196 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING, 
evident. Adulterants are largely used by wax-refiners, 
and amongst these hard paraffin occupies a con- 
spicuous place. Bees accept the mixture, and in cool 
weather beautiful combs* appear ; but the melting 
point (about i5odeg. for wax) is lowered by the 
fraud, and the tenacity at 8odeg. and upwards so 
exceedingly reduced, that the ardour of a July sun 
will probably involve the bees and their works in hope- 
less ruin. The methods which unmask this cruel cheat 
will come before us when treating of adulteration. 
Even with a genuine article, the maker must know 
his art : Mr. Raitt, speaking from long experience, 
says ;t Air bubbles that get lifted with the dipping- 
board, and then run down its surface before the wax 
cools, leave behind them a thin track, which becomes 
a weak part in the sheet. The edges of the sheets, 
unless well pared, are also thinner than the rest, 
and may lead to a fracture close to the top bar. 
Those that are right are uniform in texture and 
thickness, and show no flaws. If the sheets are 
dipped too thin, they do not contain enough wax 
to fill the grooves in the rollers that form the cell 
walls, and an important element of strength is then 
lost. The midrib may be excessively thin, and yet 
* Mr. A. I. Root, about ten years since, claimed the successful use 
of a mixture of paraffin and Burgundy pitch as a substitute for wax 
for comb foundation ; but he soon had to confess that he had shouted 
“Eureka” prematurely, the heat of summer converting the satisfaction 
of the ingenious inventor into annoyance for himself and his bees. It 
is interesting to note, in this connection, that paraffin was first pro- 
duced, in the laboratory of the chemist, by distilling beeswax with 
caustic lime. There is a long series of paraffins, gaseous, liquid, and 
solid ; those specimens having the highest melting point are too hard, 
too brittle, and too expensive, to be used as adulterants, 
f “Bee-keepers’ Record,” Vol. iv., page 49. 
