500 



BEESWAX AND ITS USES. 



August. The sun-extractor requires no labor from the Apia- . 

 rist, other than filling it with combs and removing the 

 melted wax. 



Fig. i97. (From 'Gleanings.") 

 SUN -EXTRACTOR. 



864. The dealers in France buy, from the bee-keepers, 

 for little or nothing, the residues of their melted combs. 

 They dissolve them in turpentine, press the pulp dry, 

 and distill the liquid, to separate the turpentine. As the 

 wax is not volatile, it remains in the still. It is said that, 

 when wax was dearer than it is now, large profits were 

 realized by this operation. 



866. To cleanse beeswax from its impurities, we melt it 

 carefully with cistern water and pour it into flaring cans 

 (wider at the top than at the bottom) containing a little 

 boiling water. This wax is kept in the liquid state, at a 

 high temperature, for twenty-four hours. During this time, 

 the impurities drop to the bottom and can be scraped 

 from the cake when cold. Some wax can be obtained 

 from this refuse, but some of it is always left in the 

 dregs, as is proven by the impossibility of dissolving them 

 by exposure. We have lumps of this refuse, as dark as 

 ink, which were scattered on our farm, with manure, ten 

 years ago, and are just as they were when put in the fields. 

 Nothing can destroy beeswax, except fire, or the ravages of 

 the bee-moth. Exposure to the weather does not affect it, 

 but only bleaches it. 



To prevent the cakes of wax from cracking, it should be 



