1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1143 



outdoors into which spiders can and do en- 

 ter, they will be protected. But all scraps 

 of combs should be thrown into a solar wax- 

 extractor as fast as they accumulate, and 

 melted up. 



It is not wise to keep such pieces lying 

 around. The sooner they are converted into 

 wax in the cake form the better, and a small 

 solar extractor that any one can make out of 

 a shallow box, a tin pan, and a sheet of glass 

 will do the work. — Ed.] 



A HOME-MADE SOLAR WAX-EX- 

 TRACTOR. 



" Melt the Old Wax Combs; the Wax Cake 

 will Take Care of Itself." 



BY W. A. PRYAL. 



What a handy thing a solar wax-extractor 

 is in an apiary! No matter what the size of 

 the apiary may be, one of these helps should 

 be at hand to convert into wax the comb 

 that might otherwise be allowed 

 to remain about the yard and be 

 the nursery for innumerable 

 broods of the wax-moth and its 

 destroying progeny of worms. 

 Any pieces of comb that are not 

 of sufficient value to use in comb- 

 grafting, s,ud all cappings and 

 scrapings from combs and hives, 

 should be thrown at once into 

 the wax-extractor so that the 

 heat of the sun may destroy any 

 eggs or larv£e of the moth that 

 may be in the accumulation. 

 Then, besides, the wax is worth 

 saving. If Poor Richard had 

 been up in bee-lore and the care 

 of the bee he would have written 

 an adage something like this, in 

 all probability: "Melt the old 

 wax combs; the wax cake will 

 take care of itself." Any way, 

 his saw of "Take care of the 

 pence, and the pounds will take 

 care of themselves," comes pretty near the 

 mark; for every little piece of comb may be 

 said to be a penny's worth, and, if saved, 

 is really a penny earned. 



Few have any idea how easy it is to have 

 one of these extractors. They need not be 

 costly, neither need they be made of choice 

 material. Any kind of wood will do, or 

 they may be made of metal. The large one 

 here shown was made of a piece of one-inch 

 rough redwood board for the sides and 

 ends. The bottom is of half-inch stuff so as 

 to make it as light as possible. The box 

 was made to fit the glass sash, which in turn 

 was made to accommodate three good-sized 

 panes of glass, butted in without cross- 

 ribs in the sash, which would rather ob- 

 struct the sun's rays. Another reason for 

 having three lights of glass was that, 

 in case of an accident, the probabilities are 

 that not all the glass would be broken at 

 once. A large piece of sheet-iron was set 



inside with the concavity nearest the bot- 

 tom, and upon which wire netting with 

 meshes about the size usually found in win- 

 dow-screens was placed in such a position 

 as to prevent the melting mass from slipping 

 to the bottom, which was reserved for the 

 clear wax that filtered through the screen. 

 The cost of this extractor was nominal — in 

 fact, nothing, if I figure that the inch board 

 was picked up on the place; that the iron 

 came from a discarded chimney, that was 

 neither rusty or sooty; that the bottom was 

 of some pieces of pine boxes, and the glass 

 was taken from the hot-bed sash, the putty 

 coming loose and thei'eby allowing the glass 

 to be easily removed. Provision was made 

 that the glass could be returned to the sash 

 at any time when there needed. This was 

 done by tacking narrow strips of wood to 

 hold the glass in place, as is so often done 

 nowadays, instead of putty, which is a nui- 

 sance when reglazing has to be done. 



To any one who is not handy with tools, 

 and who can not contrive to rig up "some- 

 thina' out of nothing," I would advise him 



pkyal's solar wax-extractor. 



to purchase one of the solar wax-extractors 

 made by a manufacturer of apiarian sup- 

 plies. Where there is much comb and cap- 

 pings in an apiary, I would recommend a 

 wax-press in addition to the solar extractor. 

 Get the old comb into the solar extractor as 

 soon as possible, and let old Sol roast the 

 life out of the moth-eggs and moth-larv:c 

 that may have gotten into it. 

 Oakland, Cal. 



[A small solar wax-extractor will save 

 many a piece of burr-comb that might oth- 

 erwise be lost. It should be located in the 

 center of the yard, and, instead of letting 

 these little pieces of wax accumulate, be- 

 coming a breeding-place for the moth-miller, 

 these scraps of wax should be thrown in at 

 once and immediately rendered, or as soon 

 as the sun shines. 



The solar wax-extractor has its place; but 

 it is not adapted for handling large quanti- 



