86 THE BOOK OF BEE-KEEPING. 



Other. No combs under two years old should be extracted 

 from, as, being so very tender, they will usually break ; this 

 does not apply to those which have been properly wired 

 (par. 85), or where shallow combs have been used, as alluded 

 to in "Doubling" (see par. 129). After the combs have 

 been extracted from, they should, if it is not required to use 

 them again at once, be placed behind the dummy-board of the 

 hive, to be cleared out by the bees. Where empty combs are 

 not obtainable, two or three full ones can be taken from a hive 

 and replaced with sheets of foundation, these full ones extracted 

 and put in the next hive to replace full ones taken out ; and 

 so on right through the apiary. When it is imperative that new, 

 unwired combs should be extracted, one side should be partially 

 emptied, and then the other side wholly, reversing the comb 

 again to finish the first side; this is a very good preventive 

 of breakage. 



For removing the honey from partially-filled or broken sections, 

 a good makeshift way is to place the comb in the centre of a good- 

 sized piece of muslin, gather up the ends, and tie them firmly 

 round with string, so as to leave the comb in a bag ; then suspend 

 the bag in a warm place, or before a fire, with a dish underneath 

 to catch the honey. The comb can be crushed by the fingers 

 whilst in the bag. If quicker extraction is required, a weight can 

 be hung from the lower end of the bag. This will force the honey 

 through the muslin. 



134. Extracting from Body-box of Hive. — This 

 should only be done where it is found that the queen is " crowded 

 out " by the cells being loaded with honey, and then only those 

 combs that are free from uncapped brood ; these combs should 

 have the honey-cells uncapped, the honey extracted, and then 

 returned to the middle of the brood-nest for the queen to fill 

 with eggs. If it is very late in the season, be careful not to 

 extract all their stores, or they will have to be fed. It is not 

 very often that a colony will so fill the combs in the body-box 

 if they have been properly attended to and allowed sufficient super 

 room; although, just at the latter end of the season, much of the 

 honey is stored in the body-box. In heather districts the combs 

 will usually be found to be filled with honey at the end of the 

 season. 



135. Extracting Heather Honey. — Heather honey can- 

 not be extracted by means of an ordinary honey extractor, it being 

 of so dense a nature. A press has been invented which squeezes 

 the comb, the honey escaping through perforated zinc and the 

 comb being left as a cake in the press. The cheapest form of 

 press is that made by Messrs. Turner and Son, and sold by most 

 ironmongers as a " vegetable presser" ; it costs from is. to 2s. 6d. 

 There is another, but more expensive, the invention of Mr. Raitt. 



