. The new bee-keepers' text-book. Bees; Bee culture. WAX AND COMB BUILDING. 53 consume from fifteen to twenty-five pounds of honey, (Dr. Kirt- land says twenty-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 movable- 8. Abdomen of the comb hive and feeding them, the bees will build worker magnified, ° ' w
. The new bee-keepers' text-book. Bees; Bee culture. WAX AND COMB BUILDING. 53 consume from fifteen to twenty-five pounds of honey, (Dr. Kirt- land says twenty-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 movable- 8. Abdomen of the comb hive and feeding them, the bees will build worker magnified, ° ' w'«.ing"ie8Cale80f comb, 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-fb e 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 be 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. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbeec, booksubjectbees
