sr
31
amomtati &*** arrtr Obmbagum into Jttoneg.
J. ;
- -V-EMz/teim J?t'e-iv..
' ( -ce-feeper; i ^Lu^r n,
cZ ' Honey a?
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN AND L^-iTED BY
, \\ :,'-. ^ N ; , -.
,,' the* British Be.-.r.
PUBLISHED BY
JOHN HUCKLE, KINGS L ANGLE Y, HEETS.
1889.
PIUC THREEPENCE.
UNIVERSITY FARM
8061 '[I
BEES -WAX:
ITS
(Economical Stscs anti ffionberston into
BY
J. DENNLEE,
President of the Strassburg-Enzheim Bee-keepers' Association ;
Editor of the ' Elsass-Lothringer Bee-keeper ;' Author of ' Honey as Food
and Medicine,' and ' Honey and its Uses.'
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN AND EDITED BY
T. W. COWAN, F.G.S., F.L.S., F.R.M.S., &c.
Editor of ' British Bee Journal,' the 'British Bee-keepers' Adviser,'
Author of ' British Bee-keepers' Guide Look,' Ac.
PUBLISHED BY
JOHN HUCKLE, KINGS LANGLEY, HERTS.
1889.
CALIFORNIA
BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES.
HISTORICAL.
BEES-WAX was known in ancient times. The Bible tells
us of a land flowing with milk and honey ; and where
there was honey, there must also have been wax. Pliny
speaks of white wax, and in the time of Dioscorides wax
was rolled into sheets according to a method described by
him.
At that time materials for lighting made from wax
fetched a high price ; they were used at divine service,
and the consumption which was at first comparatively
small, was afterwards increased by the spread of Christ-
ianity. The bleaching of wax was at that time carried on
as an independent trade, and one sees how extensive it
was by the fact that towards the end of the seventeenth
century there were in Hamburg 1 alone fourteen bleaehing-
houses for wax. It is certain that, with the exception of
oil and tallow, as also of the common torch, no other
material for lighting was known except wax, and this
could only be used by very rich people.
Even princes who allowed themselves this luxury (as
it was then held) were accounted extravagant. But, in
addition to tapers, wax was used in still larger quantities
for the manufacture of artificial flowers and fruits,
which were much used as ornaments for rooms, for arti-
ficial flowers made of woven fabrics were not then
known.
The Reformation dealt a heavy blow to the wax trade,
and consequently bee-keeping also suffered, from the fact
that the Evangelical Church did away with tapers at
divine service.
27?
4 BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES.
By the introduction of sugar bee-keeping- was decreased
still more, and the production of wax was reduced to a
minimum. As powerful competitors of wax, there
appeared in commerce wax obtained from various plants
and minerals, such as stearine, paraffine, ceresine, and
others, which still further lowered the price of bees- wax.
Germany/ has always produced a very much-prized
wax for technical, medicinal, and artistic uses ; so have
also the various Austrian provinces and Switzerland.
Turkey is said to produce the best of all known de-
scriptions of wax. Turkish wax is also the dearest ;
usually of a bright orange colour. France produces a large
quantity of splendid wax. Closely following the French
comes the Spanish, in cakes of from 2 to 3 Ibs. in weight.
Italy also produces large quantities of excellent wax. Of
the various kinds of wax other than European , the West
Indian, Egyptian, and Barbary wax are highly prized.
THE PRODUCTION OF WAX.
Bee-keepers, and amongst them Swammerclam, Ma-
raldi, Reaumur, and others, were for a long time of
opinion that bees collected wax directly from flower?.
(Swammerdam : Biblia Natures ; Maraldi : Observations
sur les Abeilles ; Memoir es de VAcad. des Sciences, 1712 ;
Keaumur: Histoire Nat. des Abeilles). But the experi-
ments of Hunter have shown that the bee by no means
plays so simple a part in the production of wax, for this
great anatomist, so long ago as the year 1702, gave a
description of the segments of the bee's abdomen, by
which the wax is separated into small scales (Philostph.
