Iexas Beekeeping. 



67 



Rendering wax in a small way does not require a complicated 

 equipment. The combs, after being placed in a gunny sack, which 

 is securely tied, are suspended in an ordinary wash boiler filled about 

 two-thirds full of water. This is placed on a hot stove to boil. While 

 it is boiling, the sack of combs is agitated and occasionally pressed, 

 with considerable force, to the bottom and sides of the boiler by 

 means of a stout board paddle, so that the pressure will force the 

 melting wax out of the sack. The melted wax wiU rise to the top, 

 and, when all possible is worked out, the boiler is set aside, several 

 bricks put in to hold the sack down, and a solid cake of wax will form 

 as it cools. It is well to see that the wax does not boil over, or that 

 none is spilled on the stove, as dangerous results from fire may follow. 



Old and dark combs should be put into a tub filled with soft rain 

 water about twenty-four hours before melting, weighting them down 

 with heavy objects of some sort. The impurities in the combs will be 

 loosened by the water .soaking the cocoons left in the cells by the 

 young bees, and will prevent these from absorbing wax during melt- 

 ing, which amounts to a great deal. After draining them, these may 

 be melted in the usual way. 



SUN EXTRACTORS AND PRESSES. 



Another method is the use of the sim wax-extractor, with which 

 the heat of the sun is utilized to melt the combs. Such a solar ex- 

 tractor is one of the handiest and most valuable appliances in any 

 apiary and, as they are inexpensive, considering the work they per- 

 form, and are easy to construct, every beekeeper should have one. 

 Placed in the apiary, it is ready at all times, and every bit of comb 

 can be immediately thrown into it, thus leaving no excuse for allow- 

 ing the smallest bit of wax to go to waste. Its real value will be 

 bound to be appreciated in our warm southern climate, where the 

 wax moth larvae are a seri- 

 ous pest, in that the solar 

 extractor will take prompt 

 care of combs which would 

 otherwise be destroyed by 

 these moths if allowed to ac- 

 cumulate. 



A strong box of suitable 

 size may be supplied with a 

 removable glass cover over its 

 entire top. A false, good and 

 solid bottom, three-fourths the 

 inside length of the box, on 

 which the comb is to be 

 placed, is nailed about half 

 way from the true bottom. 

 A strip of coarse wire cloth 

 tacked on near its lower edge 

 .serves as a strainer, as the melted wax runs down into a vessel of 

 some kind placed in the lower part of the box. The extractor is 

 placed in a slanting position and with the glass facing to the south 



Solar wax extractor. 



