54 
BEE PASTURAGE AND PRODUCTS. 
brood combs may contain old sour bee-bread, which the bees are 
unable to remove, and this is a frequent cause of failure. There 
may be a great excess of dTone-comb. If combs are defective 
in any of these points, trim off so much as is defective and no 
more. In the Eastern States, where the disease called “ foul 
brood ” is known, the bees of the diseased stock must be driven 
from their combs into an empty box, letting them remain with- 
out combs thirty-six hours, till free from the honey taken with 
them, when they may be put into a new hive and fed in the 
chamber if necessary. Carefully keep the honey from the bees, 
else other stocks will contract the disease. If heated to the 
boiling point, it is said, the honey will be harmless and may be 
used for feeding. The disease has never been known west of the 
State of New York, bee-keepers having been careful about ob- 
taining bees from infected districts. 
MELTING COMBS INTO WAX. 
All waste combs should be rendered into wax, by crowding 
them into a sack made of coarse open cloth and placing it in a 
kettle of boiling water. Continue to press it with a hoe, remov- 
ing the wax as it rises to the top. "Wax may be bleached per- 
fectly white by forming it into thin flakes, by pouring it upon 
the surface of tepid water and afterwards spreading it upon can- 
vas, out of doors. 
