Producing Good Honey ' 99 



is to nail two slats of wood to the sides of the barrel, about four inches 

 from the lower end. The slats are nailed to opposite sides of the barrel, 

 at right angles to the staves, and are long enough so that the ends rest 

 upon the upper edge of the tub. The only objection to this plan is that 

 the ends "project out slightly beyond the edges of the tub, and are just 

 a little in the way. 



A much better uncapping arrangement is the Mclntyre uncapping 

 box as modified by E. D. Townsend. He describes it as follows : 



This is a stoclt-watering tank, made of galvanized steel. It is two 

 teet deep, twenty-two inches wide, and six feet long, with a gate near the 

 bottom at one end. A slatted bottom provides for the drainage of the cap- 

 pings. This slatted bottom of the uncapping-tank is built of %-inch-square 

 pieces of white-pine lumber, 21% inches long, spaced %-inch apart, nailed 

 to two longitudinal pieces of the same material, 2% inches wide, and a 

 half-inch less in length than the inside length of the tank. The aforesaid 

 %-inch-square pieces are nailed on the edges of the longitudinal strips, 

 thus forming a 2%-inch reservoir under the frame, to catch the drip from 

 the cappings. 



A COMB-RACK AT THE TOP OF THE TANK. 



A frame of %-inch-thick lumber, 2% inches wide, composed of two 

 longitudinal pieces one inch longer than the tank, and two transverse pieces 

 of the same material, cut %-inch less in length than the inside width of 

 the tank. To assemble: Place the two short pieces of material parallel 

 with each other, the distance apart of the inside length of the tank, less 

 % inch, standing on edge. Transverse of these, and parallel with each other, 

 18"'^ inches apart at their inside edges, nail the two longitudinal pieces. 



Built this way, the two cross-pieces of the frame are on the under side, 

 and drop down into the tank, and hold the frame in place. Some of our 

 later tanks have corner-braces at the top; this necessitates placing the cross- 

 pieces in from the end of the tank. The illustration will show this style 

 of tank. 



The longitudinal pieces of the frame, being placed 18% inches apart, 

 are the same width as the inside length of the Langstroth hive, and are 

 built this width to accommodate the frame after being uncapped. Although 

 this width will allow of the frame of honey being placed down in the same 

 position as if in the hive, it is rarely used this waj', for it is much more 

 handy to allow but one end of the frame to go down into place, the other 

 end resting on the bottom-bar. 



A rest for the frame of honey while uncapping is made of two pieces 

 of this same %-inch material, and a 20d spike cut off 1% inches long and 

 sharpened. The main cross-piece for the rest is cut 22 inches long. This 

 cross-piece is tacked on with only a small nail at each end, as, when in use, 

 it is placed at different positions over the tank, at the option of the operator. 

 The other piece is cut three inches long, and is to hold the sharpened spike 

 that the frame rests upon while uncapping. This pivot that the frame turns 

 on when uncapping is driven through from the under side, near one edge. 

 The pivot-block is nailed on permanently, at the upper place; then, when 

 the uncapping is to be done from the opposite side of the tank, the whole 

 cross-piece is tacked on the other end too. 



