The Townsend Bee Book 51 
hives with one of the robber-cloths, as the bees will soon ‘‘ boil 
over,’’ when there will be trouble in putting on the cover without 
killing the bees. Having the bees nearly all smoked out, a comb 
should be lifted with both hands and then held over the entrance 
of the hive. In that position it may be held with the left hand in 
the original position while the right hand holds the brush. A 
slight turn of the wrist exposes either one side of the comb or the 
other to the brush. . . . . . Two sweeps of the brush on either 
side of the comb are usually sufficient to remove the bees with the 
exception of a few stragglers next to the bottom-bar, which are 
allowed to pass out through the bee-escape on the honey-house 
windows later. As fast as the combs are brushed they are put into 
the hive-body on a wheelbarrow. If the first three combs are 
placed at the furthest side of the bodies, the further edge of the 
robber-cloth can be lifted up to get them in; but it is best to put 
the five other combs in from the front by lifting the front edge of 
the cloth. Asa full upper story will yield about 50 lbs. of extract- 
ed honey, we wheel in only two at a load. 
One great secret of success in extracting when there is no 
honey coming in from the field is to keep all honey away from 
the bees while it is being handled in the yard. Another secret is 
to avoid giving combs wet with honey back to the bees while the 
extracting is going on. 
If it is desirable to return these combs to the bees for any 
purpose, they should be given just at night, when they will all be 
cleaned up by morning so that there will be no commotion. 
The honey should be extracted almost immediately, so that it 
will not have time to get cold. In order to work to the best advan- 
tage there should be two operators in the extracting-house, and 
one to take off the honey and wheel it in. All honey to be extracted 
should be piled up near the uncapping-tank. While one person 
does the uncapping, the other turns the extractor and handles the 
honey, although sometimes the uncapper has time to help a little 
in some other work. 
When uncapping, the end-bar of the comb should be rested on 
the pivot or point in the cross-piece of the uncapping-tank. It is 
best to use a long uncapping-knife, commencing at the lower end 
of the comb, and cutting deep—down even with the wood—with 
a drawing motion. As the knife reaches the middle of the frame 
it will be necessary to hold the comb nearly vertical to prevent the 
eappings from falling back on the comb instead of directly into 
the capping-box below from the outer edge of the knife. If the 
