200 WAX A BY-PRODUCT OF THE APIARY 



it is now very difficult indeed to get adulterated wax to market 

 without detection. 



Paraffin, ceresin and sometimes tallow are common adulter- 

 ants of wax. Wax is so commonly adulterated that when it 

 reaches the market it will be subject to very careful examination 

 and any fraud is likely to be discovered. 



WAX RENDERING 



Commercial establishments which deal in wax are so well 

 prepared to render the wax at a low price that many bee-keepers 

 ship all combs and refuse containing wax to some of these estab- 

 lishments at the end of the season. Either the bee-keeper pays 

 cash for rendering the wax and has it worked into comb foun- 

 dation for future use, or he sells the wax for cash and is charged 

 a small fee for rendering. Where the bee-keeper has but a small 

 amount of material this is frequently the most satisfactory way 

 of disposing of it, as he avoids a very mussy job at best and his 

 time may often be otherwise employed more profitably. 



The Solar Extractor. — The solar wax extractor is made by 

 placing a glass a few inches above a sheet of metal which is tilted 

 enough to allow the melted wax to run off and depending upon 

 the heat of the sun to melt the combs. Xew and tender combs or 

 cappings will be pretty well rendered in this manner but old 

 combs will not be well separated. In any case a solar extractor 

 is a valuable item of equipment in an apiary for bits of comb can 

 be thrown into it as collected and thus be saved. Old combs may 

 be melted to prevent damage by moths. Considerable quantities 

 of wax will accumulate in the wax box at the bottom and this will 

 save handling again later. The whitest and best wax will be 

 secured in this way. It will nearly always pay to render the 

 refuse from a solar extractor in a wax press as otherwise much 

 of the wax is wasted. 



Boiling in a Clothes Boiler. — There are a number of crude 

 methods by which bee-keepers with but a small amount of wax 

 have long extracted it. One of these is to boil the combs in a 