Trans., 1712>, an observation which Huber of Geneva
confirms in his Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles,
II., chap. 1. Already in 1G84 Martin John had made
the same observation.*
* It is difficult to say who first discovered the scales of wax,
but they were noticed and described by Herman C. Hornbostel,
a Hanoverian pastor, in the Hamburg Library about 1745. A
German farmer, a member of the Lusatian bee society, also
noticed them in 1765, and this fact was communicated to Bonnet
by Willeim. In 1774 Tlicrley mentioned them, and so did
Wildmau in 1779. T. W. C
BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES. 5
Beeswax, then, is not found ready-made in nature,
but is produced in the bee's bod}' ; it is like honey,
an organic production, and not a mechanical or technical
one. Wax is formed in the body of the working- bee,
of fluid honey, and pollen. But it is not formed in-
voluntarily, as every well-nourished animal body forms
fat, but voluntarily, viz., when the bees wish to form it,
and when they have taken fluid honey, and pollen, in a
larger quantify than they need for their own bodily
nourishment, and the surplus is neither given as food to
FIG. 1. Wax-scales on under side of abdomen.
the brood, the queen, or the drones, but is retained,
further digested, and allowed to pass into the blood-
vessels, in order to be organically, chemically distilled
there, and to exude as a kind of fatty matter by the seg-
ments of the abdomen.
The wax leaves the secreting glands in a fluid state,
and solidifies in the form of small transparent white
scales, five-cornered, shining like mother of pearl, in
size about two square millimetres, such as are found in
large numbers on the floor-boards of a strong colony
when comb building.
When the bees want to build comb, they hang
6 BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES.
together in the form of a bunch of grapes, by which a.
certain amount of order is observed. The bees do not
hang irregularly one upon the other by the booklets of
their feet, but the whole bunch is formed by the bees
holding together in the form of a chain. The great heat
generated in the cluster of bees facilitates the separation
of the wax from their bodies (fig. 1).
Newly-built combs vary in colour from a light yellow
to an orange red. It is remarkable that a light yellow
wax comes from dark kinds of honey like, for instance,
heather honey, and a dark orange red wax from white
honey, as, for example, vetch honey.
This circumstance, which Mons. de Layens, a well-
known bee-keeper and author in France was the first to
notice, led this sagacious inquirer to think that the
colouring of the wax was probably due to pollen,
and this was chemically proved to be the case by Dr. A.
Von Planta, the famous Swiss chemist.
Beeswax consists of two different substances. It is
a mixture of cerotic acid (cerin), which is soluble in
alcohol, and of myricine, which is only slightly soluble in
alcohol. Besides these constituents beeswax contains
organic colouring matter, also other organic matters,
which can be separated in the purifying. The colouring
matter is best removed by bleaching in clear sunshine.
Chemically pure wax is, when white, colourless and
tasteless, and in thin scales is very transparent, shows
a splintery fracture, and at 20C. assumes that peculiar
kneadable condition which is qualified by the descrip-
tion of being ' wax-like.' The melting point of wax
is very high, between 63 and 64C., and this is
a good means of recognising the genuineness of the
production, together with the specific gravity, which
lies between 0-965 and O969.
The elaboration of wax not only makes great claims
on the vital powers of the bees, but also costs them, as
well as the bee-keeper, much honey. It has been calcu-
lated that for one pound of wax, from ten to fifteen
pounds of honey are required, without counting the loss
of time caused in the building. Von Berlepsch makes
BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES. 7
the proportion from 13 to 1, Dr. Donhoff from 14J to 1,
and Cowan estimates the production of wax at 20 to 1.
Bat 20 Ibs. of honey are worth 20 shillings, while for
1 Ib. of wax one gets only 2 shillings.* The intelligent
bee-keeper will see by these figures how valuable good
combs are.
It is to the interest of every bee-keeper to try and
protect his combs from the ravages of the wax-moths.
