22 



and sticks. It may be stated positively, that it does not pay financially, or 

 in any other way, to feed sugar sirup to be stored m sections and sold as 

 comb honey. Of course, such things have been tried but the consumption of 

 sugar during the storing makes the cost greater than the value of pure Horal 

 honey". 



HANDLING OF HONEY. 



EXTRACTING HOUSE. 



There are a number of things to be considered in building an 

 extracting house. First, its location; the house should be within 

 a reasonable distance of the apiary so that the boxes of honey to 

 be extracted will not have to be carried too far, as a full super of 

 eight to ten fraiiles weighs from seventy-five to ninety pounds. 

 If they have to be carried very far it means a considerable amount 

 of labor. Preicaution must be taken, however, not to have the 

 house too near the hives as the bees will be attracted by the odor 

 of the honey and become bothersome, if honey were always 

 extracted duriiig a flow, the house might be close to the 

 apiary, but this is not always the case as the apiarist often waits 

 until a-ftfer the flow is over before extracting, allowing the bees 

 to store in a great many' supers. If honey is extracted during a 

 time when the bees are gathering little honey they are always on 

 the lookout for any available stores. Extracting is often done 

 when the bees are gathering heavily and at such times they do 

 not mind the odors from the extracting house, while at other 

 times the least odor of honey starts them off in search cf it and 

 if they cannot enter the extracting house they sometimes fall 

 upon weaker hives and rob them of their stores. 



The extracting house should be away from other buildings so 

 that the bees when flying around will not annoy persons who may 

 be in the vicinity. The house should be made so that it is 

 absolutely bee-proof; by this is meant that there should be no 

 places where bees could possibly enter from the outside. All 

 windows and doors should be well screened. It is essential to 

 have plenty of windows so that the bees brought in on the frames 

 can have a way of escape after filling themselves with honey. 

 For this reason the screens should be put on the outside of the 

 windows and bee escapes placed at the top so arranged that the 

 bees can easily crawl through them. If regular bee escapes are 

 not used the wire netting which covers the windows should 

 extend four or five inches above the window, leaving a bee space 

 between the window frames or casings and the screens through 

 which the bees may pass. As it is in the nature of the bees to 

 crawl upwards they find these small openings, but upon returning 

 - do not find them. 



The extracting house or room should be kept as clean as 

 possible so that no dust or dirt can possibly get into ' the honey 

 It should be throughly washed before extracting begins and 

 afterwards all articles used in the work should be thoroughly 

 cleaned and dried. It is convenient to have running water in the 

 extracting house as everything can be kept clean more easily 



Ants sometimes become troublesome, but they can be kept 



