200 WAX A BY-PRODUCT OF THE APIARY 
it is now very difficult indeed to get adulterated wax to market 
without detection. 
Paraffin, ceresin and sometimes tallow are common adulter- 
ants of wax. Wax is so commonly adulterated that when it 
reaches the market it will be subject to very careful examination 
and any fraud is likely to be discovered. 
WAX RENDERING 
Commercial establishments which deal in wax are so well 
prepared to render the wax at a low price that many bee-keepers 
ship all combs and refuse containing wax to some of these estab- 
lishments at the end of the season. Either the bee-keeper pays 
eash for rendering the wax and has it worked into comb foun- 
dation for future use, or he sells the wax for cash and is charged 
a small fee for rendering. Where the bee-keeper has but a small 
amount of material this is frequently the most satisfactory way 
of disposing of it, as he avoids a very mussy Job at best and his 
time may often be otherwise emploved more profitably. 
The Solar Extractor.—The solar wax extractor is made by 
placing a glass a few inches above a sheet of metal which is tilted 
enough to allow the melted wax to run off and depending upon 
the heat of the sun to melt the combs. New and tender combs or 
cappings will be pretty well rendered in this manner but old 
conibs will not be well separated. In any case a solar extractor 
is a valuable item of equipment in an apiary for bits of comb can 
be thrown into it ax collected and thus be saved. Old combs may 
be melted to prevent damnage by moths. Considerable quantities 
of wax will accumulate in the wax box at the bottom and this will 
save handling again later. The whitest and best wax will be 
secured in this way. It will nearly always pay to render the 
refuse from a solar extractor in a wax press as otherwise much 
of the wax is wasted. 
Boiling in a Clothes Boiler—There are a number of crude 
methods ly which bee-keepers with but a small amount of wax 
have long extracted it. One of these is to boil the combs in a 
