MANUAL OV THE APIARY. 193 



SO many have sustained a loss by extracting prematurely, that 

 I urge all never to extract till after the bees have sealed the 

 cells. The labor of uncapping, with the exellent honey 

 knives now at our command, is so light, that we can afford to 

 run no risk that the honey produced at our apiaries shall sour 

 and become worthless. 



If the honey granulates, it can be reduced to the fluid state 

 with no injury, by heating, though the temperature should 

 never rise above 200° F. This can best be done by placing 

 the vessel containing the honey in another containing water, 

 though if the second vessel be set on a stove, a tin basin or 

 pieces of wood should prevent the honey vessel from touching 

 the bottom, else the honey would burn. As before stated, the 

 best honey is always sure to crystallize, but it may be pre- 

 vented by keeping it in a temperature which is constantly 

 above 80° F. If canned honey is set on top a furnace in which 

 a fire is kept burning, it will remain liquid . indefinitely. 



To render the honey free from small pieces of comb, or 

 other impurities, it should either be passed through a cloth 

 or wire sieve — I purposely refrain from the use of the word 

 strainer, as we should neither use the word strained, nor allow 

 it to be used, in connection with extracted honey — or else 

 draw it off into a barrel, with a faucet or molasses gate near 

 the lower end, and after all particles of solid matter have 

 risen to the top, draw off- the clear honey from the bottom. 

 In case of very thick honey, this method is not so satisfactory 

 as the first. I hardly need say that honey, when heated, is 

 thinner, and will of course pass more readily through common 

 toweling or fine wire-cloth. 



Never allow the queen to be forced to idleness for want of 

 empty cells. Extract all uncapped honey in the fall, and the 

 honey from all the brood-combs not needed for winter. The 

 honey, too, should be thrown from pieces of drone-comb which 

 are cut from the brood-frames, and from the uncapped comb 

 in sections at the close of the season. 



HOW TO EXTRACT. 



The apiarist should possess one or two light boxes, of suffi- 

 cient size to hold all the frames from a single hive. These 

 .should have convenient handles, and a close-fitting cover, 



