56 MONEY IN BEES IN AUSTRALASIA 



placed directly over a pipe, conducting the honey into the 

 tanks on the ground floor. 



UNCAPPING COMBS. 



The comb should be lifted from the barrow and with 

 the end-bar resting on the point — the left hand supporting 

 the comb by the other end-bar — it is ready to uncap. 

 The knife has two edges, and it is a good practice to get 

 into the habit of using both. The majority of apiarists 

 use but one edge. In using one side of th~e knife tilt the 

 top of the comb forward and start cutting from the 

 bottom; as the knife reaches the top the whole sheet 

 of cappings will fall clear of the comb. When the combs 

 are built in Bolton frames, the knife will go clear to the 

 top in one sweep, but with the combs in Langstroth or 

 Hoffman frames it is necessary to give the knife a zigzag 

 motion. 



When very old combs are to be uncapped, the 

 "sawing" backward and forward of the knife becomes 

 imperative in order to secure a "drawing" cut. The 

 amount of comb to be removed at each uncapping is 

 entirely within the control of the apiarist. Full, bulged 

 combs are the easiest to handle, and it has been found a 

 good practice to have a greater space between the super- 

 combs than between those in the brood-nest. In the 

 brood-chamber the Hoffman frames when touching one 

 another are spaced exactly right to conserve the heat. 

 The backs of the bees clustered over the faces of adjoining 

 brood-combs just touch one another; this prevents any 

 cold air circulating between the combs to the detriment 

 of the brood. 



In the extracting super there is no occasion io have 

 the combs so spaced. In actual working close spacing 

 of super-combs results in a number of depressed places 

 difficult to uncap without gouging into the comb, 

 destroying the even face, and wasting time. During 

 extracting use seven frames in eight-frame supers ; this 

 gives nice "fat" combs, easily uncapped. While some 



