212 



MANUAL OF THE APIART. 



At intervals the comb in the bag should be pressed and stirred. 

 The wax will collect on top of the water. 



To prevent the bag from burning, it should be kept from 

 touching the bottom of the ves^pl by inverting a basin in the 

 bottom of the latter, or else by using a double-walled vessel. 

 The process should be repeated till the wax is perfectly 

 cleansed. 



But, as wax is to become so important, and as the above 

 methods are slow, wasteful, and apt to give a poor quality of 

 wax, specialists, and even amateurs who keep as many as ten 

 or twenty colonies of bees, "may well procure a wax ex- 

 tractor (Fig. 70). This is also a foreign invention, the 

 Pig. 70. 



first being made by Prof. Gerster, of Berne, Switzerland. 

 These cost from five to seven dollars, are made of tin, are 

 very convenient and admirable, and can be procured of any 

 dealer in apiarian supplies. 



By this invention, all the wax, even of the oldest combs, 

 can be secured, in beautiful condition, and as it is perfectly 

 neat, there is no danger of provoking the " best woman in the 

 world," as we are in danger of doing by use of either of the 

 above methods — for what is more untidy and perplexing than 

 to have wax boil over on the stove, and perhaps get on to the 

 floor, and be generally scattered about. 



All pieces of comb should be put into a close Dox, and if 

 any larvae are in it, the comb should be melted so frequently 

 that it would not smell badly. By taking pains, both in 

 collecting and melting, the apiarist will be surprised at the close 

 of the season, as he views his numerous and beautiful cakes of 

 comb, and rejoice as bethinks how little trouble it has all cost. 



