258 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



wax a sufficient quantity; gather up the edges 

 of the cloth and tie the stuff in tight; put in 

 a few quarts of hot water, and set the pail on 

 the stove. Unless it is to be watched closely 

 it should not be very full. By the way, if 

 you have a superannuated stove out in the 

 bee shanty, the moral atmosphere of home 

 may at times be less sultry if you do the 

 boiling out there. When the water begins to 

 boil, the bag is to be diligently punched and 

 mellowed with sticks. Let the boiling go on 

 a good spell, with divers punchings. When 

 the batch is cooked enough the pail is set 

 away in a quiet corner; the bag of refuse is 

 punched down to the bottom; the wire snake 

 is laid in, and weights enough are put upon 

 it to keep the refuse from rising. Then pour 

 in hot water enough to fill the pail full, and 

 let it alone till the cake of wax is cool enough 

 to lift off. Usually such cakes will need re- 

 melting. When I go in for a regular "time 

 of it " making beeswax I run two pails; and 

 instead of setting them away to cool, I turn 

 the liquid contents out into a big crock of 

 cold water. Instead of letting it get cool 

 there, however, I make it again into hand 

 wads, to be re-melted at leisure. 



At times there is honey enough in the 

 material to " bewitch " your wax, and it 

 cools in a mush-like mass resembling fine 

 shot. Remelting, and boiling in plenty of 

 water will bring it to its senses. The scrap- 

 ings from the bottoms of wide frames need 

 re-boiling from this cause sometimes. (Yes, 

 the burr combs and I are still so old-fogyish 

 as to stick to wide frames. ) 



Another form of refuse is that in the or- 

 dinary " old comb " — cocoons and dirt. Ab- 

 solutely nothing will please 'em but some- 

 body to squeeze 'em. The solar extractor 

 gets out very little, thorough boiling and 

 panelling somewhat more; but nothing less 

 than a good, solid squeeze will make clean 

 work. And don't you Imy old brood comb 

 at any price. The manipulator earns what- 

 ever he gets out of it. And comb which a 

 queenless colony has rammed full of hard 

 pollen, in the present state of my cerebrum 

 I don't know but I must advise you to give 

 it away rather than render it. Fuss with it 

 if you choose, but don't mix it with better 

 material. 



Another form of refuse is propolis. When 

 this superabounds in the material to be 

 worked it is much inclined to capture your 

 utensils and cloths, as molasses captures a 

 fly. Keep propolized scraps entirely by 



themselves, and free as possible from all 

 non-meltable dirt. Melt it up in an open 

 pail with plenty of water, stirring it well, 

 and the propolis and part of the dirt will go 

 to the bottom, and the wax with the lighter 

 dirt will rise to the top. All that comes to 

 the top must of course be subjected to a 

 second operation. A better method I will 

 speak of when I come to mention my solar 

 extractor. 



Just now let me drill the apicultural young 

 idea on the properties of propolis. One 

 noted writer on bees gravely maintains that 

 there isn't any such thing; and we need not 

 be surprised if some of the boys have not its 

 qualities very clearly in mind. Probably 

 some of them think it swims on the water 

 like wax. The fact is that it sinks in water 

 quite decidedly. Most of us speak about its 

 melting. Propolis never melts, strictly 

 speaking — will burn up first. What it does 

 when heated is to grow salvy, and run a little 

 in a jelly-like way. Often when propolis 

 seems to be nearly pure we find, on heating 

 it, that the bees have kneaded considerable 

 wax into it. This of course rises to the top, 

 and leaves the daub of propolis at the bottom. 

 One redeeming quality of the vexatious 

 stuff, and one we should keep in mind, is 

 that iti^ stickiness is gradually destroyed by 

 boiling in water, until it becomes like a 

 brown chalk. A cloth that gets soaked in it 

 can be recovered by boiling awhile, and 

 then roughly crumpling it in cold water, and 

 shaking out the pulverized material. 



The solar wax extractor I did not add to 

 my possessions till last year. Didn't fancy 

 the little things offered for sale, and didn't 

 get around to make one. When I finally 

 made one the plan of it was to use only such 

 material as I already had. I had plenty of 

 lath and tin and chaff. Also I had two glazed 

 window sash, and a big dish-pan which had 

 developed a hole in the bottom, and was not 

 a promising subject for mending. I com- 

 bined 'em, and the result is a pretty good 

 extractor — renders the wax, and threatens to 

 do plain cooking without a hired girl — least- 

 wise you would think so, on putting your 

 hand inside. I can remelt cakes of wax, 

 and get them ready for market in it. It is 

 shaped like a large lath chaff hive, with one 

 tall side, and with the two sash as a double 

 cover. One great sheet of tin is permanently 

 hinged on to the tall side as a reflector, and 

 two others can be placed by two other sides 

 when I wishk The interior is large; but 



