The Rendering of Beeswax 



In nearly every apiary there are more or less odds and ends of 

 combs which are well worth saving to be made into wax. When an 

 apiary is run for extracted honey the ^Nax from the cappings is no 

 small part of the income. If there are many combs to be rendered, 

 as is often the case when foul brood gets into an apiary, the manner 

 of doing the work becomes an important question. The small bee- 

 keeper who has only a few scraps to melt up may resort to almost any. 

 make-shift ; and, by the way, here is one such primitive plan : Take 

 an old dripping-pan or any large flat metal dish that is of little value, 

 and punch a hole in one corner. Set the dish in an ordinary stove 

 oven, letting the end with the hole in it project from the oven. Put 

 the scraps of comb into the pan, where they will melt, and the wax 

 will run out of the hole, where it may be caught in a dish set upon the 

 floor. If the scraps are of nearly pure wax, like cappings or new comb, 

 this plan will answer quite well for rendering wax upon a small scale ; 

 but if the combs are old, the cocoons will absorb so much of the wax 

 that a large portion will thus be lost. A plan that will secure a larger 

 percentage of wax from old combs, but requiring some more labor to 

 put into operation, is that of crowding the combs into a sack made of 

 cheese-cloth or burlap, tying up the mouth of the sack, and immersing 

 it in a boiler of water set upon a stove, and then bringing it to the 

 boiling-point. While the water and the sack and its contents are still 

 hot, the sack should be thoroughl}- turned and pressed with something 

 like a garden-hoe, thus stirring up the contents and pressing out the 

 wax. The water will largely take the place of the wax, which, being 

 lighter than the water, will rise to the top, where it may be taken ofif 

 in a solid cake after it has cooled. A weight of some kind, like a big 

 stone or some bricks, must be laid upon the sack to hold it at the bot- 

 tom of the boiler while the wax is cooling, otherwise the sack will be 

 embedded in the wax when it is cooled. This plan may be employed 

 upon a large scale, even to the extent of using a large kettle out of 

 doors, and the use of the sacks may be dispensed with by making a 

 sort of pail or basket out of fine wire cloth, setting it down in the 

 melted wax, inside the kettle, and then dipping off the wax with a 

 dipper by dipping inside the wire-cloth basket, the wire cloth straining 



