Page:How to Keep Bees.djvu/171

Rh The Doolittle is small and all right for a small apiary. The Rauchfuss has a clever arrangement by which the wax in flowing out overflows from one pan to another and thus cleanses itself automatically. The Boardman is especially adapted for large apiaries, and is on rockers so that it may be tilted to face the sun. The general plan of the Solar wax-extractor is as follows: It consists of a shallow box lined with sheet-iron on which is a frame for holding the comb with a strainer below it, and a place where the wax thus extracted is received. The box has a tight-fitting glass cover, and all the woodwork on the box is painted black so as to absorb all the heat possible. The box is tilted so as to get the direct rays of the sun, and it is important that the cover be of one pane of glass, or several panes matched without cross sash, as such sash interferes with the rays of the sun. Here in the East this extractor works excellently during the summer months. If the wax does not look clean as it comes from the extractor, it may be put through again. The only difficulty with the Solar extractor is that here in the East it works only in the summer time, and that it does not extract all the wax from the refuse which bears the graphic and euphonious name of "slumgum."

There are many patent wax-extractors which are run by the heat of a stove. The best of these utilise steam for heating the wax, though some of them use hot water in a sort of a modification of the old wash-