300 
Beekeeping 
practical except in the dry regions of the West where it 
does not rain during the honey season. To aid in keeping 
out bees and dirt, the western honey tanks have a relatively 
small opening at the top. 
Reduction of the lifting of honey. 
If the extracting house can be so arranged that the honey 
will flow from one piece of equipment to the other, much 
lifting is avoided. Honey is usually run into tanks through 
pipes and if desired these may be utilized in carrying the 
honey from one house to another or to tanks some distance 
from the extracting house. Care should be taken to keep 
these pipes clean. If the honey cannot be run by gravity 
through its entire course, a honey-pump (Fig. 122) may be 
used and the usual practice is to attach this to the extractor 
so that it may be driven by the same power that runs the 
extractor. The whipping of honey in a pump tends to in¬ 
duce granulation so that honey should not be pumped after 
being heated for bottling (p. 324). 
Returning combs to the hives. 
After the combs are emptied, they may either be returned 
to the bees to be refilled, if nectar is still coming in, or may 
be returned to be cleaned of honey and then removed for 
storage. K the honey-flow is still on, empty combs may 
be put on a hive as the full ones are removed, but during a 
light flow of honey or a dearth of nectar this may cause 
robbing and undue excitement in the apiary. In this event, 
the combs should be kept in the extracting house until the 
end of the day. If the combs are returned simply to be 
cleaned, a half dozen hive-bodies may be put over one colony 
and the bees will soon clean all of them. After the surplus 
combs are emptied, they may be left on the colonies to pre¬ 
vent their destruction by wax-moth larvae or they may be 
stored in a light, well-ventilated room or in hive-bodies where 
they should be watched and fumigated when necessary. 
