this acts as a press and decreases the bulk in the bag, leaving the wax floating on the surface.
THE SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTOR
There are many modern and up-to-date methods advised for extracting wax. The most common is through the use of the Solar wax-extractor, which was invented for extracting honey in California, where the sun can be depended upon to do its work unflinchingly day after day. There was more than myth in the story of Icarus who fastened his wings on with wax, and then dared to face the sun. The ancients eadently knew that no other substance of the sort is so susceptible to the sun's rays. I shall never forget my amazement at the efficiency of the first Solar extractor that I ever saw; it was homemade and there was naught in its appearance to indicate its power. The comb was hard and blackened and full of dirt, while the wax that oozed out and hardened below was as shining and yellow as if the sun itself had exhaled it. A Solar extractor ought to be in every apiary where twenty colonies or more are kept, and into this every fragment of comb should be put instead of storing it to become infested by the bee moth, or leaving it around to incite the bees to robbing. The fragments thus are saved and without any expense or trouble are made into a beautiful product for the market.
There are several of these Solar extractors made and sold by dealers. The Doolittle, the Rauchfuss and the Boardman are the three commonly used.
