RENDERING WAX. 85 
for the wax moth, unless fumigated with burning sulphur or exposed to 
the fumes of bisulphide of carbon two or three times each month until 
no more eggs of the moth remain. . 
The old way of rendering wax was to put the combs into a sack made 
of some open stuff, weight this down in a kettle of water, and boil for 
some time. The wax rose, and when cold was removed in a cake. 
This process, besides being dauby, often yielded inferior wax—burned, 
water-soaked, or filled with settlings. 
The most approved method of rendering wax is, for moderate-sized 
apiaries at least, by means of the solar wax extractor (fig. 61), already 
mentioned under the head of “Implements.” Its management is very 
simple. The machine is placed in the sunniest spot in or near the 
apiary, and all of the wax cappings, after having been drained of honey 
or worked over by the bees, as well as bits of comb, are thrown into 
the receiver above the wire 
strainer, the glass is adjusted, 
and the whole is turned so that 
the direct raysof thesun enter. 
More bits of comb are added 
from time to time during the 
day, The melted wax trickles 
through the strainer and col- 
lects in a tin placed at the 
lower edge of the tank or 
melter. The cake is removed 
each morning, it having cooled 
and contracted during the 
night sufficiently to cause the 
mass to cleave readily from 
the vessel. Fic. 61.—The Boardman solar wax extractor. (From 
The solar wax extractor can eooe) 
be used during four or five months of the year in the more northern 
States, and for a longer time in the South. To render wax at other 
times steam heat is best. When available a jet from a boiler may 
be connected with a barrel or vessel containing the combs and a large 
amount rendered in a short time. In smaller apiaries a steam extractor 
for use over a boiler on the stove may be employed (fig. 36). The 
manner of using these extractors is simple. The cappings and bits 
of comb to be rendered are placed in an inside basket made of per- 
forated metal. Upon placing this over a water boiler, into which it 
fits closely, the steam rises through holes in the bottom of the upper 
can and readily penetrates the mass. The melted wax runs out 
through a spout at the lower edge of the upper can and is caught in a 
pan partly filled with warm water. As fast as the mass in the perfo- 
rated can settles away more bits of comb are added. The dark residue 
remaining is composed of cocoons, pollen, and accidental impurities. 
