252 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



THE VALUE OF BEESWAX. 



Beeswax is gradually going up in price. The bar-frame system of 

 keeping bees has largely to answer for this. Under the old style, 

 to obtain the honey, the combs were destroyed ; that meant there- 

 was always a certain quantity of wax to be placed in the markets. 

 Under the old regime beekeepers never required the wax, but 

 Under the new, nearly every grain is carefully husbanded for the 

 purpose of converting it into foundation comb. As the new sys- 

 tem of beekeeping spreads the less wax there will be in proportion 

 to put to commercial use. Nevertheless the demand for wax is- 

 steadily on the increase. It therefore becomes a question : Will the 

 production of wax pay ? In this State there are localities where 

 the honey is of a very inferior quality, in fact unsaleable at almost 

 any price ; and often times in those localities where good honey 

 is obtainable there are seasons when an inferior article is brought 

 home by the bees. I know that the production of wax is expensive 

 alike to bees and bee-masters. Is it worth while in those localities 

 where only inferior honey is obtained to try the experiment of wax 

 production ? Bees can be compelled to produce more wax than 

 they need, and the surplus wax will always find a ready market 

 when such honey as above mentioned will be on hand from season 

 to season. The common class of honey can be bought in Sydney 

 at the present time at l^d. per lb. Fair samples of wax are worth 

 from Is. 2d. to Is. 3d. per lb. For the former there is really 

 little or no sale, for the latter there is a great demand, therefore 

 always a ready sale. The maxim among merchants is the more 

 frequently a penny is turned over the greater the profit. Wax never 

 remains long on hand, but for this common honey there is no 

 knowing when there will be a sale. There is no denying the fact 

 that wax is more expensive to produce than honey. On the other 

 hand it is not merely so expensive to market. The carriage of a 

 ton of wax is the same as the carriage on a ton of honey. A ton 

 of honey at l^d. per lb. is worth £14, and a ton of wax at Is. per lb. 

 is worth £112. Wax can be sent to market in a bag, and if the 

 bags burst there is none of the wax wasted. This cannot be said 

 of honey. The vessels to market it in are far more expensive 

 than is the case with wax. 



