592 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



bees to the chief honey flow in shape to 

 enable it to take full advantage of the 

 harvest. 



Extracted Honey 



To secure extracted honey, the requi- 

 site number of combs may be in one long 

 hive, or in stories one above another. It 

 numerous sets of combs are at hand, or if 

 it is desirable to have others built, addi- 

 tional stories are put on as fast as the 

 combs already occupied by the bees are 

 filled. Before removing the filled combs 

 time should be allowed the bees to ripen 

 and cap the honey; hence enough combs 

 are necessary to give the bees storage 

 room while they are capping others. The 

 honey in combs that are quite or nearly 

 sealed over may be considered sufficiently 

 ripened to be removed from the hive. 



It should also be taken promptly, in 

 order to keep the various grades or kinds 

 separate. 



The cells are uncapped by means of a 

 sharp knife, made especially for this pur- 

 pose (Fig. 6), and the combs are then 



Fig. C. Quinby Uncapping Knife, 

 made to revolve rapidly in the honey 

 extractor. The centrifugal force exerted 

 on the honey throws it out, leaving the 

 comb cells uninjured, or so slightly in- 

 jured that they are wholly repaired with- 

 in an hour or so after the return of the 

 comb to the hive. The chief advantages 

 of this method of harvesting over that of 

 crushing the combs are at once apparent 

 when it is known that each pound of 

 comb saved represents several pounds of 

 honey (consumed in its construction), 

 and may, with care be used over almost 

 indefinitely in securing surplus honey. 

 Furthermore, extracted honey is of much 

 finer quality than that obtained by crush- 

 ing the combs and straining out the liquid 

 part, since it is free from crushed bees, 

 larvae, pollen or "bee bread," etc., which 

 not only render strained honey dark and 

 strong in flavor, but also make it liable 

 to fermentation and souring. 



The extracted honey is run into open 



buckets or tanks and left, covered with 

 cheese cloth, to stand a week or so in a 

 dry, warm room not frequented by ants. 

 It should be skimmed each day until per- 

 fectly clear, and is then ready to be put 

 into cans or barrels for marketing, or to 

 be stored in a dry place. 



The surplus combs are to be removed 

 at the close of the season and hung an 

 inch or so apart on racks placed in a 

 dry, airy room, where no artificial heat 

 is felt. Moth larvae are not likely to 

 trouble them until the following spring, 

 but upon the appearance of milder 

 weather their ravages will begin, and if 

 the combs cannot be placed under the 

 care of the bees at once they must be 

 fumigated with burning sulphur or with 

 bisulphid of carbon. 



Comb Honey 



The main difference to be observed in 

 preparing colonies for the production of 

 comb honey, instead of extracted, is in 

 the adjustment of the brood apartment 

 at the time the supers are added. After 

 the colony has been bred up to the great- 

 est possible strength, the brood apart- 

 ment should be so regulated in size, when 

 the honey flow begins and the supers are 

 added, as to crowd many of the bees out 

 and into the supers placed above. 



On each hive a super is placed holding 

 24 to 48 sections, each section supplied 

 with a strip or a full sheet of very thin 

 foundation. It is best not to give too 

 much space at once, as considerable 

 warmth is necessary to enable the bees to 

 draw out foundation or to build comb 

 A single set of sections is usually suffi' 

 cient at a time. When the honey is de 

 signed for home use or for a local market 

 half-depth frames are sometimes used 

 the same as those often used above the 

 brood nests when colonies are run for 

 extracted honey, but for the general mar- 

 ket pound sections are better adapted. 



It is the practice of many to have nice 

 white comb partially drawn out before 

 the main honey flow begins, or even the 

 season before, feeding the colonies, if 

 necessary, to secure this; and, when the 

 honey yield begins, to supply sets of sec- 

 tions with these combs having cells deep 



