BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Bring the fingers as close to the blade as possible, but not far enough to interfere with the cutting of the cappings. The comb should be placed upon some sort of a projection, a nail point supported over the uncapping-box or can. It then should be leaned forward when the knife by a swing movement begins cutting at the bottom edge. When particles of wax and honey
cling to the blade so as to interfere with the work, it should be scraped on a wooden edge of some sort. See illustration on preceeding pages, showing Dadant's uncapping can in use.
Some prefer to work with _not_ knives, and where the honey is very thick there is no question but that they will do faster and nicer work with less strain on the wrist. For this purpose it is customary to use two knives. A sort of bread-pan is made or provided, having a wooden cross-partition as
shown in the accompanying sketch. This is filled with water and placed on a single-wick kerosene-stove. The whole outfit should then be placed within easy reneh of the uncapping-box, so that the operator can use one knife and then the other as fast as either cools.
There are some who claim that there is no advantage in using hot knives, but our experience leads us to believe that when honey is very thick, as it often is in some localities, it is economy, both in labor and time, to use them. Indeed, if the combs are new a hot blade is indispensable.
In Europe, and to some extent in this country, uncapping-knives have been kept continuously hot by the use of electricity or of steam. As the former will not be available to most bee-keepers located on their ranches, steam has the preference. A thin sheet of copper is soldered on the top side of the blade of an ordinary uncapping-knife in such a way as to make a chamber over the entire top surface of the knife. This chamber should have a small hole at the end for the exit of steam, and a tube at the other to which is attached a quarter-inch rubber hose, three or four feet in length. This is secured to the spont of an ordinary small tin tea-kettle by winding bicycle-tire tape around the tube and the spont until a tight connection is made. A common rag, after the kettle is filled with water, is placed over the opening of the kettle when the cover is crowded into place. This makes almost a tight steam joint, or tight enough for the purpose for which we wish to use it. The kettle is next placed upon a kerosene or gasoline stove; and when the water boils, the knife is ready for use.
In operation a small jet of steam will be forced out from the small orifice at the end of the blade. If a good circulation of steam is provided the knife can be kept continuously hot, and, while hot, it is to a great extent self-eleaning, as the honey and the cappings will melt off from it about as fast as they accumulate.
Some hive tried these steam-heated knives, and say that there is no advantage in using them, as they would prefer to work with a cold keen-edged blade rather than a hot knife with all its attendant heat. The attachment of the tubing somewhat interferes, of course, with the free action of the knife; but for all these objections there are others who feel that a steam-heated uncapping-knife is a long way ahead of the cold one.
While it is customary with any knife to use the upward stroke, there are some few who prefer the _down_ stroke. Experience will have to determine which is the better for the individual user.
shall the combs be staged wipe on close for uncapping?
The majority of extracted-honey producers space the combs 14 inches, or 14 inches from center to center. Hoffman frames can be spaced as wide as this as well as any. The thick combs have more honey to the comb,
and, consequently, fewer need be handled. If the uncapping-knife cuts deep there will be more wax, and wax always has a good market. The thick combs should always be cut down to normal thickness in uncapping before returning them to the bees.
After one day's uncapping, the couplings should drain dry. They should be removed before letting a fresh lot of eappings drop on to them. To get the eappings perfectly dry, some put them in a cheese-cloth bag to hang behind the stove over a pan for a few days. This will do for a small extracting business. Where the business is carried on more extensively, the eappings, after draining for one day, show'd be put in a wax-press and squeezed dry while cold; or, better yet, they should be melted up as fast as they accumulate. See Wax-press, under Wax.
_Condition.--_After anextracting, do not make the mistake of returning the combs to the hives as fast as extracted last you start robbing, and make the work of extracting very disagreeable. Return the combs the last thing, or toward evening, and by morning all will be quiet.
shallow of full-depth extracting-combs.
The question is often asked, whether one should use the shallow extracting-frames that are advertised in most of the dealers' catalogs. This depends a good deal on the honey-flow and general conditions. If the frame is as deep as a Qunby, the shallow frame for extracting purposes is almost a matter of necessity, as it is very inconvenient to handle these large combs, both in uncapping and extracting. But shallow combs have the special advantage that bees will enter a super containing them quicker than they will one of full depth. There is not so much room in the shallow supers for them to keep warm at one time; and they will, therefore, fill a set of shallow combs when they would hardly design to enter an upper story containing full-depth ones. It is a common practice with a good many practical bee-keepers to have both shallow extracting-combs and full-depth combs. After the bees are well started to going above, the full-depth supers may be used. They may be also used on all strong colonies; but in the case of weaker ones only the shallow ones should be given. We can thus get extracted honey from weak stocks, the queen-encluder for extracting.
