337 
The Production and Care of Beeswax 
the fire, where it burns briskly. It is almost permissible 
to believe that every man who makes a wax press thinks 
that no other wax press could ever equal it and some of the 
most powerful and elaborate ones that have been demon¬ 
strated to the author were the least efficient. 
Removing wax by dissolving. 
In Europe, the wax in slumgum is sometimes dissolved 
out with turpentine or some other light oil and the solvent 
is then regained by distillation, but there is no record of this 
being done on a commercial scale in America. By no other 
means can all the wax be removed, but it is claimed that 
this “extracted wax” differs slightly both physically and 
chemically from wax removed by melting. If a solvent is 
used carbon tetrachloride would probably be the most 
satisfactory. 
Cleaning wax. 
After the wax is extracted, it usually contains many for¬ 
eign particles. While still in a liquid condition the wax 
should be placed over an inch or more of water in a vessel 
which will conserve the heat so that the wax can remain 
liquid for a considerable time. If a heavy wooden box is 
available this is good, but even better results may be accom¬ 
plished by packing a thinner vessel in a box filled with saw¬ 
dust. If it can remain liquid for twenty-four hours or more 
the results are best. Just before hardening (when the tem¬ 
perature is just above the melting point of wax) it should 
be carefully dipped off from the top into vessels to cool. 
These vessels should either have the top wider than the 
bottom or have smooth straight sides which are covered 
with a thin layer of honey just before the cooling wax is 
poured in. Every beekeeper should know that wax and 
honey never mix. The particles of dirt will have settled to 
the bottom and when the wax appears discolored the re¬ 
mainder may be left to harden in the insulated vessel. The 
dirt may then be scraped away from this cake, and if there 
