I04 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



lating its parts. I have united many col- 

 onies, at about all seasons when bees 

 can be handled, by merely smoking them 

 a little and placing one hive upon another, 

 with nothing between, and have yet to 

 have harm done by quarreling. If one 

 queen is superior, kill the other; if not, 

 let the bees manage that matter. If we 

 want increase, it is readily had by divi- 

 sion; and I have easily worked through 

 whole swarming seasons without a swarm, 

 by a plan by which it is not necessary to 

 go to the apiary oftener than once a week. 

 Such hives are also good for wintering 

 bees, indoors or out. Honey in them 

 can be handled easily by the case, which 

 saves time, trouble and bee stings, and 

 there is no danger of the frames sliding 

 together, and causing leakage. 



It is best to have plenty of extracting 

 combs, and not let the bees run short of 

 room. Queen-excluding honey-boards sim- 

 plify the necessary work. When honey is 

 about three-fourths capped over, it is 

 usually ripe enough to extract; but it is 

 better to tier up and leave it on the hives 

 until the end of the season. In localities 

 where there are two crops in a year, a 

 light-colored one and a dark, with a 

 dearth between, it is better to keep the 

 two crops separate, by removing the light 

 honey just as the dark flow is commenc- 

 ing. In the hot weather usually prevail- 

 ing at this season, honey will soon ripen 

 in the hive, and may be extracted if not 

 capped at all. At the end of the dark 

 honey-flow it is usually cold or cool 

 weather, and unfinished honey will not 

 ripen nor be capped over. This unripe 

 honey should be kept separately, and 

 sold for manufacturing purposes, or to 

 some other cheap trade. Sell none but 

 well-ripened honey for table use, if you 

 would build up and hold a profitable re- 

 tail trade. That is a trade that pays. It 

 is not necessary for honey to be mild and 

 white to be good. I have many custom- 

 ers who prefer good buckwheat or gold- 

 enrod honey to white clover. 



In taking honey from the hives, it 

 pays well to have some bee-escape boards. 



They save smoking, shaking and brush- 

 ing bees. Porter is the best of the many 

 escapes I have tried. Insert them at any 

 time when convenient, and if there is no 

 brood or queen above them, the upper 

 stories will usually be practicably free of 

 bees in 24 hours or less. Extracting from 

 the brood-chamber is seldom necessary or 

 advisable, with good management. 



It is essential to have a bee-tight ex- 

 tracting room; and a stove in it greatly 

 simplifies the work. Almost any small 

 room may be cheaply made bee-tight, and 

 easily warmed, by lining it with heavy 

 building-paper, lapping the paper well, 

 and tacking lathover the joints. In such 

 a room honey can be easily extracted at 

 any convenient time, summer or winter. 

 If the weather is cool or cold, pile the 

 honey on empty caps or temporary bench- 

 es, above head-height if possible, heat 

 the room to a temperature of 90° or high- 

 er, and keep it so for 24 to 48 hours, ac- 

 cording to the length of time the honey 

 has been exposed to a low temperature. 

 It will then extract easily. Some kinds 

 of honey will soon candy in the comb, 

 and must be extracted soon after being 

 stored; but most honey keeps best in the 

 combs, and it is better to leave it there 

 until wanted foi sale or use. 



An active 12-year-old-boy, with any 

 2-frame extractor, will throw out honey 

 as fast as almost any man can uncap it. 

 Expensive, reversible extractors are nice 

 to have, but seldom necessary. It is best 

 to have two uncapping knives, and keep 

 one all the time in hot water, changing 

 often. A small oil stove is handy for 

 this. 



For storing extracted honey, or ship- 

 ping it in a candied state, or for holding 

 cappings and draining them, I know of 

 nothing handier or much cheaper than 

 lard cans. They hold about seven gal- 

 lons; and I get them of my grocery man 

 at 10 cents each after the lard is sold; and 

 can get them new of the butcher or hard- 

 ware man at 25 to 30 cents. For uncap- 

 ping, arrange a can in a convenient place, 

 put a wooden frame on top to rest the 



