A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 
107 
teachings, that the maples were not out, and the bees not 
diseased. So I let the fires go down, and opened up the 
cellars at nights, the bees remaining in. Within 48 hours 
there came a blustering snow-storm, the mercury went down 
to 25°, I started the three fires, and the bees were not taken 
out of the cellar for a week later. 
So long as the bees are not diseased, and can find no work 
to do abroad, their winter nap had better be continued. 
EXTRACTING WAX. 
Working, as I do, for comb honey, very little wax is 
produced. Bits of comb and wax are, however, constantly 
accumulating, and it is a nice thing to have this melted up, 
and out of the way. The most satisfactory thing 1 have 
found to melt up small amounts, is an old dripping-pan put 
in the oven of a cook-stove. The door of the oven is open, 
one corner of the pan projects out of the oven, this corner 
being torn open, the inside end of the pan is raised so that 
the wax as it melts may run out of the outside open comer, 
and a stone crock is placed under, to catch the dripping wax. 
In hot weather the pan and crock are put into a close box, 
out-doors, with a sash of glass over the box, and the sun does 
the work nicely. With reflectors properly arranged, the heat 
may he greatly increased, but I have never used anything but 
a common looking-glass ; and that very seldom. Do not 
mash up brood-comb when you want to melt it. 
OVERSTOCKING A LOCALITY. 
To a bee-keeper who has more bees than he thinks advisable 
to keep in the home apiary, pasturage and overstocking are 
subjects of intense interest. The two subjects are intimately 
connected. They are subjects so elusive, so difficult to learn 
anything about very positively, that if I could well help 
myself, I think I should dismiss them altogether from 
contemplation. But like Banquo’s ghost, they will not down. 
