BEESWAX 



to melt and render it before it becomes at- 

 tacked. 



There are many methods of rendering old 

 wax, and the beekeeper is allowed large lati- 

 tude in the matter of selection. One of the 

 older methods was to fill a porous sack or bag 

 with cappings, old combs, and other waxen 

 refuse and to weigh it down in a large kettle, 

 covering it with water and allowing it to boil 

 until the wax began to rise, and when the 

 water became cold a cake of wax would form 

 at the top. At best this method was far from 

 satisfactory, as the cake was more or less 

 burned or water-soaked, and filled with more 

 or less dregs of matter from the old combs 

 from which it was rendered. 



About 1862 the first solar wax extractor 

 was invented in California, and was first used 

 for extracting the honey from the combs, 

 but later it was used solely for melting wax, 

 and even to-day is extensively used in many 

 of the largest apiaries in the world. These 

 solar wax extractors were little more than 



221 



