1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



733 



frame super they will be (if this class, when, by 

 cutting deeply, so as to leave the combs only 

 about one inch thick, eacii side can be uncapped 

 with one "fell swoop." It was hard for me to 

 get over the feeling that I ought to uncap as thin- 

 ly as possible — that thick cappings were like thick 

 parings from a potato — but it really makes little 

 difference whether the honey goes through the ex- 

 tractor or drains from the cappings. 



To do the best work when uncapping, the 

 knife ought to be sharp, hot, and wet. Only the 

 man who has tried it can realize the difference be- 

 tween such a knife and one that is cold, dull, and 

 dry. I have a little two-burner oil-stove standing 

 upon a barrel at my elbow, and upon the stove 

 a tin or pail filled with water. When through 

 uncappinga comb I simply lay the knife in the hot 

 w^ater, as it is just as easy as to lay it down some- 

 where else. When I begin uncapping the next 

 comb, the knife is hot and wet; and the way it 

 will slip through the comb is a caution. If this 

 management did not keep the knife hot enough, 

 then I would use two knives, leaving one in the 

 hot water while using the other. When heating 

 up the honey with the Perfection heater, we found 

 that we could dispense with this small stove by 

 using two pails of water, leaving one on the Per- 

 fection heater, while the other sat upon the bar- 

 rel at the side of the operator. When the water 

 became too cool we simply changed places with 

 the pails. 



Very new combs or very old ones do not uncap 

 as easily as those that are between the extremes. 

 An old comb that lias recently been drawn out 

 thick — that is, the bees have lengthened the cells, 

 partly with new wax and partly with wax taken 

 from the old comb, is about the nicest comb to 

 uncap. The lower part of the comb has a stiff- 

 ness or stability, while the upper part has suffi- 

 cient softness to make it cut easily. A man can 

 afford to go to a lot of pains and expense to get 

 exactly the right kind of combs to use in his su- 

 pers — old combs spread wide apart — as the saving 

 of time in uncapping is very important. 



To uncap a comb, rest one end upon the nail- 

 point of the cross-piece over the barrel. Stand 

 the comb in a nearly upright position. Hold it 

 with the left hand, grasping it near the upper end. 

 Begin at the lower end to uncap, giving the knife 

 a sort of slanting, shaving movement, such as a 

 barber gives his razor, drawing it back and forth 

 as it cuts its way upward, at the same time slant- 

 ing the comb slightly forward (toward the knife) 

 so that the cappings, as they break off, will drop 

 into the barrel instead of upon the surface of the 

 comb. 



THE EXTRACTOR. 



I have used the two-frame reversible and the 

 four-frame automatic reversible, and I have seen 

 the eight-frame automatic in use when run by a 

 gasoline-engine. My preference would be the 

 four-frame automatic. It is certainly worthy of 

 all praise. The brake, the automatic reversing 

 of the combs, the ball-bearings, are time-savers 

 and great comforts. The machine is inclined to 

 run more steadily than the two-comb machine. 

 There is less of that wobbly motion if the combs 

 vary in weight. Power is needed to run the 

 eight-comb machine; and, as the only object in 

 using this machine instead of the four-comb is to 

 save time, I doubt the expediency of employing 



it, and the attendant power, in the plan that I am 

 following. There is no special hurry to get the 

 extracting done, as when fewer supers are used 

 and some of the combs must be emptied to give 

 the bees room. To run the eight-comb, with 

 power, requires a crew of men to work to advan- 

 tage, while one man can work very advantageous- 

 ly with the four-comb; or two can work together 

 to very good advantage. If I were to adopt 

 the eight-comb and power, I would get only one 

 extractor and one engine, and then move them 

 from one yard to another, as the work was com- 

 pleted at each yard. This, of course, would re- 

 quire a team, while I am trying to work out a 

 system in which there is no transportation from 

 one yard to another during the entire season, ex- 

 cept that of tlie man who does the work. 



The manner in which the extractor is set up to 

 do the work will depend upon the surroundings. 

 We have three extractors, and each is set up in a 

 way different from the others. Where we extract 

 in the cellar the extractor is set nearly a foot above 

 the floor, and then a hole, or pit, nearly two feet 

 deep is dug, in which to set the strainer-tub and 

 cans to be filled. Of course, the sides of this pit 

 are boarded up. At another apiary the honey- 

 house is built over the cellar, and here the ex- 

 tractor stands directly upon the floor, the gate be- 

 ing placed over the hatchway, the straining and 

 canning of the honey being done in the cellar. 

 The honey runs out of the gate, falls down 

 through the hatchway, and drops upon the strain- 

 er below. At the other yard a solid platform, 

 nearly three feet high, is built in one corner of 

 the honey-house. This platform is large enough 

 for the extractor, for the man to stand who turns 

 the crank, also for one or two supers of combs to 

 stand, side by side. An extractor at this height 

 from the floor allows room for the strainer, and 

 foraman to stand upon the scales below the hon- 

 ey-gate of the strainer-tub. 



To he continued. 



DR. 



MILLER AND THE 

 QUEEN-TRAPS. 



Their Use and Abuse. 



USE OF 



BY R. L. TAYLOR. 



For the purpose of discussing queen-traps and 

 clipped queens. Dr. Miller starts out with what 

 purports to be a quotation from an article of 

 mine on the subject, as a text. He has evidently 

 made the quotation from memory, and, relying 

 on that, his memory has played him false. The 

 language he chiefly criticises is not to be found 

 at all in the paragraph which he ostensibly quotes; 

 even the subject of queen-traps, which is his main 

 topic, is not mentioned in that paragraph at all; 

 yet these phrases, with some correct quotations, 

 are thrown together with comments of the editor 

 and remarks of his own, all duly maishalcd un- 

 der quotation-marks, proclaiming "this is a liter- 

 al quotation." 



Beginning with the above paragraph I set out 

 to reply to the article by Dr. Miller on page 556, 

 and it was followed by a mild criticism of his 

 method of making quotations. Since writing, 

 however, I have been informed that the doctr r 

 was in nowise responsible for the quotation-marks, 



