1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



173 



short career and sudden death of Theodore 

 Houck compelled lis to take back many of the 

 goods in order to liquidate the estate and se- 

 cure a final settlement. 



For nearly one year we were entirely without 

 bees; but the transition was radical, and our 

 love for the pets again asserted itself. 



Having now had considerable experience, a 

 large contact with practical beekeepers, and a 

 thorough knowledgi^ of the many hives in use, 

 we concluded that we should be able to choose 

 a good, practical, simple hive, adapted to the 

 needs of bees and the requirements of box and 

 extracted honey. After mature study we made 

 and adopted the hive that we now have; and 

 let us assure your readers that, although we 

 have used it more than ten years, we must see 

 many and positive improvements in a hive to 

 induce us to change again. In our next we 

 hope to describe our hive, and give reasons for 

 its shape, construction, and management. 



J. H. Neli.is. 

 Continued. 



BEE-ESCAPES. 



A NEW IDEA OF THEIR MANNER OF WORKING. 



I find that no one in Gleanings has yet given 

 the true principle upon which the bee-escape 

 is supposed to work. The super from which it is 

 desired to rid the bees being shut off from the 

 heat of the hive, it would seem that, when the 

 vreather got cool, the bees would go down much 

 faster; but such is not the fact. It may then 

 take days instead of hours for the sections to 

 be cleared. The true reason is. that, when the 

 bees find they are separated from the queen, 

 they get panicky, and leave forthwith in pur- 

 suit of the queen. It is a mistake to suppose 

 that the ragged edge of the tin or paper pre- 

 vents the bees from going back into the sections; 

 but the fact is, the cause that induced them to 

 leave prevents them from going back. Now 

 for the proof: You will find inclosed a piece of 

 tin. This was formed over a 20-penny wire 

 nail. This I tack over a hole on the underside of 

 a board. This is my bee-escape. It will be 

 seen that the bees can go one way as well as 

 the other. My section-cases all have glass. I 

 put on the escapes in the morning, so I could 

 watch them, which I did closely. Some will 

 miss the queen very soon, and the sections will 

 be cleared in two or three hours. Others wi'l 

 remain quiet for several hours; but when they 

 discover their isolated position they will be 

 seen in a perfect panic, which they keep up 

 until the last bee leaves the sections. Among 

 others I put sections, containing about 60 lbs. of 

 honey, over a board fixed with three of these 

 tins. The next morning when I took off my 

 sections I found bees enough to make a fair 

 swarm, clustered all over under the board. 

 There were many bees deep over the tins. 

 They had commenced comb-building; but not' 

 a bee had gone into the sections. I have used 

 these tins through the past season with un- 

 varying results. In no case did the bees go back 

 into the sections. 



I believe that a zinc queen-excluder, if placed 

 on an empty section-holder, and the zinc all 

 covered up but a narrow strip, would make a 

 good bee-escape. William Halley. 



Rockton, 111., Jan. 23. 



[It is very possible that you may be right, 

 and we hope those of our readers who have 

 made observations in regard to the actual 

 workings of the bee-escape will let us know 

 what they think about it. Another summer 

 shall not go by without our fixing up an ob- 



servatory hive, to watch the actual operation 

 of the various bee-escapes. However, even if 

 your point is true, would it not be better to 

 have something like the Porter, so the be?s will 

 actually be prevented from going back, even if 

 they should desire to do so? The Porters, who 

 have conducted a long series of experiments 

 along this line, will doubtless be able to give 

 us some information.] 



SOME BIG HONEY YIELDS. BY AN EXTEN- 

 SIVE BEE-KEEPER. 



FRANK JINAY, OF MAUSTON, WIS., A BEE- 

 KEEPER WHO PRODUCES TONS AND TONS 

 OF EXTRACTED HONEY, TELLS US SOME- 

 THING ABOUT THE AVERAGE YIELD 

 OF HIS LOCALITY. 



Ed. Oleanlngs : — One year ago I was enjoving 

 a long-desired visit at the " Home of the Hon- 

 ey-b-^es;"' and while I recall the pleasant visit, 

 I also remember a long-neslected promise to 

 let you " hear from us." But as I have not 

 only had the care of seven apiaries, but have 

 also done seven thousand miles of rambling 

 during the year 1892, it has left little time to 

 spare. Although you may think, by the report 

 I sent you for statistics about August first, that 

 we have had little to do, we had a very good 

 fall crop, and I secured about nine tons of ex- 

 cellent honey, all stored after the first of 

 August. 



We often have a failure of apart of the honey 

 resources of Wisconsin; but after an experience 

 of 17 years I can say that I have never yet had 

 a failure for the entire season: and it is the 

 never-failing crop that counts up on the grand 

 total, as can be seen by placing my own record 

 for the past 16 years with that of the famous 

 Sespe apiary, of California, which, although it 

 shows some marvelously large yields, yet the 

 total average for 16 years is only about 73 

 pounds, mostly extracted, I suppose (see 

 Gleanings, page 774, 1891), while my own 

 average, as shown by inclosed table, is 93 

 pounds, a large per cent of it comb honey in 

 pound sections; and lest some may suppose 

 this average to be only a few hives. I will say 

 the number has averaged about the same as 

 the Sespe apiary, and that my crop for the past 

 ten years has not been less than 10,000 pounds. 

 My best crop was 23 tons, and best gain of one 

 colony sr pounds in one day, and 335 pounds in 

 one season. 



These results were from an ordinary colony 

 that had not been helped in any way from other 

 colonies. 



Average per colony for 16 years. 



