BEES, 35 
In providing combs for the storage of honey to be extracted the 
usual practice is to add to the top of the brood chamber one or more 
hive bodies just like the one in which brood is reared, and fill these 
with frames. If preferred, shallower frames with bodies of proper 
size may be used, but most honey extractors are made for full-size 
frames. The surplus bodies should be put on in plenty of time to 
prevent the crowding of the brood chamber, and also to act as a 
preventive of swarming. 
Honey for extracting should not be removed until it is well ripened 
and a large percentage of it capped. It is best, however, to remove 
the crop from each honey flow before another heavy producing plant 
comes into bloom, so that the different grades of honey may be kept 
separate. It is better to extract while honey is still coming in, so 
that the bees will not be apt to rob. 
The extracting should be done ina — 
building, preferably one provided with @ | 
wire cloth at the windows (p. 9). Po 
The frames containing honey to be TTT 
extracted are removed from the hive, 
the cappings cut off with a sharp, 
warm knife (fig. 21) made specially Py 
for this purpose, and the frames are : 
then put into the baskets of the honey 
extractor (fig. 22). By revolving these 
rapidly the honey is thrown out of 
one side. The basket is then reversed 
and the honey from the other side is 
removed. The combs can then be 
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J 
returned to the bees to be refilled, or WSS 
. . 0) 
if the honey flow is over, they can be 
returned to the bees to be cleaned and 
then removed and stored until needed 
again. This method is much to be preferred to mashing the comb and 
straining out the honey, as was formerly done. 
In large apiaries special boxes to receive cappings, capping melters 
to render the cappings directly into wax, and power-driven extractors 
are often used. These will be found listed in supply catalogues. 
The extracted honey is then strained and run into vessels. It is 
advisable not to put it in bottles at once, but to let it settle in open 
vessels for_a time, so that it can be skimmed. Most honeys will 
granulate and become quite hard if exposed to changes of temperature, 
and to liquefy granulated extracted honey it should be heated in a 
water bath. Never heat honey directly over a stove or flame, as the 
flavor is thereby injured.. The honey should never be heated higher 
447 
Fig. 22.—Honey extractor. 
