EXTRACTED HONEY. 435 



at stated periods. On the eighteenth of May it gained 

 eighteen pounds and a half. On the eighteenth of June, a 

 swarm weighing seven pounds issued from it, and the follow- 

 ing day it gained over six pounds in weight. Ten days of 

 abundant pasturage would enable such a colony to gather a 

 large surplus, while five times the number of equally favor- 

 able opportunities would be of small avail to a feeble one. 



The largest yield of extracted honey, ever harvested by 

 the colonies of one Apiary under our control, was 18,000 

 pounds in about fiftj' days, the most protracted honey crop 

 we ever Itnew. This was harvested by eighty-seven colonies, 

 making a daily average of three pounds a day per colony of 

 evaporated honey. Such seasons are scarce. 



As some colonies harvest much more than others, they 

 need more attention. 



763. To secure the greatest possible amount of extracted 

 honey, the colony should never be left without some empty 

 comb. 



As soon as the combs of one of these supers are about 

 three-fourths full, we put another rack under the first, and 

 sometimes a third under the second. All this without wait- 

 ing for the honey to be sealed ; but we never remove the 

 honey, to extract it, until the crop is at an end, for we want 

 to get our honey entirely ripened. 



Honey is evaporated, or ripened, by the forced circula- 

 tion of air, caused by the fanning of the bees through the 

 hive, in connection with the great heat generated by them. 

 As honey evaporates, it diminishes in volume, and as long 

 as the bees continue their harvest, they constantly bring in 

 unripened, or watery honey, which they store in the partly 

 filled cells that contain honey already evaporated. It is for 

 this reason that unsealed honey, after the crop is over, is as 

 ripe as honey sealed during the crop, and sometimes riper. 

 If the crop is abundant, they often seal their combs too 

 soon, and the honey thus sealed may afterwards ferment in 

 the cell and burst the capping. 



