AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



597 



Hou' to Extract Honey in tlie 

 Fall or Winter. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I see that some have trouble in getting 

 thick honey out of the combs at this 

 time of the year, and later on in the 

 winter, if the honey is left in the combs 

 until that time. As I have had some ex- 

 perience in this line, I will give it for 

 the benefit of the many readers of the 

 American Bee Journal,. 



Were it not that a much better article 

 can be produced by leaving the honey 

 on the hives until the end of the season, 

 or until ail is thorougly sealed or ripened, 

 I should be greatly in favor of extract- 

 ing every third to fifth day during the 

 season ; but after repeated trials of this 

 kind, with nearly all kinds of artificial 

 evaporation, I find that I cannot pro- 

 duce nearly so good an article of honey 

 out of this thin nectar, as can be pro- 

 duced by leaving it in the hives for the 

 bees to care for. Hence, if we would 

 have the. best honey which can be pro- 

 duced, it Jjecomes a necessity that we 

 should extract thick honey. 



When I received my first extractor, it 

 came in mid-winter, and being one of 

 those who cannot wait long to see a new 

 invention work, of course I must try it 

 immediately ; so I repaired to the shop, 

 took down some frames of honey I had 

 stored away, uncapped them and tried 

 the machine. As might be expected, 

 the thing was a failure, especially as 

 this extractor was one with no gearing, 

 but whose can and all revolved by means 

 of a peg or handle placed near the cen- 

 ter of the can. Upon going to bed that 

 night I thought, of course, I could not 

 succeed in throwing out frozen honey, 

 for the extractor was made for use in 

 the summer time when the weather is 

 hot. 



After some study and planning, the 

 next morning found me up bright and 

 early, with several combs hanging up 



near the ceiling of a small room, with a 

 fire built and a thermometer hanging 

 close by the combs of honey. I soon 

 had the temperature of the room at the 

 ceiling up to 95^, where I kept it for 

 six hours, as I remember of reading in 

 some of Quinby's writings, that, if a 

 comb of solid honey were to be given to 

 a colony of bees in winter, it should be 

 left in a warm room at least half a day 

 before being set in with the bees, so that 

 it would become thoroughly warmed 

 through. 



In the afternoon I again tried the ex- 

 tractor, when I could easily throw out 

 95 per cent, of the honey the comb con- 

 tained. Even what was partially can- 

 died could nearly all be thrown out, and 

 the combs hung away so clean that no 

 bees were needed to clean them off to 

 keep them from draining. 



By hanging the combs near the ceiling 

 of the room, it does not take an ex- 

 tremely hot fire to keep the temperature 

 at from 90^ to 100°, or even higher, if 

 you have old, tough combs. I keep the 

 combs in just so much heat as they will 

 bear without breaking down, for six 

 hours, and where kept in this way no 

 one need have a pound of honey left in 

 them, as has been reported by some. 



Another thing, the extracting, when 

 done in this way, comes when there is 

 little else to do, as fall and early winter 

 is comparatively a time of leisure with 

 most bee-keepers; and by tiering up 

 and leaving the honey on the hives until 

 fall, the extracting can be done when 

 the cares of the busy season have passed 

 by, and a quality of honey obtained 

 which shall be of benefit to our market, 

 instead of a curse, as unripe honey 

 always is a curse to any market where 

 put on the same. 



EXTRACTING PARTLY-FILLED SECTIONS. 



Since I found out this way of extract- 

 ing honey, I always leave my partly- 

 filled sections until I am through the 

 hurry of my summer and fall work, un- 

 less I wish to feed the honey in them to 

 the bees, and have no difficulty by this 

 plan of getting out from 95 to 98 per 

 cent, of the honey in them, without in- 

 jury to the most fragile combs. To best 

 extract the honey from these sections, I 

 make a frame to hold the largest num- 

 ber of sections .possible, consistent with 

 ' its going in the extractor, having it so 

 accurately made that a given number of 

 sections will fit into it rather tightly, the 

 last one in, when properly made, keying 

 the whole, as it were, so they can be 

 handled as one frame, which simplifies 

 the work very much. 



