W AX AND COMB BUILDING. 
47 
consume from fifteen to twenty-five pounds of honey, (Dr. Kirt- 
venty-five,) for the production of a single pound of 
wax. The wax exudes from the rings or folds of the 
abdomen of the worker, forming thin flakes or scales, 
which are removed as fast as formed and used for 
constructing combs. It takes about two and a half 
pounds of wax to fill a hive of ordinary size with 
comb. By confining a swarm of bees in a movifble- 
8. Abdomen of the comb hive and feeding them, the bees will build 
worker mngnified, 
dKMvingtbo.cnie.ot com 'b ) consuming about twenty pounds of sweet to 
produce one pound of comb or wax. It will readily be seen that 
wax is by far the most expensive article used by the bees. The 
time spent in constructing the comb should also be taken into the 
account, which, if occupied in gathering honey, would, at this 
season of the year, enable them to store much more, and making 
the cost of a pound of comb equivalent to at least twenty-five 
pounds of honey. This honey, at twenty-five cents per pound, 
would give us six dollars and twenty-five cents as the cost of a 
pound of comb. Good combs melted into wax and taken to 
market might bring forty cents per pound, which, deducted from 
the cost price, would show a loss of five dollars and eighty-five 
cents on every pound of wax sold. These estimates show that 
the bee-keeper cannot afford to melt down any combs that can 
he used to advantage by the bees. Even drone comb, if not too 
dark colored, should be used in the surplus boxes. If first 
swarms are put into hives furnished with empty combs, they will 
often fill them in an incredible short time, and swarm the same 
season. For saving all good pieces of comb, whether large or 
