CHAPTEE XVIII. 



WAX EXTRACTING. 



The wax resulting from the sliced combs, or the 

 cappings taken from combs that are passed through 

 the extractor, is of very good quality. There is no 

 difficulty in dealing with such scraps of comb, but it 

 is not every apiary where such combs are dealt with. 

 Until wired foundation, or wired frames, become 

 more general there will always be some frames 

 containing combs that, through falling, buckling, or 

 stretching, are unsuitable for breeding purposes. 

 These should be removed, when not occupied with 

 brood, and melted. 



The methods now employed to separate wax from 

 the cocoons, &c., render the operation simple, and 

 not, as was once the case, the most distasteful, 

 because the most messy of all the operations in the 

 apiary. Wax melts at a temperature of 146°, conse- 

 quently any arrangement that will hold the refuse 

 from which the wax will, as melted, run away, may 

 be adopted. 



A very simple plan, devised by Mr. Cowan in 1888, 

 is to place the combs upon a sieve over a pan of 

 i?6 



