260 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



heated and rubbed smooth and clean with 

 soft paper— never use printed paper about 

 wax !— and then, with edges turned together, 

 they are set away till next time. We deem 

 it essential that they bo good, bright tin. 



This is not a very laborious, difficult, 

 lengthy, or even disagreeable process, if 

 rightly managed, and is the best method we 

 know for rendering wax in comparatively 

 small quantities. 



"OuK Clearing," Oct. 13, 1891. 



[Wax mrde by the above correspondent 

 has twice taken the first premium at the De- 

 troit Exposition; in fact, Mr. M. H. Hunt, 

 who has handled tons of wax, pronounced it 

 the finest wax he ever saw. It has a beauti- 

 ful, pearly yellowness, that is good to see. 

 I presume that the cleanliness observed, 

 both as regards the refuse comb and the 

 utensils, joined with the double melting and 

 straining, all combine to produce such excel- 

 lent results. 



What a simple press this wax maker has ! 

 Only a woman would have thought of squeez- 

 ing the boiling hot refuse by twisting it up 

 in a cloth.— Ed.] 



Melting Old Combs.— Sun, Steam and Hot 

 Water Wax Extractors.— Several Hints. 



DADANT & SON. 



Friend HUTCHINSON.— in reply to 

 your request, we will give you our. 

 views on rendering beeswax, as the 

 clarifying of beeswax is not a question of 

 general interest. If we can get bee keepers 

 to render their combs properly, there will no 

 longer be any need of clarifying. In the 

 first place, allow us to say that there is a. 

 great deal of beeswax wasted all over the 

 country because many people think that it is 

 not worth while to save little bits of it at a 

 time. But a careful bee keeper will save 

 every particle, clean or dirty. 



I would advise every man to have a sun 

 extractor, but every man should also be pre- 

 pared to melt wax over water. The reason 

 of this is that old combs when put into the 

 solar extractor will yield nothing, the cast 

 skins, residues and old pollen absorbing 

 every bit of wax as it is melted. To succeed 

 in getting everything out of the old combs, 

 they should be well mashed in cold weather, 

 at a time when they are brittle. This de- 

 stroys the shape of the cells and avoids the 

 lodging of particles of beeswax in the cells. 

 Any one who has melted old combs has 



noticed that it is in this way that the greatest 

 waste takes place. After the combs are well 

 crushed they should be put to soak in water 

 till all is thoroughly soaked. This is to pre- 

 vent the wax, when it melt?, from soal.ing in 

 the refuse, and it helps it to separate from 

 the refuse as the latter becomes heavier than 

 water and settles to the bottom. One need 

 not be afrr.id that the wax will rot, for bees- 

 wax cannot rot, at least it does not during 

 any reasonable time, as we have proven time 

 and again. 



As to the wax extractors for melting the 

 combs over water, we think most of those in 

 use are good, but a very cheap one can be 

 made by using a common wash-boiler in 

 which the combs are melted with a great 

 deal of water. The wax, as it liquifies, comes 

 to the surface. A piece of wire cloth about 

 a foot square is made into the shape of a 

 small round basket and forced down into 

 the mixture and the wax can be dipped out 

 of that strainer with a ladle. A great deal of 

 water will be dipped out with the wax, but 

 the whole is put into some flaring vessel and 

 allowed to cool. These cakes will not be en- 

 tirely clean, especially if the wire cloth 

 strainer has coarse meshes, but with another 

 melting very nice cakes are secured and the 

 smell of the hive and of the honey is well 

 retained. The wax must not be boiled much, 

 but it must be thoroughly hot before it is 

 removed from the fire. Soft water must be 

 used. Propolis will not mix with wax, but 

 will settle to the bottom of the kettle during 

 the first melting. When the wax is melted 

 for the second time, it should be placed 

 where it can be allowed to cool very slowly, 

 undisturbed, so that all light foreign sub- 

 stances may settle freely to the bottom. 

 Bees and flies should be skimmed off when 

 the wax is hot, as they will usually remain 

 at the top. If there are any particles of 

 beeswax left in the top of the residue or if 

 anything has to be scraped from the bottom 

 of the cakes, it should be preserved to be put 

 with the next lot of combs. Cappings and 

 pieces of light colored combs should not be 

 melted with the old combs, as they will 

 make a better grade of beeswax, which can 

 be used for diflierent purposes, but the very 

 dirtiest, ugliest combs will make a fair arti- 

 cle of golden colored or red wax, according 

 to the locality, if properly rendered. 



Cappings may be treated in the same way, 

 or can be rendered in the solar extractor, but 

 it is a mistake to render them before having 



