EXTEACTOR. 



189 



EXTRACTOR. 



and, consequently, fewer need be liandled. 

 If the uncapping-knife cuts deep there will 

 be more wax, and wax always has a good 

 market. The thick combs should always 1 e 

 cut down to normal thickness in uncapping 

 before returning them to the bees. 



After one day's uncapping, the cappings 

 should drain dry. They should be removed 

 before letting a fresh lot of cappings drop on 

 to them. To get the cappings perfectly dry, 

 some put tliem in a cheese-cloth bag to hang 

 behind the stove over a pan for a few days. 

 This will do for a small extracting business. 

 AVhere the business is carried on more ex- 

 tensively, the cappings, after draining for 

 one day, shou'd be put in a wax-press and 

 squeezed dry while cold ; or, better yet, they 

 should be melted up as fast as they accu- 

 mulate. See Wax-1'Ress, under Wax. 



Ca»^io«.— After an extracting, do not make 

 the mistake of returning the combs to the 

 Jiives as fast as extracted les-t you start 

 robbing, and make the work of extracting 

 very disagreeable. Return the combs the 

 last thing, or toward evening, and by morn- 

 ing all will be quiet. 



SHALLOW OR rULL-DKPTH EXTRACTING - 

 COMBS. 



The question is often asked, whether one 

 should use the shallow extracting-frames 

 tliat are advertised in most of the dealers' 

 catalogs. This depends a good deal on the 

 honey-flow and general conditions. If the 

 frame is as deep as a Quinby, the shallow 

 frame for extracting purposes is almost a 

 matter of necessity, as it is very inconven- 

 ient to handle these large combs, both in 

 micapping and extracting. But shallow 

 combs have the special advantage that 

 bees will enter a super containing them 

 quicker than they will one of full depth. 

 There is not so much room in the shalloAv 

 supers for them to keep warm at one time ; 

 and they will, therefore, fill a set of shallow 

 combs when they would hardly deign to 

 enter an upper story containing full-dei)th 

 ones. It is a common practice with a good 

 many practical bee-keepers to have both 

 shallow extracting- combs and fuU-dep.th 

 combs. After the bees are well started to 

 going above, the full-deptli supers may be 

 used. They may be also used on all strong 

 colonies; but in the case of weaker ones only 

 the shallow ones should be given. We can 

 thus get extracted honey from weak stocks. 



THE (^)UEEN-EXCLUDER FOR EXTRACTING. 



Asa general rule, in hives run for extract- 

 ed honey, the queen will occupy one or more 



supers containing extracting-combs, unless 

 she is confined to the brood-ne.st by means of 

 a queen-excluding honey-board; seelJRONKs. 

 When one is used, the extracting-combs will 



contain nothing but lioney and peihajus a 

 little pollen, while the brood will be confined 

 where it should be, in the lower story (jr 

 brood-nest. 



When running for comb honey it is usually 

 not necessary to use the excluders. 



Some objection has been raised by some to 

 the effect that zinc boards hinder the pass- 

 age of bees loaded with honey, and that, 

 therefore, they have a tendency to restrict 

 the amount stored in the supers. This is 

 denied by the great majority of users. How- 

 ever, a few provide an entrance to the up- 

 per story or sujiers, placing the same at the 

 bottom of the first super and above the ex- 

 cluder. This allows the bees in the sujjer to 

 escape directly into the air, without passing 

 through the honey-board from the brood- 

 nest below and out into the regular entrance. 

 It is argued that this extra entrance to the 

 super saves time and permits incoming bees 

 to go directly into the supers and store the 

 honey without any waste of time. 



In order to catch the bees that are going 

 into the lower entrance, Mr. B. Walker, of 

 Clyde, 111., has a long wide board connected 

 with the upper entrance and slanting down- 

 ward at an angle of 45 degrees in front of 

 the lower hive entrance. The incoming 

 bees strike this inclined plane, crawl up- 

 ward and enter the supers just above the 

 zinc, as shown on next page. 



The entrance to these supers may be 

 through one or more holes bored near the 

 bottom edge of the sujier, or the wooden rail 

 at the front end of the honey-board may he 

 left out, so that the bees can pass into tlie 

 super and above the perforated zinc. 



HOW TO EXTRACT DURING A DEARTH OF 



HONEY WITHOUT THE ANNOYANCE 



OF ROBBERS. 



As explained under Feeding and Feed- 

 ers, and under Robuing, it is possible to 



