68 



Texas Department op Agriculture. 



so that the sun shining through it will melt the comb, which will 

 then run into the vessel provided for it. This vessel, preferably a 

 tin pan several inches deep, and with outward sloping sides, should 

 be partly filled with water when the extractor is in use, to_ facilitate 

 the removal of the cake of wax, which would otherwise stick to the 

 vessel. 



As i^t all the wax is removed by the solar extractors, the refuse, 

 or "slum gum" remaining, should be saved and later sub.jected to 

 hot water extraction under pressure in the wash boiler, as already 

 described. 



"Wax presses are used by more extensive beekeepers, and it is only 

 by this means that most or nearly all of the wax can be obtained, es- 

 pecially from old, tough brood combs. These extractors are of two 

 kinds, viz. : one in which the wax is boiled in separate boilers and 



then dipped from these into the 

 press; the other, in which the 

 press and boiler are in one, and 

 the pressure is supplied to the 

 combs while these are boiling. 

 Directions for operating accom- 

 pany each extractor. 



Wax should never be rendered 

 in iron resceptacles, as this has 

 a tendency to make it dark col- 

 ored. Sometimes sulphuric acid 

 is used to clarify beeswax, but 

 this is not advised, as the wax 

 may be easily spoiled by the use 

 of too much acid. When bees- 

 wax is to be shipped it should 

 not be wrapped in paper, a mis- 

 take made by many, but the 

 cakes should simply be placed in 

 clean double sacks, one placed 

 within the other, and the open- 

 ings sewed up just as grain sacks 

 Root hatch wax press. are sewed. The shipper should 



be sure to put his own name and 

 address on the packages as well as that of the consignee, so they may 

 be identified and trouble, such as frequently occurs, be prevented. 



COMB FOUNDATION. 



Without comb foundation, the frame hives wovild be worth little 

 more than box hives, and to get the bees to build straight combs in 

 the frames, comb foundation was invented. When the hives with their 

 frames are to be used, each frame should be filled with a full sheet 

 of comb foundation, which is a thin sheet of wax, having the impres- 

 sions of the bottom of the cells of the honey comb on it. From this 

 the bees build, or "draw out," the cell walls and thus complete the 

 combs. It is exactly like the septum or mid rib of the natural comb, 

 and is made out of sheets of pure beeswax, which are passed through 