As a general rule, in hives run for extracted honey, the queen will occupy one or more squares containing extracting-combs, unless she is confined to the brood-nest by means of a queen-excluding honey-board; see Drones. When one is used, the extracting-combs will contain nothing but honey and perhaps a little pollen,while the brood will be confined where it should be, in the lower story or brood-nest.
When running for _comb_ honey it is usually not necessary to use the exclenders.
Some objection has been raised by some to the effect that zinc boards hinder the passage of bees loaded with honey, and that, therefore, they have a tendency to restrict the amount stored in the supers. This is denied by the great majority of users. However, a few provide an entrance to the upper story or supers, placing the same at the bottom of the first super and above the excluder. This allows the bees in the super to escape directly into the air, without passing through the honey-board from the brood below and out into the regular entrance. It is argued that this extra entrance to the super saves time and permits incoming bees to go directly into the supers and store the honey without any waste of time.
In order to catch the bees that are going into the lower entrance, Mr. B. Walker, of Clyde, Ill., has a long wide board connected with the upper entrance and slanting downward at an angle of 45 degrees in front of the lower hive entrance. The incoming bees strike this inclined plane, crawl upward and enter the supers just above the line, as shown on next page.
The entrance to these supers may be through one or more holes lored near the bottom edge of the super,or the wooden rail at the front end of the honey-board may be left out, so that the bees can pass into the super and above the perforated zinc.
how to extract during a dearth of honey without the announce of robbers.
As explained under Feeding and Feeders, and under Robbing, it is possible tocreate a little artificial honey-flow during a dearth of honey so that the bees, instead of bouncing upon the hives and on the combs that are being extracted, will be otherwise engaged, making extracting easy and pleasant without a robber in sight. One can put the whole aplury in good humor for such work by putting out two or three outdoor get to visiting them they begin carrying in the feed. If one or two feeders thus set out do not restore good humor on the part of the bees, it may be necessary to put out more until all the would-be robbers are kept only.
This outdoor feeling should be practiced a couple of days before the time set for the regular extracting, and then, of course, the feeders on the morning or the afternoon when the work is to be done should be well filled and kept so during the entire time that the hives are opened and combs exposed in extracting.
Once the bees get nicely started on the outdoor feeders there will be no trouble from robbers, provided that extracting combs are not left lying around loose for any length of time. The extracting should be done inside of a screened building; and when such precautions are taken in connection with outdoor feeding there will not be a robber in sight, no matter if the fields are burren of nectar of any kind.
One may have to feed in outdoor feeders anywhere from 25 to 50 pounds of honey a day while such extracting is going on; but that amount of honey so given goes back into the hives; and while some of it may be lost, yet a good portion of it is saved to the bee-keeper. The saving in labor, annoyance, stings, and the general uproar in the aplury, will pay for the cost of the honey so fed many times over.
In this outdoor feeding to divert the robbers during extracting we would recommend feeding nothing but honey. Sugar syrup ought never be given during the extracting season, for it would very probably go into the combs and then be taken out again and mixed with the honey; but when one is attempting to do other work with bees, such as queen-reuring, it is perfectly legitimate to use sugar syrup instead. See Feeding and Feeders.
Managing a series of extracting-Yards by making only four visits in a year.
The general treatment of this subject of extracting would hardly be complete were we to omit mention of the remarkable success attained by Mr. E. D. Townsend, of Remus, Mich., in handling a series of outwards by making only four trips a year to each yard. As he makes no secrets of his methods, it may be well to describe them.
He believes primarily in strong colonies, and a brood-nest not smaller than ten Langstroh frames. In the fall of the year he makes one trip to feed up and pack in win
## Exhibits of Honey.
Iee-keepers, besides elucidating the general public is to the _genuitness_ of their product, can create a larger demand for honey. As a usual thing, exhibitors are allowed to sell their honey, distribute circulars, and do a great deal of profitable advertising. This not only helps the individual, but helps the pursuit in general.
The preceding engravings will give an idea of how a model exhibit should be arranged.
There should be shelving arranged in the form of pyramids, octagons, semileircles, etc. The honey should be put up in tin and glass, in large and small packages, and the whole should be neatly "set off " with appropriate labels. As a general thing, glass packages should have a very small label, so that as much of the liquid honey as possible will show. Tin receptacles should have labels to go clear around the can. Comb honey should be put up in cartons and slipping-cases ; and yellow cakes of wax should be shown in a variety of shapes.
In one of the illustrations will be seen a large pyramid of bees wax, supporting on its several shelves packages of honey, the whole surmounted by the best of a goddess. Make a series of square shallow boxes of such varied sizes that,when piled one on top of another, they form a perfect pyramid. These are to be completely covered with sheet wax having the edges that come in contact nicely cemented together with a hot iron. The next thing to make is the goddess of liberty, or the best of a prominent man. These in plaster can usually be purchased at any of the stores for a small sum of money, and, after being dipped in hot wax, give a very fine wax figure.
