1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



339 



Fig. 1.— We 



plates of tl 

 (Casteel.) 



respond to them in number and in 

 form. 



"In its natural position each wax 

 scale lies between its wax plate and 

 the overlapping edge of the next 

 preceding sternal plate. The scale 

 thus fits into a little crevice or wax 

 pocket and is well protected from in- 

 jury. If the bee extends its abdomen 

 the rear edges of the scales can be 

 seen protruding from their pockets, 

 or if the scales become very thick 

 they will push the covering plates 

 outward and will project from the 

 pockets." (See Fig. 2.) 



3. That worker-bees gorge them- 

 selves with honey before beginning 

 the process of wax secretion. 



4. That worker-bees cluster to- 

 gether in dense masses while secret- 

 ing wax, evidently to generate suffi- 

 cient heat for the secretion of the 

 wax and formation of the scales. 



The foregoing facts are well 

 known, but there has been much 

 speculation on the amount of honey 

 nr sugar that is used up in the meta- 

 bolic process of wax secretion. 

 Various writers have estimated that 

 all the way from S lbs. to 40 lbs. of 

 honey is used in the production of 

 "in pound of wax. 



The experiments carried on during 

 the past fall have disclosed the fol- 

 lowing facts : 



1. It requires more pounds of su- 

 gar for old worker-bees to produce 

 a pound of wax than for worker- 

 bees of average agi 



2. Young worker-bees can pro- 

 duce wax more economically than 

 old worker-bees or worker-bees of 

 mixed ages, such as found in the av- 

 erage colony. 



3. The average colony, withoul ex- 

 ceptionally good weather conditions 

 in the way of temperature, will con- 

 sume on the average 16 pounds 9 



ounces of sugar in secreting 1 pound 

 of wax. 



4. With beeswax selling at 40 

 cents per pound, that figure is only 

 one-third the cost of its production. 

 With sugar at 8 cents beeswax 

 should sell at $1.25 per pound or 

 even higher, since honey is the food 

 which is ordinarily used in its pro- 

 duction and honey is always higher 

 than sugar in price. 



The following is a statement of the 

 experiment and the data obtained, 

 with the resulting tables derived 

 therefrom and used in the final con- 

 clusions : 



On September 17, 1917, five colonies 

 of bees were shaken upon full sheets 

 of medium brood-comb foundation in 

 hives which did not contain a single 

 drop of honey. The only wax which 

 was present was that amount used in 

 the foundation. 



Colonies Nos. 1, 3 and 5 were aver- 

 age colonies with about equal por- 

 tions of young, old and medium- 

 aged worker-bees. 



Colony No. 2 had a very large per- 

 centage of young worker-bees, that 

 is, bees which had emerged within 

 the past two weeks. 



Colony No. 4 was composed mostly 

 of old worker-bees, bees as old as six 

 weeks or two months, very few 

 young, newly-emerged bees. 



Each colony was weighed at the 

 beginning and end of the experiment, 

 as were three other colonies of about 

 the same strength, in the same loca- 

 tion, which were not being experi- 

 mented upon. 



A sugar syrup, made of four parts, 

 by weight, of pure granulated sugar 

 and three parts, by weight, of cold 

 water, was prepared and fed regu- 

 larly, as fast as the bees could take 

 it. 



The colonies not fed or disturbed 

 were found to have lost an average 

 of 3 pounds and 3 ounces during the 

 twenty-five days that the experiment 

 was carried on. Since they raised 

 during that time approximately as 

 much brood as did the colonies un- 



der test, the figure 3 pounds and 3 

 ounces of honey was used in com- 

 puting the amount consumed by the 

 bees and fed to their brood while the 

 test was going on. This amount of 

 honey was reduced to a sugar basis, 

 since honey is only 80 per cent sugar. 



After the feeding experiment was 

 over, some of the representative 

 combs were extracted and the combs 

 melted up to find out exactly the 

 amount of wax which had been ad- 

 ded to the two-ounce sheets of foun- 

 dation, as well as to find out the 

 water content of the inverted sugar 

 syrup. The fact that the sugar syrup 

 had been reduced to the same water 

 content as honey in spite of the cool- 

 ness of the season, was a notable 

 fact. In the wax production it was 

 found that it was necessary for the 

 bees to add an average of one ounce 

 of wax per frame to the two-ounce 

 foundation sheets, in order to build 

 the comb out even with the end bars. 

 However, it is very evident that 

 more and more wax is added to 

 these combs year by year as they 

 are being used. 



These figures would vary in the 

 spring or summer when the weather 

 conditions would be ideal for the ac- 

 tivities of the bee and the natural 

 building of comb. 



Table No. 1. 



Weight after shaking on full sheets of foun- 

 dation. Weight of bees and hives before feed- 

 Colony 1 33 lbs. 6 oz. 



Colony 2 31 lbs. 13 oz. 



Colony 3 30 lbs. 3 oz. 



Colonv I 24 lbs. 



Colony 5 28 lbs. 1 oz. 



Table No. 2. 



Syrup fed. 4.H mixture. Therefore. 7 lbs. 

 syrup equals i lbs. sugar. Weight of sugar 

 syrup only, which was fed: 



Colony l" "lbs- 1 oz 



Colony 2 41 lbs. 1 oz 



Colony 3 36 lbs. 8 oz 



Colony 4 41 lbs. 1 oz 



Colony 5 41 lbs. 1 oz 



Table No. 3. 



Final weights of colonies which were fed, at 

 end of period of twenty-five days: 



Colony 1 51 lbs. 10 oz. 



Colony 2 .... 50 lbs. 15 oz. 



Colony 3 .... 4T, lbs. 8 oz. 



Colony 4 41 lbs. 9 oz. 



Fig. 2.— Ventral 



al view of abdo 

 plates and abdon 

 bee i ' iriginal.) 



