July 1. 1911 



395 



BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS, ILLUSTRATED. 



Uncapping Combs by Hand and by Machinery; the 

 Ferguson Uncapping-niachine Given a Trial. 



BY E. D. TOWiS'SEND. 



The uncapinng of combs in a workman- 

 like manner is an art that few can pride 

 themselves in. True, almost every one who 

 has had some years of exjjerience in the pro- 

 duction of extracted honey does fairly well 

 with the uncapi)ing-knife: l)ut the common 

 fault, especially when the short Bingham 

 knife is used, is to jiay attention only to 

 that part of the comb that is sealed. The 

 brace-combs built on the edges of the deep 

 top-bars are usually untouched, and these, 

 with the unsealed portions of the comb, are 

 thus left more prominent than the i)arts 

 that were uncapped; consequently, in the 

 extractor the centrifugal force drives these 



prominent parts inlo the wire of the comb- 

 basket, and so mutilates them that consid- 

 erable honey is held back. Then if the 

 combs are new and tender, those portion.s 

 uncai^pe ddeep will be i)ushed out against 

 the basket of the extractor with such force 

 that they are likely to be broken, ami bulged 

 out of shape. Wiring the extracting-frames 

 is a great help, and we do not think of giv- 

 ing the bees a single frame unless it is wir- 

 ed, and fitted with a full sheet of founda- 

 tion. This ])ays well in many ways. 



Fig. 4 shows thecorreet position of the un- 

 cap])ing-knife as used by the writer, as well 

 as the position to hold the comb that is be- 

 ing uncapped, and the pivot that the frame 

 turns on. This i)ivot is placed on a cross- 

 piece nailed to the top of the Mclntyre un- 

 capping-box so that the cai)pings fall from 

 the combs direct into the box. The same 

 arrangement is used on the capping-melter 

 so tliat the cappings fall direct on the melt- 



GRANDPA HUTCHINSON TELLING fcTORIES TO HIS GRANDCHILDREN. 



TUuce. the little boy shown above, was too ill to go to the fiiiieial: but he said to his grandma that be 

 was going to die just as soon as he could, so he could see his grandpa again. He thought grandpa was 

 about perfect, for he always said he was going to be a good man like grandpa. It is said that a child 

 often has the loower to read character beyond that of an adult. In this case, what a tribute ! The loving 

 eyes of those grandchildren — no words can portray the love and admiration that they show. Grandpa 

 was very proud of that picture, and well he might be.— Ed. 



