300 Beekeeping 



practical except in the dry regions of the West where it 

 does not rain during the honey season. To aid in keeping 

 out bees and dirt, the western honey tanks have a relatively 

 small opening at the top. 



Reduction of the lifting of honey. 



If the extracting house can be so arranged that the honey 

 will flow from one piece of equipment to the other, much 

 lifting is avoided. Honey is usually run into tanks through 

 pipes and if desired these may be utilized in carrying the 

 honey from one house to another or to tanks some distance 

 from the extracting house. Care should be taken to keep 

 these pipes clean. If the honey cannot be run by gravity 

 through its entire course, a honey-pump (Fig. 122) may be 

 used and the usual practice is to attach this to the extractor 

 so that it may be driven by the same power that runs the 

 extractor. The whipping of honey in a pump tends to in- 

 duce granulation so that honey should not be pumped after 

 being heated for bottling (p. 324). 



Returning combs to the hives. 



After the combs are emptied, they may either be returned 

 to the bees to be refilled, if nectar is still coming in, or may 

 be returned to be cleaned of honey and then removed for 

 storage. If the honey-flow is still on, empty combs may 

 be put on a hive as the full ones are removed, but during a 

 light flow of honey or a dearth of nectar this may cause 

 robbing and undue excitement in the apiary. In this event, 

 the combs should be kept in the extracting house until the 

 end of the day. If the combs are returned simply to be 

 cleaned, a half dozen hive-bodies may be put over one colony 

 and the bees will soon clean all of them. After the surplus 

 combs are emptied, they may be left on the colonies to pre- 

 vent their destruction by wax-moth larvae or they may be 

 stored in a light, well-ventilated room or in hive-bodies where 

 they should be watched and fumigated when necessary. 



