436 EXTRACTED HONEY. 



764. Some Apiarists extract the honey as fast as it is 

 harvested by the bees, and afterwards ripen it artificially by- 

 exposing it to heat in open vessels. We do not like this 

 method, and prefer to extract the whole crop at once. It 

 is much more economical, for, with our system, one skilled 

 man attends to as many as five or six Apiaries during the 

 honey crop, and extracts at leisure afterwards, with almost 

 any kind of cheap help. Since honey now has to compete 

 in price with the cheapest sweets, the question of econom- 

 ical production is not to be disregarded. 



' ' He who produces at maximum cost will fail. He who 

 produces at minimum cost will succeed." — (Jas. Heddon.) 



765. As some colonies do not begin work in the supers 

 until very late, and do not fill all the space given them, the 

 surplus of other colonies can be given them in such a man- 

 ner that all will be equally filled. This can be done without 

 brushing the bees off (485). 



The equalizing of empty combs in the surplus stories of 

 different colonies, towards the end of the crop, will save 

 time in extracting, as the supers will be found more evenly 

 full. The giving of a few combs of honey to a colony that 

 has not yet begun work in the supers also acts as an induce- 

 ment, and gives the bees new energy. 



HAKVESTING. 



766. The extracting, to be done swiftly, requires the 

 work of four persons : three men and a boy. This work 

 is done at a time when the bees have ceased to make 

 honey, and the greatest care has to be exercised not to 

 leave any honey within the reach of robber bees. The work 

 of opening the hives, removing the combs and brushing off 

 the bees, must be done quietly, but swiftly and care- 

 fully. The receptacles for combs should each have a 



