March 22, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



179 



is very thick, the combs new and the weather cool, heated 

 water is necessary, and an oil-lamp accomplishes the pur- 

 pose. Some bee-keepers prefer to use hot water upon all 

 occasions, and a water-heater is fitted to a common lain]i. 

 In fact, it is a jacketed tin chimney, and the knives are in- 

 serted from the top. A hot knife will certainly slip under 

 the cappings beautifully for a few times, but it soon cools, 

 and must be changed for a hot knife. With this continuous 

 changing the water in the little heater soon becomes thick 

 with honey carried into it by the knives, and we soon have 

 boiling syrup instead of water to contend with. Ordinarily 

 in hot weather the uncapping can be done with less bother 

 to the operator by using lukew^arm water, or water warmed 

 by the temperature of the hot weather. 



One would think that the shaving of the cappings from 

 a comb would be done in quite the same way by different 

 individuals, but there are about as many ways as there are 

 men to do it. Here is a man that has never uncapt much 

 honey, and he lays the comb flat upon a bench, and is dip- 

 ping the cappings off with the point of the knife. Another 

 will hold the comb upright and uncap with that portion of 

 the knife that extends from the point to the curve. There 

 are others who hold the comb in such a way that the cap- 

 pings when they slide over the knife immediately attach 

 themselves to the comb again, and have to be removed the 

 second time. 



The proper way to hold a comb is to grasp the upper 

 corner firmly between the thumb and fingers, allowing the 

 lower corner furthest from you to rest upon the support. 

 And this support is worth considering. A sharp-pointed 

 wire-nail makes a good support. The frame will not slip 

 from it, and can be readily whirled around when necessary. 

 If the comb is capt only half way down, one cut up will do 

 the job for that side ; and be sure to hold the comb over at 

 such an angle that the capping, as it leaves the knife, will 

 drop into the uncapping-can. 



If the comb is completely capt it will take two strokes 

 or shaves to a side. Many prefer to make both of these an 

 upward cut. A very neat way practiced by some is to make 

 one cut up on the far side, then keep the knife right along 

 under the cappings across the top in a curve until the point 

 of the knife is toward you, and then down, making a con- 

 tinuous cut from start to finish. It requires considerable 

 practice to get on to this movement, but the wrist and the 

 fingers can soon be trained to the accomplishment. Another 

 method is to shave up one side and down the other. The 

 downward shave here requires a firm wrist and a quick eye. 



Some operators allow the knife to dig into the comb 

 and to take off quite an amount of honey with the cappings. 

 It is better to take a thin capping unless dealing with an 

 uneven comb. Where there are prominences and hollows 

 the operator should heroically shave down to an even thick- 

 ness, and at the next extracting you will have a good crop 

 to work with. 



To get the most out of a honey-knife the extracting- 

 frames should be free from projecting nails or projecting 

 metal of any kind, and all so-called metal self-spacing de- 

 vices should be avoided. When a nicely sharpened knife 

 runs against one with a drawing motion, it causes a shock 

 to the operator as well as to the knife. 



When the extracting season closes, clean the knives 

 and lay them away until needed for extracting again. An 

 uncapping-knife is for uncapping, and will not work well 

 as a butcher-knife, or for scraping bottom-boards or covers. 

 Use the proper tools for these purposes, and in that way 

 you will get the most out of your tools. 



A Few Notes and Comments. 



BY S. T. PETTIT. 



HONEY TAFFY.— On page 138, Dr. Miller, in answer- 

 ing " New Jersey " on how to make honey-taffy and 

 not burn it, says : "The whole secret is to cook it 

 very slowly. Don't put it on too hot a place on the stove." 

 Good so far, but there is another secret that is very helpful, 

 viz.: Frequent, or better still, constant stirring until it 

 boils. Even on a very slow fire there is danger of burning 

 if the latter precaution be not observed. 



right down the lane until you come in contact with poor, 

 struggling bee-keepers who are being crowded out by new 

 comers and beginners ; and then if you will show up those 

 intruders as you have your own would-be opponents, I be- 

 lieve the majority of our best apiarists would appreciate 

 your summing up of the matter. You know, not long ago, 

 you thought every farmer ought to keep .some bees, and 

 that every bee-keeper ought to teach them just how to do it. 

