326 
EXTRACTING 
care is not taken to place combs of equal 
weight in the two sides of the extractor. 
Eor convenience in working, the extractor 
should be placed in one of the corners fur¬ 
thest from the door. Near this extractor, 
close to a window, where there will be 
plenty of light, should be placed the un¬ 
capping receptacle. It is handy to have it 
on the same side of the room as the ex¬ 
tractor, so that the combs may be handy to 
the extractor as soon as uncapped. This 
uncapping-receptacle may be made of a 
barrel with both ends knocked out, and a 
coarse screen nailed over the bottom; across 
the top, about one-third of the distance 
from one side, a two-inch strip of lumber 
should be nailed. (Rather than nailing this 
strip to the barrel, some prefer to attach 
cleats to the under side of the strip, so that 
it may be movable.) At the middle of this 
strip a sharp-pointed nail projects upward, 
about an inch, to hold the frames while un¬ 
capping. The barrel itself should be sup¬ 
ported in a tub into which the honey from 
the cappings falls, the barrel being sup- 
Root automatic four-frame extractor. 
ported by means of four hooks made of 
heavy wire. A simpler way of supporting 
the barrel is to nail, to the staves, at the 
right point, a couple of cleats just long 
enough to go across and rest on the edges 
of the tub. The cleats have the advantage 
that they furnish handles with which to 
lift the barrel. 
A very much better uncapping-outfit is 
the Root machine that is supplied by prac¬ 
tically all dealers. It consists of a can 21 
inches in diameter and 30 inches deep. In¬ 
side there is a removable perforated-metal 
basket that extends down to about half the 
Root uncapping can. 
depth of the can, leaving storage for 20 
gallons of honey. It is an inch smaller in 
diameter than the outer can so that the flow 
of honey may ooze from the cappings as 
fast as they accumulate from the sides of 
the basket as well as from the bottom. This 
basket will hold a day’s uncapping; and as 
soon as it is filled an extra basket can be 
used, so that the work can go on uninter¬ 
ruptedly. The filled baskets can be placed 
in an ordinary tub to drain still further. 
When the cappings have stopped draining 
they can be melted up or transferred to a 
common barrel to be melted later. 
The straining-can may be placed wher¬ 
ever convenient, but should not be too far 
from the extractor, as this would involve 
extra labor when lifting pails of honey 
from the extractor-gate to the straining- 
can. In this can or barrel is suspended a 
large wet cheese-cloth bag attached to a 
barrel hoop supported by the top of the 
can. Too much honey should not be drawn 
from this can. There should always be 
enough honey left to cover the strainer; 
for if the honey gets low the cappings and 
bits of wax that would otherwise float on 
the surface of the liquid will collect on the 
strainer and soon clog it. 
