282 STKAINDSTG HONBY AND WAX. 



In. warm weather, if a door or window leading to a 

 room where honey is exposed, is left open, the bees will 

 find their way in, during a scarcity of honey. Doors and 

 windows should be kept closed, allowing them no means 

 of entrance. 



MAKING yrxx. 



Several methods have been adopted for separating the 

 wax. I have never been able to secure the whole. Some 

 recommend heating it in an oven, similarly to the method 

 of straining honey through the colander, but I have found 

 it to waste more than when melted with water. A bet- 

 ter way for small quantities, is to fill a coarse stout bag, 

 half full of refuse comb, with something to sink it, and 

 boil it in a kettle of water, pressing and turning it fre- 

 quently, till the wax ceases to rise. 



QUANTITY WASTED. 



When the bag is emptied, by squeezing a handful of 

 the contents, the particles of wax may be seen, and you 

 may judge of the quantity wasted. 



LAKGB QUANTITIES. 



For large quantities the foregoing process is rather te- 

 dious. It can be facilitated by using two levers four or 

 five feet long, and about four inches wide, fastened to- 

 gether at the lower end by a strong hinge. The comb is 

 put into a kettle of boiling water, and will melt almost 

 immediately ; it is then put into the bag, and taken be- 

 tween the levers, in some large vessel, and pressed. The 

 contents of the bag should be shaken and turned several 

 times during the process, and if need be, returned to the 

 boiling water, and then squeezed again. The wax with 

 a little water is now to be re-melted, and strained again 

 through finer cloth, into vessels that will mold it into the 



