§ XVII. MELTING COMBS DOWN.
Comb for which there is no use as such should be melted down into cake wax. Brood comb which has undergone its five years or so of service will probably not repay the trouble, and should therefore be thrown away. But if in good condition it should be put into a clean saucepan with plenty of soft water, and gently boiled or simmered over a clear fire till it is melted, when, the wax will rise to the top. It must then be run through a strainer (never mind a little water going with it) into a stoneware or earthen pan, the sides of which have beep greased to prevent adhesion. The refuse is then collected in a coarse bag and boiled again, a flat iron or other heavy weight being placed upon it to hold it down, and a plate or other false bottom beneath it to prevent its burning. By working this about with a rod or ladle a quantity more of wax will be brought out from it, and more still by applying to the bag a wet rolling-pin upon a board also wet; the additional wax thus obtained may be added to the other, and the whole boiled again with a very little clean water and over a slow fire. Skim off the dross as fast as it appears, and then pour the whole again into the greased pan, and, after letting it cool slowly, scrape off the settlings. The above is in the main Mr. Cheshire's method. Another is that of Mr. Payne, who would pour the original boil into a canvas bag of about a quart, which should be laid on an inclined board in a tub, with cold water in it below the reach of the bag; then, applying the roller, the wax is all expressed at one process, and may be collected on the water and boiled again as before. The operation must be carried on where the bees will not be able to get admittance, or the odour will bring them in great numbers.
Virgin comb, being free from cocoons or other rubbish, will not require the squeezing process, but may simply be melted into the pan, gradually cooled, and melted again. If the cooling is artificially delayed the wax will be all the clearer. If bleaching is desired, melt it again and pour it out so as to form thin streams or plates, and then lay these for a few days in the sun; take care however that they are not melted.
§ XVIII. WEIGHING HIVES.
One of the most effectual modes of ascertaining the condition of a hive is by weighing it. Such knowledge is most important at the close of the gathering season, in order that the bee-keeper may determine whether he ought to give his bees artificial food to enable them to live through the dreary winter. A knowledge of the numerical strength of the colony is also useful in enabling the bee-keeper to decide which hives will be benefited by being joined together, on the method explained in the article on "Uniting Hives."
A hive can very easily be weighed if a Salter's spring balance be suspended near the apiary. The hive, having a strap or cord passed under and over it, crossing at right angles on the top, may be hooked on to the balance, so that the weight will be indicated on the dial. The annexed illustration represents a tripod stand, with a weighing-machine of the above-named construction, to which a hive with a super is attached. Such an arrangement will be found convenient for those bee-keepers who may not possess suitable sheds in their gardens where a hive could be thus suspended from a beam. To prevent the hive being swayed to and fro by the wind, three cords (gear ropes) might be attached therefrom to the three legs of the stand. The height of such a stand need not exceed four feet.
This contrivance is both portable and simple, and can be used from time to time; or, if the apiarian desires to have the hive constantly suspended, a water-proof covering might easily be made to drop over, and adapted so as to admit of being raised occasionally for ascertaining the weight shown on the dial. Much interest might be derived by watching the daily or hourly increasing store brought into a hive during the gathering season. Mr. George Fox, of Kingsbridge, and Mr. S. Bevan Fox, of Exeter, have for some years each kept one stock attached to a "Salter's Circular Spring Balance," suspended from a beam under a shed, and, from experience, found that from a hive so balanced a criterion may be formed of what other hives in the apiary are doing through the day.
Some interesting observations have been made upon this point. Baron von Berlepsch has had stocks which brought in twelve pounds of honey in a day; Kader in Mentz had days when one stock brought twenty-one pounds; Pastor Stein in Mentz had days when one stock brought twenty-eight pounds. The sap which a bee's honey-bag holds weighs but a grain, so that the bees, in this last case, must have made in one day over 160,000 journeys.
Many ingenious contrivances will, no doubt, suggest themselves for the observation of hives in this manner. For instance, instead of the cord being tied round the hive, three or four strong irons, with a screw at one end and a ring at the other (known by ironmongers as "eyes"), could be screwed into the floor-boards, to which the attachments might be made fast. It will scarcely be necessary to hint that great care is necessary that full provision should be made securely to support the increasing weight; a fall would be most ruinous, and terribly enrage the bees.