The wax must therefore come from the cappings of combs where extracted honey is produced, from occasional broken comb, bits of drone comb that are cut out to be replaced by worker comb, from unfinished and travel-stained sections from which the honey has been extracted, or from old brood combs that need to be replaced. Since the price per pound of extracted honey is usually not less than one-third and that of comb honey one-half the price of wax, and it has already been indicated (p. 28) that some 12 to 15 pounds of honey may in general be safely reckoned as necessary to produce 1 pound of comb, it can readily be seen that it is much more profitable to turn the working force, in so far as possible, to the production of honey rather than wax, taking only as much wax as can be produced without lowering the yield of honey; and what wax is taken is practically turned into honey the following year, for it is made into comb foundation, which, judiciously used, increases in turn the season's yield of honey. Wax being so much more valuable than honey, it behooves the bee keeper to save even the smallest pieces of comb; but during warm weather they must not be left long or they will serve as breeding places for the wax moth, unless fumigated with burning sulphur or exposed to the fumes of bisulphide of carbon two or three times each month until no more eggs of the moth remain. The old way of rendering wax was to put the combs into a sack made of some open stuff', weight this down in a kettle of water, and boil for some time. The wax rose, and when cold was removed in a cake. This process, besides being dauby, often yielded inferior wax--burned, water-soaked, or filled with settlings. [Illustration: Fig. 61.--The Boardman solar wax extractor. (From Gleanings.)] The most approved method of rendering wax is, for moderate-sized apiaries at least, by means of the solar wax extractor (fig. 61), already mentioned under the head of "Implements." Its management is very simple. The machine is placed in the sunniest spot in or near the apiary, and all of the wax cappings, after having been drained of honey or worked over by the bees, as well as bits of comb, are thrown into the receiver above the wire strainer, the glass is adjusted, and the whole is turned so that the direct rays of the sun enter. More bits of comb are added from time to time during the day. The melted wax trickles through the strainer and collects in a tin placed at the lower edge of the tank or melter. The cake is removed each morning, it having cooled and contracted during the night sufficiently to cause the mass to cleave readily from the vessel.