 I am glad most bee-keepers have failed to agree with you 

 in that matter. I trust you will give me a hearing. 



Suppressing Hives. — Again, on page 136, I note what 

 you say under the heading, "Suppressing Hives." You 

 don't seem to think it the duty or business of manufacturers 

 to boom some one else's hives to their own injury. Nor do 

 you believe it your business to help those who would start 

 another bee-paper. Now, if you will carry that thought 



Eari.v Breeding.— On page 132, R. C. Aikin gives us 

 a readable article on comb-honey production, but does he 

 not err in advocating so early breeding ? I have attained 

 to my idea of perfect wintering when ray bees remain quiet 

 until suitable weather and the time for putting them out 

 arrives — so quiet that when carried from the cellar they 

 seem nearly dead ; and with but little loss of .stores, and 

 the less the better I am pleased. Such colonies have prac- 

 tically all the energy, vitality, vim and push of which they 

 were possest when they went into the cellar. Their numeri- 

 cal strength is much the same, and the queen is fresh and 

 ready for heavy duty. In all my experience these are the 

 bees that give a good account of themselves. 



It may be necessary later to remove some of their stores 

 to make room for the queen ; if so, you will find a call for 

 it in those colonies that were breeding so early, whose old 

 bees are disappearing so rapidly, and may be a little weak 

 when the harvest comes, while the others will be boiling 

 over with bees right from the start. 



Mr. Aikin and I are a good way apart in this one par- 

 ticular. I believe nurse-bees that are confined to the hive 

 until young bees are emerging, are played out. 



The time is upon us for making observations, and I 

 hope those who hold with Mr. Aikin will give this matter 

 careful examination. Bees are wintering pretty badly in- 

 deed if a few colonies in the cellar can not be found very 

 quiet with but very little brood, if any, and whose stores 

 are not much reduced. 



New Hives. — On page 129, Mr. Johansen's apiary and 

 those pretty trees make a lovely picture. In my early bee- 

 keeping days a hive on exactly the same plan was exhibited 

 by a man whose name I have forgotten, at the Western 

 Pair, London, Ont. He was a good talker, and I came near 

 investing in it. I have never heard from it since. He had 

 great faith in his hive. West Ontario, Canada. 



Shallow Divisible-Brood-Chamber Box-Hives. 



BY C. DAVENPORT. 



THERE are some who consider shallow divisible-brood- 

 chamber hives superior in some respects to any kind or 

 style of single-brood-story hives, but they cost more, 

 and if one makes his own hives, aside from the cover and 

 bottom-board, it is double the work to make them, in fact 

 more, if closed-end frames are used, for with this style of 

 frame the workmanship needs to be much more exact. It 

 is, I believe, owing principally to these reasons that shal- 

 low divisible hives are not more largely used. 



For the last seven or eight years I have been using a 

 number of shallow divisible-brood-chamber box-hives with 

 most excellent results, and, all things considered, I prefer 

 them to this style of hive with frames, and with my man- 

 agement or method of using them I can- obtain as much 

 honey, either comb or extracted, and with less work than I 

 could if they contained frames ; and this is no experiment 

 or hastily arrived at conclusion with me, for, as I said, I 

 commenced using them a number of years ago, and have 

 been gradually increasing their number, so that I have at 

 present about 40 in use. Colonies in these hives can be de- 

 queened, requeened, or divided as quickly, and usually more 

 easily than in the most modern frame hives. 



But the great advantage of these hives is that they cost 

 no more, and are about as easily made as the old-fashioned 

 box-hives ; and as there has been such a sharp advance in 

 the price of frame hives lately, and a poor crop in general 

 last season, it may be of interest to some who will need 

 more hives the coming season, for me to describe how these 

 hives are made, and explain the method or methods to be 

 followed in using them, for as probably all who will read 

 this know that one, if not the principal, advantage claimed 

 for divisible-brood-chamber hives is that nearly all the 

 necessary manipulations are performed by handling the 

 sections of the hive instead of the frames individually. 

 This necessarily entails a different management from that 



