52 HANDY BOOK OF BEES. 



CHAPTEE X. 



WAX, 



Wax is not gathered like honey, or pollen, or propolis. 

 If bees could gather it, it -would cost them less than it 

 does. They have to manufacture it at very great ex- 

 pense — great expense to themselves and their owners. As 

 milk is manufactured in the body of the cow, so wax is 

 manufactured in the bodies of bees. It is both a secre- 

 tion and excretion of bees. In collecting honey, bees 

 carry it in their bladders or bags, and when they loisli 

 to make wax and build combs, the honey goes into 

 their intestinal canals, passes into the juices of their 

 bodies, and scales of wax ooze from, or are excreted on 

 the undersides of, their bellies. Wax, then, is a "home- 

 spun " article, wholly made or manufactured by the bees 

 themselves. Dr Liebig, in his appendix to his great 

 work on 'Animal Chemistry,' says that "bees have to 

 consume 20 lb. of honey to make 1 lb. of wax, and that 

 1 oz. of comb holds 1 lb. of honey." We do not vouch 

 for the accuracy of Liebig's calculations or experiments, 

 but they are stated merely to show that wax costs the 

 bee-keeper a great deal more than he gets for it in the 

 market. But we are not quite sure that 20 lb. of honey 

 are consumed in the manufacture of 16 oz. of wax. 

 A swarm was put into an empty hive. This swarm and 

 hive and board would weigh about 17 lb. In seven 