These moths, of which there is a large and a small
kind (Galleria cereana, Galleria alvearia) lay their eggs
in the combs, or in the debris of the bee-hives. It is the
larvaB which hatch from these eggs that spin webs round
the comb and eat it. It is specially the large kind of
larvae that very much increase the difficulty of pre-
serving the combs. The right way to get rid of them,
or to kill them, consists in hanging up your frames of
comb in hermetically sealed boxes, and in warm weather
to burn a piece of sulphur in it every three or four weeks.
The ravages of the wax-moth may also be prevented
by hanging up the combs and exposing them to a current
of air.
COMB FOUNDATION.
There came a time when the bees did not satisfy the
needs of the bee-keeper as regards accuracy in building
the rows of comb, and their habit of beginning to build
their comb on the edges and the sides gave some bee-
keepers the idea of providing the centre of the under side
of top bar with a sharply projecting strip of wood (Giebel-
hausen and Bottner). A line of wax was also recom-
mended (Dr. Honert). The bees were to build regularly
upon it. Sometimes they did, but more often they did
not. Tongs were also prepared which made impressions
of the cells on little pieces of wood (Wilde).
* Recent experiments of Mr. G. de Layens show that, under
certain favourable conditions, bees may only consume 6*3 Ibs. of
honey to produce 1 Ib. of comb ; so that at least 10 to 16 Ibs. of
honey may be reckoned as necessary under ordinary circum-
stances for the production of 1 Ib. of comb. T. W. C.
S BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES.
Otto Schulz writes {History of Artificial Comb) that
these methods succeeded in inducing bees to build
straight by constant time-wasting manipulations, yet all
one's hopes were not realised, and the vexation was
especially great when the bee-keeper in the early spring-
put in a frame provided with the impressions, and at
the beginning of the construction perceived that princi-
pally drone-cells were being built.
The carpenter, Mehring, of Frankenthal in the,
Palatinate, was the first to conceive the idea of con-
structing a pair of plates of wood on which were
ongraved the impressions of the bases of the cells, with
which he pressed out of wax-sheets the first foundations
of the comb. Diimmler in Homburg, Kunz in Jagendorf ,
Sand in Gundau, Peter Jacob in Fraubrunnen in Switzer-
land, perfected the ingenious discovery, and soon furnished
very useful foundations. But it was Otto Schulz, of
Buckow, who, later on, brought the artificial combs to a
perfection hitherto unattained.* Since then he ha^
never been unfaithful to his principles, viz. : to furnish
a perfect product at a low pi-ice and in large quantities.
That this undertaking has grown in the hands of the
' Bee-lord ' (literally the bee-village-magistrate), as our
manufacturer is called in the bee-world, is to be seen by
the fact that his business increases every year, and that,
in 1885, he produced and despatched about 18,000 kilo-
grammes (a kilogramme = 2i lbs.).t Competition was
not wanting. Comb foundation manufactories have shot
up like mushrooms from the ground in the two last de-
* Some of the best machines have been made in America, and
Mr. Root was one of the first in that country to popularise the
use of foundation, and to construct a practical machine for its
production. Amongst the most popular machines the best are,
the Vandervoort, Dunham, and Root, but none of these excel
those made in England by A. Godman. T. W. C.
f These figures have been considerably exceeded by Messrs.
Dadant & Son, who in 1887 produced and sold 57,831 Ihs. of
comb foundation, notwithstanding that the season was a bad one
in America. T. W. C.
BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES.
cades. Of those best known we may mention in Germany,
Friedrich in Griefswald, Hermann Bruder in Waldshut
(Baden), A. Herlikofer in Gmiind ( Wiirtemberg),
Adam Wendler in Aschaffenburg (Bavaria), Weyell and
Breidecker in Sauer-Schwafbenheim (in Khenish Hesse),
Voight in Bahn (Pomerania). In Austrian Hungary,
Anton John Wagner in Vienna, Joseph Ludwig, the
Master Carpenter of Moravian Bee-keepers' Union in
Briinn; in Switzerland, Siegwart in Altdorf (Uri),
Hermann Brogle in Siesseln ; in England, Messrs.
