46 



revolve the combs. The comb should be placed with one end resting 

 on the pivot and tilted slightly forward, in order to allow the cappings 

 to fall away from the comb. Uncapping should commence at the 

 bottom of the comb and proceed with a sawing motion from side to 

 side until the top of the comb is reached. The comb is then swung 

 round on the pivot and the reverse side treated in the same manner. 

 Only a thin sheet of wax should be removed, but it must be done 

 thoroughly so that every cell is opened, and at the same time the top 

 and bottom bars should be relieved of any burr-combs which may adhere 

 to them. A contrivance much in favour with progressive beekeepers 

 is the steam-heated knife. This is a Bingham knife with a soldered 

 copper plate, so arranged that steam is forced through it from a rubber 

 tube attached to the spout of a kettle. An escape-tube is fitted to the 

 opposite side, and the knife is kept at a very high temperature aU the 

 time uncapping is proceeding, thereby obviating the work and trouble 

 of continually plunging the knives into boiling water. For uncapping 

 heavy fully capped frames it has no equal, as an ordinary uncapping- 

 knife becomes cold, as a rule, before half one side of a full comb has been 

 uncapped. The cappings should be left to drain for two or three days, 

 after which time they should be gathered and melted, preferably in a 

 solar wax-extractor. By this means the finest and purest wax of the 

 season will be obtained. 



The Honey-extractor. 



Every beekeeper having five or more hives, and who is not working 

 them for comb-honey, requires an extractor. They are made in various 

 sizes, and the beekeeper selects the machine that he considers would 

 serve his purpose according to the number of colonies he has. A two- 

 framed extractor, preferably with the baskets reversible, would be large 

 enough to use in connection with an apiary up to about fifty colonies, 

 but when more than that number are kept it would in many cases be 



Fig. 37. — Four-framed Honey-extractor. 



better to use the four-framed reversible type. Some of the very large 

 beekeepers use the six- and eight-framed machines, and these are the 

 largest sizes made for stock. The majority of large extractors are now 

 motor-driven, the motors and fittings being suppHed with the machine 



