78 MANUAL OF APICULTURE. 



brood apartment early in the morniug of the day before the extracting 

 is to be done, in case the bees are still gathering, otherwise the night 

 before will do. The combs will then be free from bees, or nearly so, 

 when the operator wishes to remove tbeiii, and will contain no honey 

 gathered within twenty-four hours, the last day's gathering having also 

 been ripened considerably during the night preceding the insertion of 

 the escapes. When the queen has not been restricted in her laying to 

 the lower story by means of excluders, this plan of freeing the combs 

 of bees will fail in case the escapes are placed on lower stories above 

 which the brood and the queen may be. The only way then will be to 

 remove the combs one by one, after smoking the bees to quiet them, 

 and shake or brush off the latter into the top story. Italians can not 

 be shaken off unless their bodies are pretty well tilled with honej^, but 

 they may be safely brushed oft' after smoking. For this a single large 

 feather from the left wing of a turkey is best. Other races can be 

 shaken off after smoking. Eastern bees should never be brushed from 

 the combs when extracting, nor at any time unless they are gorged 

 with honey. They can all be shaken off easilj^, and will need less smoke 

 than the European races. 



When much extracting is to be done, top stories of hives or light 

 cases with cloth covers, weighted with a rod sewed into the loose edge, 

 may be used to hold the full combs as fast as taken from the hives, and 

 these, placed on a wheelbarrow, cart, or car, can be easily transported to 

 the extracting room. The uncapping knife, kept in hot water when 

 not in use, is passed rapidly under the capping of the sealed combs, 

 the point of it being used to reach depressed surfaces. The loosened 

 cappings drop into a sieve resting over a pan, or into the upi^er part of 

 a can specially designed to receive cappings. The small amount of 

 honey removed with tlie cappings drains through the strainer and is 

 drawn off below. The uncapped combs are ])laced in the extractor at 

 once. As the cells generally slant upward more or less, especially 

 those built for store cells outside the brood nest, the throwing out of 

 the honey is facilitated by x)lacing each comb in such a manner as to 

 bring the top bar at the right hand, the basket being revolved in the 

 most natural way — that is, from right to left. A little practice will 

 enable the oi)erator to note the speed required in order to free the combs 

 entirely from honey, which will depend, of course, ui)on the consistency 

 of the honey and the length of time combs are revolved. While it is, 

 in general, best to avoid extracting from combs containing brood, cases 

 will arise where it is necessary. If the brood is sealed, there will be 

 less liability of injuring it than when open cells containing larvae are 

 placed in the extractor; but a moderate degree of speed continued 

 somewhat longer will usually bring the honey out without disturbance 

 to the immatnre bees. Three persons can work together very advan- 

 tageously — one to remove the surplus cases or combs from the hives, 

 free them of their bees, and bring them into the extracting room^ where 



