104 jHE pBJiiCTICAL BEE GmDE. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



EXTRACTING HONEY. 



478. Extracting. — Let your extracting be done in-doors, so 

 as not to provoke robbing. Where this is not always possible, 

 extracting may sometimes be safely done out of doors in the 

 htight of the honey flow, when bees are not inclined to rob, 

 and if due precautions be taken to protect the combs and honey 

 from any little pilferer who, having once got a taste of the 

 sweets, may quickly lead many others to the spot, and thus 

 set up general robbing at the hives (307). When there are 

 many combs to be extracted, time will be saved if two un- 

 capping knives be used (135). See that the edges are as sharp 

 as they can be made, and heat the blades in a vessel of hot 

 water* while in use. Lay a strong lath across a crock, 

 or other similar vessel. Take up one of the frames ; hold it 

 with one end resting on the lath ; and, with your uncapping 

 knife, working from the bottom upwards, pare off the cappings, 

 inclining the frame towards the knife so that the cappings, as 

 they are pared off, may fall into the vessel underneath. Having 

 uncapped both sides, proceed in the same way with a second 

 frame. Put the frames, ends up, in the extractor (134), one 

 in each cage, and so that, in revolving, the bottom bars of 

 the frames will travel first. Turn the handle, slowly at 

 nrst, and increasing in speed by degrees, being careful not 

 to revolve the cages so furiously as to break the combs. The 

 centrifugal force will throw the honey out of the cells. When 

 one side of each comb is finished, or nearly so, reverse the 

 frames in the cages, and extract from the other sides. With 

 new, soft comb, it is better to extract only about half from 

 one side, then reversing, and returning to the first side to 

 finish. Honey, being more fluid when warm than when cold, 

 may be extracted more easily if it has just been taken off the 

 hive, and if the extractor is warmed with boiling water immedi- 

 ately before use, and is kept near a good fire during the 

 operation. With extractors which are not geared, the turning 

 of the handle is often a laborious job when a number of combs 

 have to be done. The work may be simplified by arranging 

 what may be called a "cord gearing" by means of a strong 

 cord, about four feet long, with a loop on one end, which is 