Abbott of Southall, London ; * in America, Ch. Dadant
of Hamilton (Illinois).
FIG. 2.- Rietsche Foundation Presser.
By the recent improvement of the presser, bee-keepers
are enabled to press for themselves the foundations they
require, instead of selling their wax at ridiculously low
prices. JRietsche in Bieberach (Baden) supplies such
presses, Fig. 2, as well as Hermann Greve, in Neu-Braden-
burg (Mecklenburg), and Ihring and Fahrenholz,in Berlin.
The Italian hand-presser, Fig. 3, of Guazzoni, who also
* Besides Messrs. Abbott in England there are Messrs. Blow,
Neighbour, Baldwin, Howard, and Stothard, who manufacture
comb foundation T W. C.
10
BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES.
invented the wax-smelter, Fig. 4, is a very practical ap-
pliance. Of course in the home manufacture of foundation
6
a
one must not expect first-class goods, for every trade needs
long practice, and a bee-keeper will .seldom attain per-
BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES.
11
fectipn if he has only to produce the foundation he
requires for his own use.
FIG. 4. Guazzoni's Wax Smelter.
12 BEES- WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES.
WAX EXTRACTION.
By the invention of the moveable comb hive 'and
honey extractor the production of wax has sunk to the
minimum. The bee-keeper who uses moveable comb,
hives only allows his bees to build such combs as may
be required for brood and honey. The combs designed
for the latter never wear out, and can be used not only
ten, twenty, or fifty, but even fifty plus fifty years and
more, as the damage caused by the extracting is always
repaired by the bees. Brood-comb, on the contrary, must
from time to time be melted down and replaced by new.
An apiary of twenty to thirty frame hives will only
FIG. 5. Solar Wax-extractor.
yield very small quantities of wax. It is therefore all
the more necessary carefully to collect all refuse wax
in order to melt it down. The most suitable apparatus
for this is the solar wax-extractor, which consists of a
little wooden box with a moveable glass cover (see
Fig. 5). Inside there is an inclined sheet of tin (marked
by dotted lines), upon which the combs to be melted are
laid.
If the extractor is placed in a very sunny place the
wax melts and flows into the little tin trough, which is
placed under the tin plate at i in illustration. The refuse
remaining is taken away when the molten wax ceases
to flow.
Those who wish to melt small quantities of wax with-
out an extractor should put them in a loose bag, place a
few laths in a copper, so that the bag shall not touch
BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES.
the bottom, weight it with a stone, pour water over it,
and then let the mass boil. The wax melts, rises to
the surface of the water, and is taken off after it has be-
come cold. For large quantities the wax- press (see fig. C)
FIG. 6. Wax Press.
is suitable, and is used by the Heath bee-keepers in
northern Germany. The illustration is so exact that it
needs little description to make one understand the
handling of it.
The bar B presses the block of wood A upon the bag
containing the wax, and this flows with the water into
14 BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES.
the pail E. As soon as the latter is full, the tap is opened,
the water then flows into the basin F, and is put back
into the wax-kettle, that the wax may remain boiling,
which would not happen if cold water were added.
When the pressing is finished the water is allowed to
run away.
In order to free the so-called raw wax, obtained in
this way, from any impurities which it may still
contain, it is melted once more in a copper half-filled
with water, well stirred for a few minutes, and then
left for about two hours over a moderate fire, not being
allowed to boil. When the kettle is taken off the fire,
the scum is taken off and the cake of wax allowed to get
hard. The impurities in the wax have now partly sunk
to the bottom of the kettle and are partly attached to
the under side of the cake, from which they are scraped
with a knife. Many bee-keepers repeat this melting
a second time, and thus are able to get a better and purer
wax.
THE ADULTERATION AND ANALYSIS OF WAX.
