DADANT SYSTEM OF BEEKEEPING 



83 



able feature of the newly discovered method. We had no utensils 

 for handling the honey and cappings. A butcher knife, later 

 a thin-bladed knife, served as uncapping knife, and we can still 

 remember the relief brought to the work by the invention of the 

 Bingham knife, whose beveled edge kept the cappings from 

 sticking again to the combs, after having been shaved off. An 

 ordinary dishpan served us for several seasons, as a capping 

 can. This had to be emptied, every few hours, into a sieve with 

 side-boards, draining over a 5-gallon earthen jar. 



After 4 or 5 years of this infantile and ridiculous method, 

 or lack of method, we decided to have a large strainer built which 

 would hold the cappings of a whole day's extracting. Manu- 

 facturers of honey extractors had then come into being and we 

 ordered from one of them a can of the same size as an extractor 

 can, with another can in- 

 side of it. The latter can 

 had a screen instead of a 

 bottom and was ten inches 

 shallower than the outer 

 can, its bottom resting on 

 a pivot in the center of the 

 outer can and its upper 

 edge on the inner edge of 

 it. This was the "capping 

 can," named "Dadant un- 

 capping can" by dealers, 

 which is now often replaced 

 by a long trough with 

 double screened bottom in 

 the honey house. We prefer 

 the capping can to any- 

 other implement for hold- 

 ing cappings, because it 

 may be transported like an 

 extractor, because it is 

 light and easily cleaned. 

 Some such implement 



Fig. 41. The Original Capping can is 

 still in use in the Dadant Apiaries 



