JuLV, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



c 



TALKS TO 



By the 



u 



SINCE such a 

 great n u m - 

 ber of bee- 

 keei)ers will be 

 beginners this 

 year in extract- 

 ing, wc shall en- 

 (leavor this 

 month to give a 

 detailed descrip- 

 tion of the entire subject, and show how 

 the work may be done in a practical way 

 and at small cost. 



When To Extract. 

 Honey should never be extracted until it 

 is thick and well ripened. As soon as ithe 

 bees consider it just right they begin cap- 

 ping it over. During hot weather, there- 

 fore, combs at least three-fourths capped 



BEGINNERS 



Editor 



1 



%J 



Combs one-fourth, one-half and three-fourths capped 

 — the uppermost one is fit for extracting. 



would probably be sealed in a few hours if 

 left on the hive, and may, therefore, be safe- 

 ly extracted. But if honey is extracted before 

 the bees have ripened it, it will be thin and 

 of unpleasant flavor, and, after being kept 

 for a time, fermentation will doubtless re- 

 sult. 



Some beekeepers have so few supers that 

 extracting during the honey flow seems 

 necessary in order to give the bees enough 

 room for storing the remainder of the crop. 

 If one is willing, however, to go to the extra 

 expense of keeping supplied with sufficient 

 supers so that no extracting need be done 



until after the 

 honey flow, he 

 will find that 

 this results i n 

 less labor and a 

 in u c h thicker 

 and finer-flavor- 

 ed honey. The 

 employment o f 

 this plan may 

 result in a somewhat smaller crop the first 

 year because of the necessity of the bees 

 drawing out so much foundation; but it 

 should be remembered that these same 

 combs may be used year after year, probab- 

 ly for the remainder of one's lifetime. 

 Therefore it would be poor economy to at- 

 tempt a small saving the first year that 

 would result in a loss during each succeed- 

 ing year; and unless one lives in a locality 

 where one source begins before another 

 ceases, and there is consequent danger of 

 mixing the two flows, we really see no ex- 

 cuse for extracting before the end of the 

 honey flow. 



Necessary Extracting Equipment. 

 For the beekeeper with less than 25 colo- 

 nies, a simple, practical outfi^t may be pro- 

 vided at very small cost. A small Novice 

 non-reversible extractor should be securely 

 attached to a solid box firmly bolted to the 

 floor, the box being of the right height for 

 drawing off the honey. The best location 

 for the extractor would be near the wall, 

 where there would be less vibration when in 

 operation, for continued vibration is apt to 

 pull the can or box loose, especially if care 

 is not taken to place combs of equal weight 

 in the two sides of the extractor. 



Near this extractor should be the un- 

 capping-can. This may be made of a barrel 

 with both ends knocked out and a coarse 

 screen nailed over the bottom. Across the 

 top, about one-third of the distance from 

 one side, a two-inch strip of lumber should 

 be nailed, at the middle of which a sharp- 

 pointed nail projects upward about an inch 

 to hold the frame while uncapping. The 

 barrel itself may be supported in a tub into 

 which the honey from the caj^pings falls. 



Not far from the extractor should also be 

 a straining can in which is suspended a 

 large cheese-cloth bag attached to a barrel- 

 hoop supported by the top of the can. Too 

 much honey should not be drawn from this 

 can. There should always be enough honey 

 left to cover the strainer, for, if tlie honey 

 gets low, the cappings and impurities that 

 would otherwise float on the surface of the 

 liquid will collect on the strainer and soon 

 clog it. 



If one cares to take the extra trouble, a 

 cheap yet handier capping-receptacle could 

 be made from a plain box. This box 

 may be of any desired length and about 

 19 inches wide so that the uncapped combs 

 can be suspended cornerwise in one end 

 of the box until they are extracted. Near 

 one end is a cross piece with an upward 

 projecting nail point for holding the frame 



