Fublisht Weekly at 118 Michigan St. 



George W. York, Editor. 



11.00 a Year— Sample Copy Free. 



38th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 7, 1898. 



No. 14. 



An Uncapping-Box and Apiary Apron. 



BY MRS. EFFIE BROWN. 



Hitherto I have never ventured far out into the fields of 

 bee-literature, for, somehow, there are so many able and ex- 

 perienced hands there that, when I do find out something 

 which I think is good, just as I get all ready to publish the 

 facts somebody is sure he knew all about it years ago. 



Last summer I made myself an uncapping-box, and this 

 spring I am making some apiary aprons which I am going to 

 describe without trying to flud out how many other bee-keep- 

 ers already have just such articles. 



My uncapping-box first came from the grocer — only a 

 common soap-box, but by taking from and adding to It became 

 a very handy thing to have In extractlng-tlme. 



The first thing I did with it was to clean it, and then wax 

 it well so that it would not leak where I did not want it to. 



cappings. When I had the screen tackt on, I turned the box 

 bottom upward and nailed a top-bar of a frame across the 

 edge of the bottom I had just sawed ; then another across the 

 bottom of the end of the box, from which I had just knockt 

 the strip. These two strips, when nailed, were about two 

 Inches apart, and each being nearly an inch wide, I nailed a 

 piece of half-inch stuff (four inches wide and five inches 

 longer than the width of the box) down solidly onto the two 

 pieces of frame just nailed on. I then had a trough under the 

 screen, and projecting far enough away from the box to run 

 the honey into a pail. 



A narrow strip on the back end of the trough, and one on 

 each side of the projecting end, was all that was needed ex- 

 cept the legs. 



Now, I can't tell you much about the legs, only that they 

 were made of good, stout strips of wood, with no two of the 

 same length. But, anyway, after I had them nailed on, the 

 corner from which the honey was to drip was the lowest. The 

 whole box stands tipt slightly cornerwise, with the end of the 

 trough high enough to set a pall under. 



When I am going to extract I tack a narrow strip across 

 the top of the box to rest the frames on, and then shave away. 

 The cappings fall into the box, and the honey seeks the lowest 

 corner where it passes through the screen down into the pail. 

 The box should be large enough to hold all the cappings of 



Mr. Paul Whitebread and His Apiqry, in Luzerne Cowity, Pennsylvania. — See page 217. 



Then I turned it over and sawed off a strip of the bottom 

 about three inches wide and the whole width of the box. Over 

 this, inside of the box, I tackt a double thickness of common 

 window-screen through which the honey could drain free from 



I one day's extracting. If allowed to drain all night they will 

 I be about dry in the morning. 



After the box is completed It should have another coat of 

 I wax so that all the cracks will be well filled. 



