242 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



stationary division boards formed two more 

 sides of each hive. A movable division 

 board, or follower formed the back side of 

 each hive. As I think the matter over I do 

 not wonder that, with the bee keeper ham- 

 pered in this manner— the hives all tied to- 

 gether—house apiaries failed to become 

 popular. The hives and fixtures used in the 

 house apiary should be exactly like those 

 used in the open air. This enables the oper- 

 ator to do something. His hands and hives 

 are no longer tied. He can manipulate 

 hives instead of frames the same as in the 

 open air. 



BENDEKING AND PUEIFYING BEESWAX. 



How well I remember the first beeswax 

 wife and I made. We worked all day over 

 the hot kitchen stove, dipping, melting and 

 re-melting and straining wax. We were re- 

 warded with three pounds ! of wax, and the 

 stove, the floor, and I honestly believe half 

 the dishes in the house were daubed with 

 wax. But we learned wisdom. The next 

 time I made beeswax only one dish was 

 coated with wax, and that not seriously. 

 This dish was the wash boiler. I put the 

 refuse combs in a large sack made of burlap, 

 put the sack in the boiler, filled the boiler 

 with water and set it upon the stove. As the 

 water boiled the sack and its contents were 

 turned and poked and pressed with a hoe. 

 When I thought the wax was all melted and 

 as much as possible had been pressed out, 

 the boiler was removed from the stove, or 

 the fire allowed to die down, and a weight 

 placed upon the sack to keep it at the bottom 

 of the boiler. When the water and wax had 

 cooled, the latter would be found in a cake 

 upon the surface of the former. I have 

 since tried the steam wax extractor, also the 

 solar extractor, but I honestly find myself 

 debating, in my own mind, whether these 

 methods are better, for rendering small 

 quantities of wax, than the sack and hot 

 water. 



A solar extractor is very convenient for 

 throwing in small bits of wax or odd pieces 

 of comb. No more handy, perhaps, than a 

 box or a barrel, but, unless this refuse comb 

 is frequently made up into wax, it is almost 

 certain to become infested with the bee 

 moth's larvie. I have known of a barrel of 

 such refuse coml), pounded down solid at 

 that, to be forgotten, no, neglected, until it 

 was one mass of cocoons. Enough wax 

 wasted to have paid for a solar extractor, 



and if a solar extractor had stood in the 

 apiary it would have been exactly as easy to 

 have thrown the refuse wax into it as into a 

 barrel. 



As already mentioned, I have extracted wax 

 with steam; using the extractor sold by A. I. 

 Root. The emptying and re-filling of this 

 is not pleasant and the comb basket does not 

 hold very much. Of course it is not neces- 

 sary to empty out the refuse each time be- 

 fore filling the basket, but when it is emptied 

 the refuse is always soaked full of melted 

 wax, as full of wax as a sponge can be filled 

 with water. I never emptied it without 

 thinking, "what a waste of wax," as I 

 poured the mass out upon the ground. It 

 needed squeezing. Some kind of a press is 

 needed. I believe many of those who make 

 wax on a large scale do have a press of some 

 kind, but the man who makes but little wax 

 cannot afi'ord a press. There is too much 

 cost and paraphernalia connected with it. 

 At least that is how it appears to me. An- 

 other thing. When making wax by boiling 

 the combs in water, the refuse seemed almost 

 entirely free from wax. It seemed as though 

 the water had soaked into the cocoons, bee 

 bread and other debris and crowded out the 

 wax. 



When wax is made in the solar extractor 

 the residue is more free from wax than when 

 an ordinary steam extractor is used, but I sup- 

 pose it is because more time is allowed the 

 wax to run oflP. In making wax with the 

 sun extractor it is doubtful if the heat is 

 sufficient to destroy any germs of foul brood, 

 and it would probably be a better plan to 

 render foul broody combs with boiling water. 



Of late much has been said about render- 

 ing and clarifying wax by the use of sulphu- 

 ric acid. The acid seems to "cut" or disin- 

 tegrate the cocoons and other refuse so as to 

 free the wax. There is some discussion in 

 Gleanings in regard to whether the use of 

 acid is of any injury to the wax. When the 

 acid is used in so diluted a manner — one 

 part acid to 800 or 400 of water — it does not 

 seem as thougli the wax could be injured, 

 and all are agreed that it is greatly improved 

 in color. 



I am well aware that I cannot write a 

 leader upon this subject commensurate with 

 its importance, but I well know that I have 

 readers who can come to my aid and make 

 the October Review a symposium for the 

 man who has wax to render, let the quantity 

 be great or small. 



