is already as hot as 

 the apiarist can endure. 



We find no trouble in handling the cappings. The honey 

 falling with them into the capping-can drains more readily if 

 the fresh cappings are well stirred about every half hour. This 

 stirring with a sharp, clean, firm slat or stick breaks them up into 

 small bits and greatly aids the draining of the honey. After 24 

 to 48 hours of draining, they are emptied into a barrel of which 

 one head has been removed. When the season is over, we may 

 have several barrels of these cappings and the entire lot is ren- 

 dered at one time into beeswax. There is no loss of quality in the 

 capping honey and the wax rendering is done in one operation. 

 Sometimes we wash these cappings preparatory to rendering 

 them. The sweet water thus secured is made into mead or vine- 

 gar. Nothing is lost. 



The amount of cappings secured from a given amount 

 of extracted honey we find to be about 1 per cent. So when we 

 have a crop of 50,000 pounds of extracted honey, we can figure 

 on approximately 500 pounds of the finest quality of beeswax, 

 after it has been rendered and purified. We used to get a larger 

 amount of cappings. That was when the combs were crooked, 

 or more or less wavy, before we used full sheets of comb-founda- 

 tion. It was also more difficult to do the uncapping. We use 

 also a less number of combs in the super than in the brood- 

 chamber. At first, when the bees are given the plain sheets of 

 foundation in the super, it is necessary to have the same number 

 of combs as in the brood -chamber. But after they are built, 

 they may be placed farthe. apart. At each new crop, the bees 

 strengthen them by adding more wax. They also thicken them 

 so that we may use as few as 9 super combs in the super of an 

 11-frame hive. This gives thicker combs of honey and there is 



