206 MONEY IN BEES IN ATJSTKALASIA 



engaged on a good honey crop. Under modern bee- 

 farming methods less wax is produced than when the 

 box-hive was in vogue. Wax now-a-days is derived chiefly 

 from cappings helped out occasionally by rendered scraps, 

 old and misshapen combs, etc. 



The return of wax per colony on a modern bee-farm 

 is of a variable character; softie uncap the combs with a 

 deep cut, others just shave off a wax film; the former, of 

 course, secures the greatest average yield per colony. 

 When extracting combs are sealed clear to the bottom- 

 bar they will average fairly high, but many extract when 

 the combs are only half capped. Some apiarists average 

 and usually calculate the return at 1 lb. of wax per each 

 56 lb. tin of extracted honey; others again would reckon 

 on only half that amount. As when melting old combs, 

 the product will depend largely upon the operator. From 

 eight Langstroth frames some obtain 1% lbs. of clear 

 wax, others only V2 a lb. The average would probably 

 be about 1 lb. per eight Langstroth combs. 



The number of cells made by bees from 1 lb. of wax 

 has been variously estimated from 30,000 to 50,000. That 

 a swarm of bees must consume many pounds (estimated 

 by Huber at 20) of honey to produce 1 lb. of wax is 

 undoubtedly true. 



WHAT IS BEESWAX? 



It is a secretion of certain glands of the honey-bee, 

 and as the majority of bee-keepers are aware, the glands 

 are most active during a heavy honey-flow. As a certain 

 English authority states, ' ' the fat of animals and the wax 

 of the bee are in some respects not unlike." The 

 conditions required for the production of both are 

 identical; to fatten a bullock, a sheep, a fowl, or in fact 

 any animal, the first essential is abundance of provender, 

 then warmth, so that the extra food given is not diverted 

 into maintaining an equable temperature. Semi-darkness 

 also assists; witness the darkened fattening coop of the 

 poultryman. The lowered light diminishes the activity of 