It does not redound to the credit of the present age
that it is often called the century of adulteration, but
this is not to be wondered at. The evil spirit of adultera-
tion has crept into all branches of handicraft, so that now
the adjective ' pure 'can be applied to only very few
articles of commerce. Of late attempts have been made
to supplant the honey of our bees by any available sub-
stitutes, and it is no better with regard to wax.
Tallow, stearin, vegetable wax, earth wax (ozokerit),
and other inferior kinds of wax are mixed with bees-wax,
and are sold as such in the trade.
* The adulterations of wax,' writes Dr. A. von Planta,
1 are so difficult to detect, that it is scarcely practicable
for those who are not experts. Pure bees-wax melts a,t
C-3'5 0. T have tried the melting point of twenty-five
such pure specimens of bees-wax obtained from different
countries, and it entirely agreed with that stated above.'
But since adulteration has been effected with earth-wax,
paraffine, and animal fats, the melting point does not
BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES. 15
provide sufficient evidence. Otherwise this method
would have furnished a good test for those who are not
experts.
There remains, therefore, no other way but to take
the wax to a chemist, who will find out the quantity
of cerotic acid and the non-volatile fatty acids, and such
an analysis will provide a much safer criterion with
regard to the adulteration.
The following simple tests, however, have often been
found useful : (a.) When wax is chewed there should
be no unpleasant taste, and it should not stick to the
teeth. If wax is adulterated with other ingredients the
taste alone will detect them. If it sticks to the teeth the
admixture of resin can be assumed, (b.) Pure beeswax
from that adulterated is also determined by first bump-
ing quickly on a hot iron plate a small bit of beeswax
which is known to be pure. The smell given off is
noticed. Then the piece of wax to be examined is
burnt in the same way. If it contains ceresine a
disagreeable, fatty, white smoke is given off, which
differs the more from the smell of wax the more ceresine
there is mixed with it. This is a simple way of testing
the purity of purchased comb foundation.
THE EMPLOYMENT OF WAX FOB ECONOMICAL
PURPOSES.
Beeswax, on account of its illuminating powers, is used
for the manufacture of candles and wax-tapers. Also,
011 account of its tenacity and flexibility, firmness and
high melting point, it is indispensable in the great in-
dustry of making wax figures and for modelling. Wax
renders us important services also in house-keeping. In
the following we have some useful recipes :
(a.) Sewing Wax.
The beeswax is made up into little round balls and
gives stiffness and smoothness to sewing thread.
16 BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES.
(5.) Grafting Wax.
Melt together one part of yellow wax, two parts of
rosin, one part of turpentine, and a little lard. Let it
get cool, and roll the mass out on a slab into sticks.
This is the warm-melting grafting wax. At the present
time cold grafting wax, recommended by J)r. Lucas,
is often used, and this is prepared from rosin and spirit.
(c.) Furniture Polish.
Melt two parts of wax, and stir into it, after it is
taken off the fire, one part of turpentine.
(d.) Wax Floor Polish.
Mix 200 grammes of potash and 200 grammes of
water, heat to boiling point, and gradually add while
stirring 400 grammes of yellow wax. After this has
been boiled up again, pour in 900 grammes of water,
and heat until a milky fluid results. This is useful for
polishing furniture and floors. (Els.-Loth. Bee-keeper.)
(e.) Waterproof Packing Paper.
Take twenty-four parts of blue soap and four parts of
white soap, fifteen parts of wax, and boil in 120 parts
of water. Dip the packing paper into it, let it well
soak, and hang up over a string to dry.
(/.) Leather Grease.
For the preparation of this, mix 1 \ Ibs. of pure yellow
wax in Ij Ibs. of oil of turpentine, 1^ Ibs. of castor oil,
12J Ibs. of linseed oil, and \\ Ibs. of tar, and let the
whole be thoroughly well mixed. By occasional appli-
cations from time to time (about every six months)
harness is protected by this grease from the influence of
air, heat, perspiration, and all moisture.
