THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



247 



the same time made almost air tight; 

 ahnost, of course, for we may find a little 

 framed screen, perhaps iS inches square 

 (often less), revolvable on pivots set in 

 the exact middle of two opposite sides of 

 the frame, by means of which imprisoned 

 bees can be set at liberty by turuing the 

 inside of the screen outward; and this 

 screened aperature, when not covered by 

 bees is also the ventilator and window of 

 the room. 



Not only to keep the house cool; but 

 on the principle that bees do not trouble 

 so much in a darkened room, are many 

 so-called honey houses built under the 

 dark but inviting shadow of an oak 

 tree; even though these trees are usually, 

 at least here in Southern California, badly 

 infested with the industrious ant. Hap- 

 pily, there are exceptions to this; there 

 are roomy houses for extracting and 

 handling the freshly gathered honey, 

 where the needed light is obtained by 

 turning windows, and revolving screens, 

 but, as stated, these are exceptions; and 

 such screens and windows are expensive 

 to make; for, if not exact, they do not 

 answer the purpose; and no bee can get 

 out unless released by the beeman; while 

 many aie injured by flying against the 

 window. 



Two years ago, while suffering from 

 these disadvantages, I decided to try a 

 new plan: I made an opening in my 

 honey house 2 'i feet wide by 4 feet high, 

 on the windy side, covered this with wire 

 cloth, tacked on straight and tight on the 

 sides and below, but leaving it loose on top 

 from whence it extended, loosely, ten 

 inches above the opening in an oblique 

 outward and upward direction, so that 

 the upper part was clear of the wall. Then 

 I tacked on a separate piece of wire cloth, 

 about ten inches high, on the upper part 

 of the opening, letting it extend the 

 whole width of the opening. This match- 

 ed the projecting, outside upward piece. 

 I then folded the ends of the two pieces 

 together so that the sides were tight, leav- 

 ing an opening on top of about half an 

 inch, and nearly 2}z feet long, forming a 



bottomless flat, wire gauze back, with its 

 top clear from the wall. 



When all was complete I opened the 

 hone}' house door to let in a quantity of 

 bees; and, as soon as these were filled 

 with honey I had the fun of seeing them 

 fly to the screen, march straight upward 

 and escape above through the opening; 

 and the pleasure was still greater when I 

 became convinced that not a single bee 

 had a return ticket. 



A hinged blind or window on the out- 

 side to regulate the draft, or keep out 

 wind and rain, is easily constructed so as 

 not to interfere with the screened passage 

 of the bees. 



Each separate screen should have an 

 escape, and each window should be faced 

 inside with wire gauze with an escape on 

 top, when screen doors to pass in and out 

 should not be used. 



Now we have a bee escape which is 

 simple and perfect, made at a trifling ex- 

 pense, always ready to accommodate any 

 number of bees at a time, and not ham- 

 pered by patent rights. We can abandon 

 revolving screens and turning windows, 

 for they are, after all, a menance to the 

 bees, and an obstruction to the light and 

 fresh air. The arrangement that I have 

 means not only comfort and convenience 

 but an aid to health, and leaves no excuse 

 for working in the overheated, impure air 

 of an illy ventilated honey house. 



EscONDiDO, Cal., July 9, 1900. 



[I once had a honey house the windows 

 of which were furnished with wire cloth 

 screens in exactly the manner described 

 by our western friend, with this excep- 

 tion: The wire cloth extended up the 

 side of the building, on the outside, above 

 the window, to the extent of perhaps six 

 or seven inches. The cloth was held out 

 away from the side of the building per- 

 haps -^ s of an inch, l)y little strips of wood 

 under the cloth. The bees would alight 

 on the cloth, crawl up, go under the cloth 

 where it extended above the window, and 

 then keep on crawling until they reached 

 the open air. This was practically a suc- 

 cess, although the bees would gather in 



