284 



TRE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



the average bee-keeper, in the average 

 localit}', the combs should be fully cap- 

 ped before extracting. The extraord- 

 inary' bee keeper in an extraordinary 

 locality may extract before capping. 



Prof. A. J. Cook is not now in this 

 country or I would refer the paragraph 

 in reference to extracting uncapped 

 honey to him direct; but I may say this 

 much: Since the time of the convention 

 referred to, he has given out a state- 

 ment that seems to be backed by facts 

 and by scientific men generally, that 

 the bees do something more than merely 

 evajiorate the nectar. They "invert" 

 it, according to the chemists — or, as 

 l^rof. Cook prefers to put it, "digest" 

 it, making a distinct cheinical change 

 between the nectrtr just as it comes 

 from the flower at:d the honey from a 

 fully capped comb. It is the opinion 

 of the editor that Prof. Cook would 

 1107V be among the niimber who would 

 advise the average bee-keeper to let his 

 combs become fully capped before ex- 

 tracting. — Ed.] 



UNCAPPING HONEY, 



Some Points lo be Considered in Order to 

 Do the Work Quickly. 



Onl}' the man who has worked from 

 morning until night wielding the un- 

 capping knife in the honey house can 

 realize the immense difference in the 

 time required to uncap a thin, "lean" 

 comb, and one that is bulged out on 

 each side, such as result in spreading 

 the combs apart, using eight combs in 

 the place of ten. With a knife that is 

 long enough, a Langstroth comb can 

 be uncapped with a single upward 

 swoop, but the Bingham knife, as 

 usually made, is not long enough to 

 reach across the comb and be used in 

 this manner, and E. D. Townsend, in 

 an article to Gleanings, calls attention 

 to this point and urges the manufact- 

 ure of a longer knife with a special 

 handle that will allow the operator to 

 get his hand closer to the knife, thus 

 securing a better leverage. Here are 

 some of the things that he says: - 



Some time ago I received a sample 

 of Bingham's uncapping-knife from 



the A. I. Root Co. to test. The blade 

 is the same as usual, only an inch or 

 thereabont longer than the regular. 

 The handle is the Coggshall idea, being 

 flat on the top and bottom, as the knife 

 lies on the table, and is also planed of¥ 

 on the edge where the thumb comes 

 when taking hold of the knife when 

 using. 



And now, Mr. Editor, I will say a 

 few words about uncapping and un- 

 capping knives. We have felt the want 

 of a longer uncapping-knite for several 

 3'ears, but have been loath to ask for it 

 for fear tliis extra length would make 

 the knife unwieldy, or, in other words, 

 every little we add to the blade in 

 length we lose in leverage. I wish I 

 could have used this knife with the 

 blade an inch longer than the regular, 

 one season before passing an opinion 

 on it. Our extractingframes are all 

 the Langstroth size, mostly with % 

 inch deep top-bars; but a part are only 

 ^s inch deep. This, after figuring out 

 the bottom- bar, leaves from 8 to 8 '4 

 inches of comb surface. Eight of these 

 combs are used in a ten-frame body. 

 In our extracting upper stories this 

 wide spacing, If^.' inches, makes great 

 plump fat combs. Now, to uncap, set 

 the comb to be uncapped on end, on the 

 usual sticks, over the uncapping tank, 

 with the edges of the comb towards 3'ou, 

 held in position with the left hand. 

 We start the knife at the lower end of 

 the comb to be uncapped. At this stage 

 the comb, for convenience, will stand on 

 a slant to the left. Now begin the up- 

 ward movement of the knife, back and 

 forth, endwise, with a seesaw motion. 

 This makes the knife cut more keen!}'. 

 Now, about the time you see the cap- 

 pings are going to fall oft" the knife, 

 with the left hand push the comb to 

 the right until it stands perpendicular. 

 If you are now holding the knife at the 

 correct angle, the beveled edge on the 

 knife being on a level with the comb 

 after it is uncapped, the lower edge of 

 the knife will be an inch or so ofl' from 

 the uncapped surface, so the cappings 

 will clear the comb and fall direct into 

 the uncapping-tank below. Uncap 

 deep, clear down to ihe frame. 



I am convinced that tlie best honey 

 could be produced by using nothing 

 but foundation in the upper stories to 

 extract from; but as tiiis is impractical 

 the next best thing to do is to uncap 

 dee/> so the comb when given to the bees 

 to be refilletl, will be, say, one inch 

 thick. This leaves the cells only ^ 

 inch deep, and is the iie.rl best to foun- 



