38 STATE BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. 



as possible. Ccmbs fresh from the extractor create great excitement 

 among the bees, and if given in the day time are liable to cause 

 trouble, 



UNCAPPING. 



Uncapping the combs is done with a keen stiff-bladed knife, an 

 uncapping knife, or a butcher's knife with a twelve-ineh blade is 

 excellent. A pan or tub is used to catch the cappings The frame 

 rests on a strip of wood placed across the tub and while the frame is 

 held by one hand, the other slices off the capping with a downward 

 sawing stroke. Deep cutting does no harm as the bees quickly 

 repair the combs. 



If the honey is very thick or not very warm it may throw out very 

 slowly. If so, throw it partly from one side, then all from the other, 

 and then finish the first side. This procedure avoids crushing the 

 combs into the wire baskets of the extractor. 



For a limited amount of honey an extractor is not necessary. If 

 the combs are newly built and are filled above a queen-excluding 

 honey board, they will be free from young bees and contain little or 

 no pollen, hence may be cut from the frames, crushed in a bag of 

 strainer cloth and hung in some warm place to drain. This treat- 

 ment may be given the cappings to obtain the honey mixed with 

 them. After the honey has drained out, the comb is emptied into 

 any convenient receptacle — ^except one of black iron or rusty tin — 

 and melted and strained. 



SWARMS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



With all man's care and precautions bees seem prone to swarm 

 just when it is least desired, which is when they are most busily at 

 work gathering honey, and this seems particularly ^o when they are 

 storing in sections. Shade, large entrances^ an airy location, plenty 

 of room for queen as well as for storage, all tend to deter swarming, 

 but some always seem bound to SAvarm. About half the colonies in 

 an apiary usually swarm under the systems mostly in vogue. 



