436 EXTRACTED HONEY. 
764. Some Apiarists extract the honey as fast as it is 
harvested by the bees, and afterwards ripen it artificially by 
exposing it to heat in open vessels. We do not like this 
method, and prefer to extract the whole crop at once. It 
is much more economical, for, with our system, one skilled 
man attends to as many as five or six Apiaries during the 
honey crop, and extracts at leisure afterwards, with almost 
any kind of cheap help. Since honey now has to compete 
in price with the cheapest sweets, the question of econom- 
tical production is not to be disregarded. 
‘* He who produces at maximum cost will fail. He who 
produces at minimum cost will succeed.’’—(Jas. Heddon. ) 
765. As some colonies do not begin work in the supers 
until very late, and do not fill all the space given them, the 
surplus of other colonies can be given them in such a man- 
ner that all will be equally filled. This can be done without 
brushing the bees off (485). 
The equalizing of empty combs in the surplus stories of 
different colonies, towards the end of the crop, will save 
time in extracting, as the supers will be found more evenly 
full. ‘The giving of a few combs of honey to a colony that 
has not yet begun work in the supers also acts as an induce- 
ment, and gives the bees new energy. 
HARVESTING. 
766. The extracting, to be done swiftly, requires the 
work of four persons: three men and a boy. This work 
is done at a time when the bees have ceased to make 
honey, and the greatest care has to be exercised not to 
leave any honey within the reach of robber bees. The work 
of opening the hives, removing the combs and brushing off 
the bees, must be done quietly, but swiftly and care- 
fully. The receptacles for combs should each have a 
