316 Saving the Wax. 
such trouble in my apiary. In Germany it is recommended 
to press the foundation for extracting combs onto a board 
and so have the cells built out only on one side and elon- 
gated so as to hold much honey. This gives strong combs 
and saves turning the frames when extracting. But wired 
combs are strong, and our improved extractors make turn- 
ing very easy and rapid. Again evaporation or ripening 
Fic. 129. 
Wire Imbedder. 
in deep cells is very slow. I have also found that bees 
object to foundation on a board and often bite it off, 
SAVE THE WAX, 
As foundation is becoming so popular, it behooves us all 
to be very careful that no old comb goes to waste. Even 
now the supply of wax in the country is scarce equal to the 
demand. Soiled drone-comb, old, worthless worker-comb 
all the comb in the old hives if we use Mr. Heddon’s 
method of transferring, and all fragments that cannot be 
used in the hives, together with cappings, after the honey 
is drained out through a coarse bag or colander—which 
process may be hastened by a moderate heat, not sufficient 
to melt the wax, and frequent stirring—should be melted 
cleansed and molded into cakes of wax, soon to be again 
stamped, not by the bees, but by wondrous art. 
METHODS. 
A slow and wasteful method is to melt in a vessel of 
heated water, and to purify by turning off the top, or 