\(\Lambda\) correspondent bus suggested dipping a teddy bear in melted wax. It might muss up his fur a little, but he ought to look like a bear; and as this animal is known to be a connoisseur of good honey, his presence surmounting the pyramid would be very appropriate.
The bustof a woman on top of the pyramid, shown in the illustration, was made of plaster, and came with a box of soap. It struck the exhibitor that this would make a fine wax bust; and, as you will note, it shows up well.
Besides the exhibit of honey in various styles of packages, there should be a moderate collection of bee - supplies, so that, when the eager public come along with their string of questions, they can be shown step by step the process of producing honey, and its final putting-up for market. A good many questions will be asked in regard to the extractor. It will be called a churn, a washing-machine, and every thing else except what it really is. And last, but not least important, there should be one or more observatory hives to show folks _lw_1ees behave when at home. A good many will want to see the "king-bee." Tell them it is not a _king_ but the _queen_ that reigns.
Very much can be done by having a glas shire and live bees, with an entrance communicating outdoors through the sides of the building where the exhibit is made. What is equally good, or perhaps better, is a one-frame nucleus having glass sides, making, as we call it, an observatory hive. This should contain one frame of nice healthy brood, regular and perfect comb, finely marked bees, and a bright-yellow queen. Hunteds of people will stop and examine, and ask a variety of questions about the bees and the queen. By this means one can convey to the consumer some knowledge of the habits of bees, and how honey is produced, thus indirectly creating a demand.
It should be stated in this connection that bees in an observatory hive will stand confinement for two or three days or even a week. Ordinarily at fairs and other places, where the show lasts only two or three days, the confined bees will do very well. But atfreshened up by a flight outdoors. After these latter have had two or three days in which to cleanse themselves the entrance should be closed at night, when the hive can be put back on its stand, and another observatory hive take its place. So in alternation each one of the two or three lots of bees can be freshened up.
It goes without saying, that, if there is no honey in the fields, the bees should be fed occasionally.
In connection with an exhibit inside of the building, there should be a placard directing the visitor to a bee-show outside, as near the building as possible. This should be a demonstration of the method of handling live bees inside a wire cage, the operator taking them up by handfuls and forming artificial swarms. Where the two exhibits, one of honey and bee-supplies, and the bee-show itself, can be located outdoors, it will be better. The former should then be in a temporary booth or tent, since it would not do to have the exhibits of wax and comb honey exposed to the direct action of the sun. The bee-demonstrating cage should be located close by, within ten or twenty feet, and, as we have explained, it consists of a wire-cloth structure large enough to take in man, a hive of bees, and leave room enough to practice ordinary bee - manipulation. This e a g e should be elevated on a stand four or five feet above the ground--the higher the better, because there will be a great jun of people around to see the man inside pick up live bees by the handful.
Anouncement should be made from outside of the cage that, during certain hours, an operator,bereheaded and barearmed, will perform some wonderful stunts in handling bees. When the performance begins, the people will surge around the stands, and that is just what is desired in order to sell honey at the other stand a few feet away.
The operator begins his performance by stepping inside the cage of live bees, and shutting the door behind him. He then tells it e crowd that he is going to handle live bees, every one of which is armed with a sting; and if any one doubts it to come forward and he will furnish the "proof." He then proceeds to take off his coat and reveal and roll up his sleeves, take off his collar, and track down his shirt-band. It will then be necessary for him to put on bicycle junts-guards, or slip his trousers into his stockings. The crowd will quickly in practice this part of the performance, because the operator tells them the bees will sting if they get inside of his clothing. With a lighted smoker he opens up the hive. After pulling out the frames he shows the bees and queen on the comb; then he calls out for everybody to wait and see the next stunt, for he is going to make a swarm. With a large-dishum, which he has previously provided, he shakes two-thirds of the bees off the comb into this plan. Then he takes it up and turns to the crowd, saying, "The bars are not real mud yet, so I'll begin to shake them up to make them so,". The people wonder what he is going to do, seeing him barearmed and bareheaded. He keeps on shaking until he has the bees all in one big ball, and to the uninitiated it _looks_ as if they would sting him to death. But, no! the continual shaking is the _very thing_ that makes them gentle instead of cross. He now runs his hand under the ball of bees, pushing it under gently, being careful not to pinch any. The movement must be very deliberate--so slow indeed that the hand scarcely seems to move. He picks up a handful and holds them up for the crowd to look at. If he has good nerves he can shake the handful on top of his head, and in the mean time pick up another handful. At the next performance there will be big crowds around to see the work. While the man is doing his stunts with the bees he tells what honey is, saying that it is a whole-some sweet, and that there is no such thing as manufactured comb honey, and that he will pay $100 for a single sample of it; then he draws attention to the fact that he has some good honey at the stand opposite or in the building yonder. The crowd will then go round to the stand and buy the honey.
