THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
21 
The apparatus is very simple, and usually 
consists of a wedge-shaped box, in some cases 
from six to ten feet long, and two to four feet 
wide at the top, tapering to nothing at the 
bottom, at a depth of from one to three feet. 
These boxes are lined with tin on the sloping 
sides, and are covered with one or two sheets 
of glass, separated an inch or so one from 
another. Halfway down this V-shaped box, 
a perforated tin stage is placed, resting on 
projections in the sloping sides. On this 
stage the combs are placed, and any crys- 
tallised or thick honey that they contain soon 
runs out, while the combs themselves quickly 
melt, the wax running into the bottom of the 
box — the honey beneath, and the wax over it. 
If a pipe be soldered into the tin lining of the 
box the honey can be run into any vessel 
placed under the pipe, and if the heat be 
sufficient the wax will eventually run also. 
There are certain advantages in wax extrac- 
tors of this kind, for it is stated that the slow 
melting process produces wax of a better 
color than steam melting ; and where it is 
desired to separate crystallised or viscid 
honey from the combs, which cannot be done 
by the extractor, the sun method certainly 
seems to be the best. The principle of these 
extractors lies in the fact that, heat rays 
falling on the combs in the box, are not dis- 
sipated by currents of air or by radiation, by 
reason of the glass coverings ; while the 
sloping sides, covered with bright tin sheet, 
act as reflectors to throw the sun heat from 
a large area on to the comb, and heat accumu- 
lates till a high temperature results. Of 
course, the box must be placed so that the 
glass is perpendicular to the sun’s rays at 
noon, and the length of the box lies north and 
south when the sides act as reflectors, both in 
morning and afternoon. 
Small extractors may be easily made ; and 
a large basin-shaped strainer of tin, inside a 
square box, covered nearly air-tight, with a 
sheet of window-glass properly exposed to the 
sun, does very well for small operations. Of 
course, a receptacle must be placed beneath 
the strainer to catch the honey or wax, or 
both. As melting wax is very attractive to 
bees, care must be taken that there is no 
opening left by which they can get in the 
extractor, as all that enter will most probably 
be killed. 
By keeping the above principles and par- 
ticulars in mind, it becomes an easy matter to 
devise a Solar Wax Extractor of any con- 
venient form or dimensions, which would be 
thoroughly effective in our Australian summer 
sunshine. 
DISAPPOINTMENTS IN BEEKEEPING. 
( Continued from Page 0.) 
Case 2. — Mr, N. had a fine frame hive of Italian 
bees from a neighboring colony. His surround- 
ings were highly favorable for profitable bee- 
keeping. He was timid about handling them at 
first, and they got on well, and rapidly filled 
up the frames ; soon after he got over his 
timidity and examined the hive, and was 
delighted to find the bees were so gentle, that 
he could handle them with impunity. He 
therefore, frequently took out the frames to see 
how things were going on, and to “ sight the 
queen,” as he said. Then he began to shew 
his friends his beautiful Italian queen, till 
sometimes the hive was opened two or three 
times a day, whatever the weather might be. 
One day he found the bees bringing out dead 
grubs, and then there were further and 
frequent “ lookings ” to see what was the 
matter. Breeding ceased, dwindling com- 
menced, and four months after he got his bees, 
there was scarcely enough to cover half one 
frame. Too much interference with bees at 
breeding time is almost as bad as disease, and 
often brings it about. 
Mr. N., at our advice, got a stock of black 
bees, and united them with the residue of the 
Italians and their queen, and then left them 
alone ; the consequence is, he has now several 
good, healthy stocks which are thriving, and 
gave him a fair amount of surplus honey last 
April. He surmounted his first disappoint- 
ment, and gained his first experience, and now 
swears by the non-interference method in 
beekeeping. 
Case 3. — A young farmer had a swarm of 
black bees given him in October hist, and he 
intended to try his hand at beekeeping, as he 
was well situated as far as bee pasture was 
concerned, but wisely thought it best to 
obtain experience with one hive before trying 
on a larger scale. His swarm was in a box 
hive ; the bees seemed to do well at first, but 
in a few weeks there seemed to be less and less 
bees at work, and while his neighbors stocks 
were increasing in strength and weight, every 
day his box got lighter and the bees fewer. 
He believed the bees had some disease, but 
when he examined the stock, he found the 
queen with her wings ragged, and barely more 
than stumps of wings, not an egg to be seen 
in any of the combs ; there was, however, a too 
large proportion of drones, and several cups 
formed for queen cells, but without eggs. 
This case was a very common one ; the swarm 
he obtained was one led out by a very old aud 
exhausted queen ; her last efforts at population 
resulted in drone eggs, from which probably 
the.bees themselves had made futile efforts to 
raise a new queen ; in this state the bees were 
rapidly diminishing. I got a young hybrid 
queen for him, and in about a month things 
assumed another aspect ; the bees increased 
rapidly, all combs were soon after fully covered, 
and by the new year the hive was overflowing, 
and on the 18th of the same month gave a 
bumping swarm, which he safely hived along- 
side the parent stock. Our young farmer is 
now an enthusiastic beekeeper, and considers 
himself an experienced one. He says he will 
