42 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



end beside the hive, and the balance 

 are freed of bees by shaking them into 

 the hive, unless there is a super below 

 that is to come off, in which case the 

 bees are shaken in front of the hive. 

 The combs are then brushed entirely 

 free of bees and placed in the empty 

 super. For brushing bees from the 

 combs I use two brushes that I im- 

 ported from Germany. They are soft 

 and durable, yet water makes no im- 

 pression upon them. These two brush- 

 es, besides other work, brushed the 

 bees from theconibs of a 60,000-lb. honey 

 crop, yet they show no wear, as yet. 

 In shaking bees off the combs, give 

 several quick shakes in rapid succes- 

 sion. Shaking bees off a comb is very 

 much like shaking a boy oft' a gate 

 upon which he is swinging— swing him 

 pretty fast in one direction, then sud- 

 denly pull the gate in the other direc- 

 tion. In doing this you catch hold of 

 the side-bars of-the frame as well as 

 the lugs, or you may break many lugs. 

 Bees that have tilled themselves with 

 honey, as the result of previous smok- 

 ing, will leave the super more readily, 

 and can be shaken from th.^ combs 

 much more easily. I do not like the 

 comb-buckets and carrier methods — 

 they are lacking in capacity. When 

 the two supers are full they are 

 wheeled to the honey house, and a call 

 given to those inside, unless the door is 

 kept closed with a light spring or 

 weights, and, when the door is opened, 

 the wheel barrow and its load are 

 wheeled directly info the Louse. This 

 is a great saying of time aud strength 

 over carrying and shoving the comb 

 baskets through openings in the wall. 

 The return load brings the needed 

 number of combs for the last hive. 

 This is an important point, and in 

 every way a much better plan than 

 that of having the more or less honey- 

 daubed combs (even though covered 

 with a cloth) standing in the apiary 

 while the full combs are being re- 

 moved. I know that the returning of 



the combs immediately after the ex- 

 tracting, or at the time of extracting, 

 has been opposed on the ground that 

 such return leads to robbing. We are 

 very gentle, yet expeditious, about this, 

 and careful that the first bee never gets 

 a load from these wet combs. I think 

 most of the trouble comes from letting 

 outside bees get a taste of the hone\' 

 while returning the combs to the hiv3s. 

 As we are running put-apiaries here 

 and there, we often have to extract in 

 places that are not bee-tight, yet, with 

 quick work, keeping the combs cov- 

 ered, and using a little smoke in the 

 extracting house, if necessary, to neu- 

 tralize the aroma of the honey, we get 

 along all right. Prevent the first load 

 of green honey from being carried 

 home. If any bees get into the ex- 

 tracting house, let them stay there 

 until the extracting is finished, instead 

 of getting out to carry tales home. 



The uncapping is done over a 1a.rge 

 tank about three feet six inches wide, 

 four and one-half feet long, and two 

 feet six inches deep. There is really 

 one tank inside of another, with six 

 inches of space between the bottoms 

 for the honey that drips from the upper 

 tank. The inner, or upper, tank has a 

 bottom and sides of perforated steel 

 through which the honey drips into 

 the outer tank, which has a screw-cap 

 through which the honey can be drawn 

 off at will. 



As our honey is practically all 

 capped, it requires three ordinary 

 hands, or two good hands, to uncap 

 enough so that 5,000 or more pounds 

 per day may be extracted. The wax 

 more than pays for the labor. When 

 in New York State, I was told, b3' one 

 who should be in position to knovv, 

 that Mr. Alexander extracts his honey, 

 practical!}' before it is capped, and the 

 entire absence in his article, in (rlean- 

 ings, about the uncapping, when writ- 

 ing ujion the production of extracted 

 honey, confirms my suspicions that the 

 honey is taken green. 



