Fig. 9.—Quinby uncapping knife.
It should also be taken promptly, in order to keep the various grades or kinds separate. However, when the combs of a given super are completely filled and sealed it may be marked and left on the hive if more convenient to be extracted later.
The cells are uncapped by means of a sharp knife, made especially for this purpose ([fig. 9]), and the combs are then made to revolve rapidly in the honey extractor ([fig. 10]). The centrifugal force exerted on the honey throws it out, leaving the comb cells uninjured, or so slightly injured that they are wholly repaired within an hour or so after the return of the comb to the hive. The chief advantages of this method of harvesting over that of crushing the combs are at once apparent when it is known that each pound of comb saved represents several pounds of honey (consumed in its construction), and may, with care be used over almost indefinitely in securing surplus honey. Furthermore, extracted honey is of much finer quality than that obtained by crushing the combs and straining out the liquid part, since it is free from crushed bees, larvæ, pollen or "bee bread," etc., which not only render strained honey dark and strong in flavor, but also make it liable to fermentation and souring.
The extracted honey is run into open buckets or tanks and left, covered with cheese cloth, to stand a week or so in a dry, warm room not frequented by ants. It should be skimmed each day until perfectly clear, and is then ready to be put into cans or barrels for marketing, or to be stored in a dry place. Square tin cans, each made to hold 60 pounds of extracted honey, are sold by dealers in apiarian supplies. This style of package is a convenient one to transport, and is also acceptable to dealers. Wooden shipping cases are usually constructed so as to hold two of these cans. Barrels and kegs may be used, especially for the cheaper grades of honey used chiefly in the manufacture of other articles. They should be dry, made of well-seasoned, sound wood, and the hoops driven tight and secured, as well-ripened honey readily absorbs moisture from wood, causing shrinkage and leakage. They should also be coated inside with bees-wax or paraffin. This is easily done by warming the barrels and then pouring in a gallon or two of hot wax or paraffin, and, after having driven in the bungs tightly, rolling the barrels about a few times and turning them on end. The work should be done quickly and the liquid not adhering to the inner surfaces poured out at once, in order to leave but a thin coating inside.
The surplus combs are to be removed at the close of the season and hung an inch or so apart on racks placed in a dry, airy room, where no artificial heat is felt. Mice, if permitted to reach them, will do considerable damage by gnawing away the cells containing pollen or those in which bees have been bred, and which therefore contain larval and pupal skins. Moth larvæ are not likely to trouble them until the following spring, but upon the appearance of milder weather their ravages will begin, and if the combs can not be placed under the care of the bees at once they must be fumigated with burning sulphur or with bisulphide of carbon.
The main difference to be observed in preparing colonies for the production of comb honey, instead of extracted, is in the adjustment of the brood apartment at the time the supers are added. After the colony has been bred up to the greatest possible strength, the brood apartment should be so regulated in size, when the honey flow begins and the supers are added, as to crowd many of the bees out and into the supers placed above.
