196 FITTINGS AND APPARATUS. [Cli. iv. 



the combs in that hive suitable for extraction have been 

 operated upon according to the wish and judgment of 

 the manipulator. Prior to commencing this operation, 

 a little smoke should be blown into the hive and an 

 examination made lest the queen should be too summarily 

 shaken off the comb ; she must be quietly transferred to 

 another if the one she may be on is required to be 

 placed in the extractor. 



During the gathering season it is astonishing how 

 quickly these emptied cells will be refilled with honey, 

 and not unfrequently the queen finds in some of these 

 unoccupied receptacles timely provision for her othe'rwise 

 contracted accommodation for depositing eggs ; thus 

 breeding goes forward at an astonishing rate. Much is 

 written about the value of comb, and by this contrivance 

 the labour of the bees in building it is saved. There is 

 no doubt but that this instrument is of great service to 

 the bee-keeper when judiciously applied,* and since the 

 introduction of the movable combs it has formed an 

 important adjunct thereto. For no invention has the 

 apiarian cause to be more deeply indebted than for the 

 " Mel Extractor " of Germany, improved upon as it has 

 been both in America and in this country. Even if there 

 were less sale for extracted honey, the extractor would be 

 found at certain times of great value to every bee-keeper. 



* This, machine is not of much service for extracting honey from 

 combs made in supers, the cells of which are mostly too soft to bear 

 operating upon. 



