EXTRACTING. 
CHAPTER XIII. 
In general, we may say that honey should never be extracted until it is 
thick and well ripened. As soon as the bees consider it properly ripened 
they begin capping it over. Those combs, therefore, that are at least three- 
fourths capped over would probably be sealed in a few hours if left on 
the hive, and may, therefore, be safely extracted. But if honey is extracted 
before the bees have ripened it, it will be thin and of unpleasant flavor, and. 
after being kept for a time, will doubtless ferment. 
There is nothing gained by extracting before the honey flow is over ex- 
cept in localities where another source of nectar begins to yield before a 
preceding one is over, and where it is desirable to remove the earlier and 
choicer crop before it can be mixed in the combs with a less desirable crop. 
Sometimes, also, the beginner may be caught with too few supers and ex- 
tracting-combs to permit tiering up throughout the honey flow. Then it be- 
comes necessary to extract in order to provide empty supers. If one is will- 
ing, however, to go to the extra expense of keeping himself supplied with 
sufficient supers and frames so that no extracting need be done until after 
the honey flow, he will find that this requires less labor and gives much 
thicker and finer-flavored honey except in arid regions of the West where 
the honey is ripened quickly. The employment of this plan may result in 
a somewhat smaller crop the first year because of the necessity of the bees 
drawing out so much foundation; but it should be remembered that these 
same combs may be used year after year, probably for the remainder of 
one’s lifetime. Therefore, it would be poor economy to attempt a small 
saving the first year that would result in a loss during each succeeding year ; 
and unless one lives in a locality where one source begins before another 
ceases, and there is consequent danger of undesirable mixing of the two 
flows, we really see no excuse for extracting before the end of the honey 
flow. 
Taking Off the Honey. 
When it is time to begin extracting, the 
bees may be trapped out of the super by 
means of the bee-escape. The bee-escape 
board is a board exactly like an inner cover 
(and may serve as an inner cover when not 
being used for removing honey), having in 
the center a device called a bee-escape. 
Through this the bees can pass down from 
the supers into the brood-chamber below, but 
cannot return. If placed under the super 
in the forenoon, the bee-escape almost com- 
- pletely frees the upper supers from bees by 
Inserting the bee-escape. the next day. The beginner must observe 
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