54 The Townsend Bee Book 
leave the gate open all the time so that nearly all of the room in 
the tank is available for the storage of cappings, as it should be. 
The engraving does not show the frame at the top correctly, 
for the long side-pieces should be close enough together so that 
the frames can hang between them as though they were in the 
hives. After the honey is extracted, the combs may be placed back 
in this rack; but the principal value of the arrangement consists 
in providing a place where the uncapped combs may be hung to 
drip before they are extracted, for in this way no extra apparatus 
is needed. 
The Townsend Uncapping Box 
The two short pieces of the framework at the top should be 
nailed on the bottom of the long side-pieces about 114 inches from 
either side. It can be seen that, when the long side-pieces rest on 
top of the tank, the short cross-pieces fit just inside, keeping the 
framework from sliding either way, and yet allowing it to be 
easily removed when the cappings are taken out. The metal pieces 
containing nail-points can be tacked on in any position to suit the 
convenience of the operator. 
We have used many different designs of uncapping-boxes, but 
none seem to me quite so convenient as this Townsend box. It will 
hold all of the cappings from one extracting in a yard of ordinary 
size. We use a six-tined short-handled fork for handling the cap- 
pings, and each morning the dry cappings from the day before are 
pitched up toward one end of the tank, and in this way the honey 
from the new cappings does not have to drain through the dry ones 
over and over again as it would if we were to uncap on top of the 
