and its Economic Management. 155 



Aids to Production. 



The apiarist who has all the colonies and all the combs he 

 requires is the one who will make the production of wax profitable. 

 He will have a great deal from cappings in extracting, and many 

 an odd piece, all of which should be placed in some convenient 

 receptacle till enough is obtained to run down. There are the 

 queen cells even ; shavings from combs when reduced to brood 

 thickness in spring ; also the scrapings from the tops of frames, 

 not including the propolis. 



Then, again, new worker combs can be produced in spring 

 between the others containing brood, while feeding dry sugar, at 

 a great saving over foundation ; the apiarist then being able to 

 run down his more irregular combs, or those that are getting too 

 old ; or, as is sometimes the case, the wax being perished, such 

 would only be torn down by the bees, as they do not appreciate 

 combs that have been out of use for a whole season, and if pos- 

 sible all should be passed through the hive every year to keep 

 them in good order. 



During the season that bees are storing heavily I have reason 

 to believe that the secretion of wax is continually going on, and 

 if the scales cannot be utilised they are allowed to drop and be 

 carried out as so much refuse. Now the space allowed below the 

 brood chamber provides that full employment shall ever be given 

 should it happen from any cause that the supers are not removed 

 in due time and the bees there kept busy. Thus we have another 

 step towards the production of wax. When one desires 



To Produce W^ax in Quantity, 



a colony must be run for extracted honey, and at suitable intervals 

 alternate the combs of brood or stores with starters only in the 

 frames. Between the stored combs these would be built rather 

 thin, but the sealed combs are to be removed and the honey 

 extracted as soon as the new ones are built to about two-thirds of 

 the frame capacity ; other empty frames take their place, and so on 

 in rotation. This process cannot be carried out to any extent 