(00 Wax Dubbing for making Boots Waterproof
Is prepared by melting together 6J parts of yellow wax,
2(5^ parts of mutton fat, 6J parts of thick turpentine,
GJ parts of olive oil, and 13 parts of lard, and stirring
BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES. 17
into this 5 parts of well-heated lampblack. The mass
is then poured into little wooden boxes. The dubbing is
warmed and rubbed in with the fingers. The hard
leather is softened, and becomes perfectly water-proof.
(7i.) Removing Cracks in Horses' Hoofs.
Wax and honey in equal parts are melted together
over a slow fire, and thoroughly mixed. It is used
in this way : the hoof having been thoroughly cleansed
with tepid water the above mixture is well rubbed
in with a brush. After several applications the fissures
and cracks disappear, and the hoof regains its softness.
USES OF WAX IN MEDICINE.
(a.) Remedies for Coughs, Expectoration, Erysipelas.
Breathe the vapour of w r ax which is melted on
a hot iron or a brazier of charcoal.
(.) Healing Salve.
Honey, oil, and wax melted together are made into a
salve which hastens the healing of old wounds and ulcers.
(c.) Marigold-flower Plasters for Wounds.
From marigold flowers a plaster can be made by
bruising- the flowers and the stalks and mixing them with
as much lard as will cover them, allowing the mass to
boil over a moderate fire for an hour, and then squeezing
it through a cloth. The liquid that is pressed out is put
on the fire again, and as much yellow wax added as will
make .it of the consistency of a plaster. If less wax i.s
used, marigold flower salve is obtained. Both prepara-
tions are useful for all kinds of wounds.
(d.) Remedy for Diarrhoea.
In France the following remedy is frequently found of
18 BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES.
use : Scoop out the core of a quince, fill it with, hot
wax, and let it roast gently and for a long time by the fire.
This is eaten fasting for three consecutive mornings.
(e.) Salve for Wounds after Removal of Warts.
Prepare a salve of white wax and fresh unsalted butter
in equal parts, and mix a little white wine with it.
(/.) Salve for Burns.
A. mixture of wax and linseed oil makes an excellent
plaster for burns. Stahl's burn-salve is made of equal
parts of butter and yellow wax.
(g.) Corn Plaster.
For corns a good plaster is made of wax, tallow, and
a little verdigris.
(k.) Tooth-stopping.
Tooth-stopping is prepared by melting 3 parts of pure
white wax with 3% parts of mastic, adding a few drops
of oil of peppermint, and making it into pills on a
marble slab. The hollow teeth are filled with these so
that food may not lodge in them and irritate the
nerves.
(i.) Wax Salve for Skin Diseases.
5 parts of white wax, o parts of spermaceti, 5 parts
of sweet almond oil, are melted together in an enamelled
saucepan, poured out into little paper boxes, and when
cold are cut up into small tablets.
COSMETIC SPECIALTIES.
(.) Glycerine Wax Balsam.
2 parts of white wax, 2 parts of spermaceti, 8 parts
of sweet almond oil, 4 parts of glycerine, part of attar
BEES-WAX AND ITS ECONOMICAL USES. 19
of roses, are carefully melted together in an enamelled
saucepan over a slow fire, stirred until cold, and put
into glass jars.
(6.) Crime Celeste.
1^ parts of white wax, 3 parts of spermaceti, 3 parts
of sweet almond oil, are melted together in a porcelain
dish over a water bath, and when cold 2 parts of rose
water are stirred in.
(c.) Cold Cream
Is used to keep the skin delicate and soft. It is pre-
pared by rubbing together in a water bath 1 part of
white wax, 2 parts of spermaceti, 8 parts of sweet
almond oil, and 5 parts of rose water.
(d.) Cosmetique.
Melt in a porcelain dish over a water bath 500
grammes of yellow wax, and 125 grammes of white
soap, take it from the fire, let it cool, and before
the mass has set stir in 5 grammes of bergamot and
1 gramme of Peruvian balsam. It is rolled into
small sticks on a glass or marble slab, and these are
covered with paper.
LONDON:
Printed by STRANGEWATS & SONS, Tower Street, Cambridge Circus, W,C*
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