The preceeding illustrations show the exhibits of bees and honey, the exhibit of the live bee cage, and the crowd that assembled around it, both at the Ohio State Fair held at Columbus, and the Minnesota State Fair.
After the exhibitor gets his questioner interested, he can hand out one of his adver
which is also located just behind the nerve-enlings, and answers the same purpose. There are two kinds of these pigment-cells. The ones at the base of the cone, _o. p. c._, are two in number, and do not extend below the base of the cone. The other pigment-cells, _e. p. c._, extend from the lens to the base of the ommatidium, and are generally twelve in number. The pigment in these cells is located principally at the outer portion of the eye; and the retina cells also contain a pigment, thus making a complete sheath of pigment around the nerve and nerve-enlings in the middle.
The nerve lines in the eye extend down along the eight retinacells, and at the bottom come together, and the united nerve extends toward the brain.
Feeding and Feeders.Feeding is practiced for one of two purposes--to stimulate brood-rearing at times of the year when no honey is coming in from natural sources, or to supply with food colonies that are short at the approach of winter. Whenever possible, feeding should be avoided; for at best it is a messy job, expensive, and, in the case of the beginer, liable to cause robbing. In a good locality it may be possible to avoid feeding altogether. Especially would this be true in those places where there is plenty of buckwheat or fall flowers. To buy sugar by the barrel every fall is very expensive, and the bee-keeper should lay his plans to avoid it as far as possible. In many cases fall feeding is made necessary by extracting too close, in some cases even from the brood-nest. This is bad practice and decidedly poor economy. But there are times when it is absolutely necessary to give the bees food either to keep up and stimulate brood-rearing or to prevent actual starvation.
When the honey already in the hives at autumn is of good quality and nicely sealed, it would be penny wise and pound foolish to extract it, put it on the market, buy sugar, make syrup, and feed it to the bees. There would be very little gained by it, even if the honey sold at a higher price, and the sugar syrup were cheaper. Where the natural stores are dark, of poor quality, or had honey-dew, it might be advisable to extract and put in their place the syrup. Yet of late years it has been our practice to let the bees have every thing of their own gathering, provided it is nicely ripened and sealed in the comb, no matter what the source; and it is very seldom we lose bees in outdoor wintering by reason of poor food.
I located principally at the outer portion of the eye; and the retina cells also contain a pigment, thus making a complete sheath of pigment around the nerve and nerve-enlings in the middle.
Of course, sugar syrup is better than some honey that the bees gather; and, pound for bound, it will go further in the hive as food. Some experiments were made a few years ago which went to show that of those colonies fed on honey, the average consumption in winter was from 14 to 18 lbs., while those fed on sugar syrup consumed from 1 to 7 lbs. The inference drawn was that, while the pound of honey had less strength than the pound of sugar, it was more stimulating, causing the bees to consume more of it. But in all probability this experiment showed too great a difference in favor of the sugar syrup. Under ordinary conditions, when the honey is of first quality, as, for instance, clover or password, there would not be any thing like this difference.
The difference in cost between a first quality of extracted honey and sugar syrup when sealed in the comb is so little that, if we had combs of good natural stores, rather than extract them we would set them aside, and then in the fall give these combs to such colonies as had an insufficient supply. But in any case we would not use all such combs, because, during midwinter, it is sometimes very handy to have them ready, as they can be placed right down in the center of a brood-nest of a colony, for the simple reason that it is impracticable to give liquid food to bees during midwinter. If combs of sealed stores are not to be had, we would give cakes of candy, as described under Candy elsewhere.
What to feed.
It is bad policy to feed any form of sweet that is chequerthan any of the very best painted-esgarysrups. There are certain grades of molecules and sorghum that may be used;that, as explained, they have a tendency to be unduly stimulative--that is, make the bees restless during winter. It seems to be generally agreed that, dollar for dollar, granulated sugar, when converted into first-class syrup, is as cheap a food for the bees as can be had; and not only cheap, but comparatively safe. Unbleached West India crystallized cane sugar of a pale straw color is said to be excellent--but we do not find it as good, nor any cheaper.
## How to make the syrup.
Something will depend on whether the bees are to be fed for the purpose of inducing brood-rearing or to give a supply for winter. For stimulating, a syrup made of one part of sugar to one of water by bulk is about right. If the water is hot the sugar will dissolve more readily. For a winter food given early in the fall the proportion should be about two parts of sugar to one of water. For late feeding, just before cold weather comes on, the ratio should be about two and a half to one. When made as thick as this the syrup is liable to go back to sugar to some extent, and sometimes it is necessary to put in about a teasoonful of tartaric acid to every 20 lbs. of sugar. Others find it better to use honey. The proportion then of honey will be about one-third by bulk of the amount of water used. In our own practice we have never found it necessary to use either honey or acid.