THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
83 
working in such wide places, which are as 
numerous as hollow trees, there is not much 
value in his argument. I am well aware 
that every beekeeper can cite instances in his 
own experience or on hearsay of bees taking 
up their abode in extraordinary places. 
These are, however, exceptions that prove the 
rule, and have occurred as matters of necessity 
to the bees, who certainly would take the 
alternative of a wide lodging in the place of 
none at all. 
The long shallow frame is an absolute 
necessity for a hive that opens at the top only, 
and for this part of necessity it is used in the 
Langstroth hive. In the Berlepsch hive half- 
sized brood frames would be and have been 
used since the invention of the hive ; and if 
now the same method is applied to the Langs- 
troth hive, is that not an imitation, as well as 
is the division-board in the brood room and the 
queen excluder-board or zinc between brood 
and honey-storey ? 
W. ABRAM, 
Manager Italian Bee Company. 
Parramatta, N.S.W. 19th June, 1886. 
(To the Editor of the Beekeepers’ Journal.) 
Sir, — Having kept bees on the old plan for 
years, and now beginning to try the Langs- 
troth or frame hives, I should be glad of some 
information as to the working of the extractor. 
Would you or any of your readers inform me 
how many Langstroth frames could be put 
through the extractor by one man in one day, 
he taking them from the supers; or, if necessary 
to have help, how much the two could 
accomplish ; also, what is the most expeditious 
way of getting the frames free of bees and 
ready to extract ? 
I think I have been fairly successful in 
getting the sections, but fear the extracting 
will be too tedious. — I am, & c., 
A SUBSCRIBER. 
[Some of our readers who practise extract- 
ing on a large scale will no doubt give 
“ Subscriber ” the information he asks. It is 
considered much le‘s trouble working for 
extracted honey than for comb honey in 
sections, and in America it pays better to 
extract and sell at half, or even one-third, the 
price of section-box honey. Two-storied hives 
are necessary. Swarming is in a great measure 
prevented by working for extracted honey, 
and colonies keep stronger. Of course all 
extracting must be done indoors, away from 
the bees, or trouble will result. For expe- 
ditious work, Professor Cook, in his manual, 
recommends the following method : — With a 
comb box, having a close-fitting cover, go to 
two or three hives, from each of which take 
two or three of the best filled combs and 
extract them ; then go to three other hives, 
take out full combs, replacing them by those 
from the first hives, and now extracted. 
Having extracted the second lot, proceed in the 
same manner throughout the apiary, and 
insert the last empty lot of combs into the 
hives from which you took the first lot. In 
removing the combs from the hives the bees 
are all shaken or brushed off the combs on to a 
broad board in front of the hive, placed so 
that they can all crawl in. Some beekeepers 
brush them back into the hive itself; a good 
strong goose or turkey feather, or any other 
moderately soft kind of brush, does for brush- 
ing bees off combs. If the honey is not all 
sealed, bees should not be shaken from the 
combs. The quantity of combs one can get 
through in a day will very largely depend on 
the method of proceeding, and the handiness 
of all arrangements. Uncapping is perhaps 
the most tedious part of the work; but a good 
uncapping knife and a little experience soon 
disposes of that difficulty. Mr. Naveau informs 
us he can manage to extract sixty frames a 
day by himself with a two-frame extractor. — 
Ed.] 
(To the Editors of the Australian Beekeepers 
Jou rnal.) 
Gentlemen - , — -I am very glad to see that an 
old friend, ‘‘Apis,” has entered the lists on the 
question of the “ most suitable frame for a 
standard,” knowing that he is perhaps the 
most competent man among us to write thereon. 
Our Queensland winter has so far been 
exceptionally mild with more than ordinary 
rainy weather, and unless we have some sharp 
night frosts between this and middle of August, 
we shall have early swarming, say August, 
and an abundant supply of honey, so that our 
numerous bee men will need look out for a 
market. 
Although the last season was poor in honey 
yield, and very little increase in stocks, the 
market for a time was completely glutted, 
honey in some cases being unsaleable. 
Could a market be found where honey 
could be disposed of at fair rates, there is 
scarcely any country so favourably situated 
as is Queensland for the apiarist. The diffi- 
culties are few, the returns enormous, 
although the heat is sometimes great and gin- 
case beekeepers occasionally have a melt down. 
By proper sunshades and ample ventilation 
(downward) however, no mishap need occur; 
the greatest trouble being that during the 
hottest weather the bees largely forsake the 
inside of the box, and mass on the outside, 
often covering two or three sides of the boxes 
night and day. Very few beekeepers give 
sufficient ventilation, adhering to the miserably 
