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CHAPTER II. 
PRODUCTS AND PASTURAGE OF BEES. 
WAX.— COMB AND COMB-BUILDING. 
Many persons believe that wax is gathered by the 
bees from flowers, but this idea is erroneous. Wax is 
a secretion of the bee, and is formed only when the bee 
is richly provided with food, like fat in the animals, 
but with this difference, that while fat grows upon the 
higher animals without their knowing it, the production 
of wax is entirely optional with the bee. It is fully 
within the power of the bee to make wax or to omit it. 
In order to produce wax, the worker-bees take con- 
siderable more pollen and honey than is necessary to 
appease their hunger. Experiments made by Dzierzon 
of Germany, proved that it required nearly twenty 
pounds of honey to produce a single pound of wax. 
Additional experiments made by G. Kretchmer, proved 
that it required at least thirteen pounds of honey to 
