I have tried machines where the sides of the rack ([Fig, 59]) inclined down and in, for the purpose of holding pieces of comb, but found them unsatisfactory. The combs would not be sustained. Yet, if the frames were long and narrow, so that the end of the frame would have to rest on the bottom of the rack, instead of hanging as it does in the hive, such an incline might be of use to prevent the top of the frame from falling in, before we commence to turn the machine.
The inside, if metal, which is lighter and to be preferred to wood, as it does not sour or absorb the honey, should be either of tin or galvanized iron, so as not to rust. A cover to protect the honey from dust, when not in use, is very desirable. The cloth cover, gathered around the edge by a rubber, as made by Mr. A. I. Root, is excellent for this purpose. As no capped honey could be extracted, it is necessary to uncap it, which is done by shaving off the thin caps. To do this, nothing is better than the new Bingham & Hetherington honey knife ([Fig, 60]). After a thorough trial of this knife, here at the College, we pronounce it decidedly superior to any other that we have used, though we have several of the principal knives made in the United States. It is, perhaps, sometimes desirable to have a curved point ([Fig, 61]), though this is not at all essential.
Fig. 60.
Fig. 61.
USE OF THE EXTRACTOR.
Although some of our most experienced apiarists say nay, it is nevertheless a fact, that the queen often remains idle, or extrudes her eggs only to be lost, simply because there are no empty cells. The honey yield is so great that the workers occupy every available space, and sometimes even they become unwilling idlers, simply because of necessity. Seldom a year has passed but that I have noticed some of my most prolific queens thus checked in duty. It is probable that just the proper arrangement and best management of frames for surplus would make such occasions rare; yet, I have seen the brood-chamber in two-story hives, with common frames above—the very best arrangement to promote storing above the brood-chamber—so crowded as to force the queen either to idleness or to egg-laying in the upper frames. This fact, as also the redundant brood, and excessive storing that follows upon extracting from the brood-chamber, make me emphatic upon this point, notwithstanding the fact that some men of wide experience and great intelligence, think me wrong.
The extractor also enables the apiarist to secure honey-extracted honey—in poor seasons, when he could get very little, if any, in sections or boxes.
By use of the extractor, at any time or season, the apiarist can secure nearly if not quite double the amount of honey, that he could get in combs.