. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. 1918 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 339 c-MIX *\ ~M. J^ PLAITS Fig. 1.—We plates of tl (Casteel.) respond to them in number and in form. "In its natural position each wax scale lies between its wax plate and the overlapping edge of the next preceding sternal plate. The scale thus fits into a little crevice or wax pocket and is well protected from in- jury. If the bee extends its abdomen the rear edges of the scales can be seen protruding from their pockets, or if the scales become very thick they will push the covering plates outward and will project from
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. 1918 AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 339 c-MIX *\ ~M. J^ PLAITS Fig. 1.—We plates of tl (Casteel.) respond to them in number and in form. "In its natural position each wax scale lies between its wax plate and the overlapping edge of the next preceding sternal plate. The scale thus fits into a little crevice or wax pocket and is well protected from in- jury. If the bee extends its abdomen the rear edges of the scales can be seen protruding from their pockets, or if the scales become very thick they will push the covering plates outward and will project from the ; (See Fig. 2.) 3. That worker-bees gorge them- selves with honey before beginning the process of wax secretion. 4. That worker-bees cluster to- gether in dense masses while secret- ing wax, evidently to generate suffi- cient heat for the secretion of the wax and formation of the scales. The foregoing facts are well known, but there has been much speculation on the amount of honey nr sugar that is used up in the meta- bolic process of wax secretion. Various writers have estimated that all the way from S lbs. to 40 lbs. of honey is used in the production of "in pound of wax. The experiments carried on during the past fall have disclosed the fol- lowing facts: 1. It requires more pounds of su- gar for old worker-bees to produce a pound of wax than for worker- bees of average agi 2. Young worker-bees can pro- duce wax more economically than old worker-bees or worker-bees of mixed ages, such as found in the av- erage colony. 3. The average colony, withoul ex- ceptionally good weather conditions in the way of temperature, will con- sume on the average 16 pounds 9 ounces of sugar in secreting 1 pound of wax. 4. With beeswax selling at 40 cents per pound, that figure is only one-third the cost of its production. With sugar at 8 cents beeswax should sell at $ per pound or even higher, since honey is the food which is ordinarily used in its pro- duction and h
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
