S3 



{viz., 4y% in. by 4 y\ in.) required, while neatly printed 

 bands of coloured paper, 19 in. by 3 in., may be uaed instead 

 of the lace edging. They are more easily pasted on than the 

 loose paper edging, and they also give an opportunity of 

 placing the names of the apiary and producer on each section. 

 Neat cardboard cases, plain or glazed on one or both sides, 

 can be purchased cheaply from appliance manufacturers. 



Extracted Honey. — " Extracted " honey has been greatly 

 improved in quality by the introduction of modern methods. 

 The use of the centrifugal extractor compels the abandonment 

 of the skep system of bee-keeping, with its waste of bee life, 

 waste of combs, and taint of sulphur. It necessitates the 

 adoption of the moveable comb hive, which enables the 

 gathered surplus to be stored in combs apart from the brood- 

 nest and to be removed at will by the bee-keeper. 



Honey improves in flavour and density while ripening in the 

 hive, therefore the shallow comb supers, shouM be left until 

 the honey is well sealed over before being removed by the 

 super-cleaner in the same manner as already described for the 

 removal of section racks. The sup ers containing the full_ 

 frajne s of sealed comj^ haymg^ j ; ieea.. ca rried" mto me _ store- 



'fSSffiTTE-ey snoukT oe graded by holding them u p jx> , the 



-light : air"thos6 "containing dark'^r'"medium *colo.urednoney 

 "Ttt9y~"thus be separated from those containing light honey. 

 Fermentation is the great enemy of extracted lioney, but it can 

 only affect badly ripened honey or honey exposed to moisture 

 and warmth; if, therefore, it should be necessary to extract 

 unripe honey, i.e., honey which has not been sealed over, it 

 should be fed back to the bees for re-storing and ripening. 



The method of extracting honey is described in Leaflet 

 No. 128 (Advice to Beginners in Bee-keeping) included in this 

 volume. Heather honey cannot be extracted by centrifugal 

 force, on account of its gelatinous nature. Therefore it is 

 necessary to put the combs through a press to squeeze out the 

 honey. 



Packing Extracted Honey After uncapping and extract- 

 ing the honey it should be strained through a bag made of 

 muslin in order to remove all loose particles of wax. Tin 

 vessels, called honey ripeners (Fig. 6), with strainer and honey 

 tap, mad© to contain 56 lb. or 112 lb., can be obtained, in 

 which, if the honey is allowed to stand for twenty-four hours 

 after straining, it will be freed from air bubbles, and can then 

 be drawn into whatever jar or tin will best suit the local 

 market. For the retail trade extracted honey is usually put 

 into 1 lb. or i lb. glass jars, with metal screw caps having a 

 cork wad inside the cap. To prevent any leakage the cork 

 wad should be dipped in molten wax and placed on the jar 

 while still warm, the cap being screwed down upon it. A neat 

 label (o'f which varieties are obtainable from appliance makers 



