1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



683 



sold out; Terry could not scrape up another 

 one, not even a small potato; and we advertised 

 for them all over the land. The consequence 

 was. that, by awkwardness, or perhaps by dis- 

 honest greed, some who paid for the genuine 

 P'reoman potatoes got something else. I am 

 glad to say that all we received in answer to 

 our call for them seemed to be genuine. Every 

 time I made a purchase I inquired carefully 

 into the character, standing, and reputation of 

 the man who sent me the potatoes; and in 

 every case I was told that they were good trust- 

 worthy people. It is quite a little credit, I 

 think, to the great world at large, that no one 

 even offered me any thing else for Freemans. 

 There is a general and widespread desire among 

 all our agricultural people, if I am correct, to 

 avoid any sort of fraud or deception in this 

 matter of new and rare seeds. Do not feel bad, 

 friend S.. even if somebody did play a trick on 

 you or on Maule. I think every one of those 

 farmers will admit that they received their 

 money's worth in the Practical Farmer; for 

 Terry's writings alone are worth the subscrip- 

 tion price to almost anyone. No, Terry does 

 not keep bees. In fact, he has not a pig, chick- 

 en, sheep, nor dog, on his premises. He keeps 

 only one cow to furnish milk and cream for the 

 berries he raises. He is a specialist farmer — a 

 man who believes in having a few things, and 

 doing those things well, and buying of his 

 neighbors wliat he needs, that he thinks it best 

 not to raise himself. Hold fast to the Rock of 

 Ages, dear brother, and trust (xod for the rest.] 



Trade Notes. 



THE PORTER BEE-ESCAPE; THE ENGLISH MOD- 

 IFICATION OF IT, AND WHAT THE 

 PORTERS SAY OF IT. 



Friend Root: — Referring to the English 

 modification of the Porter escape, illustrated in 

 the Aug. 1.5th No. of Gleanings, and your com- 

 ments thereon, permit us to say that we infer 

 that you have not seen one of them. To be 

 appreciated, or, rather, not appreciated, this is 

 necessary. We have. The top is made of wood, 

 and the body stamped from one piece of tin and 

 fastened to the top with nails. The springs 

 are passed through the slots in the sides of the 

 body, and soldered direcily thereto, no means 

 of adjusting them bping provided without or 

 aside from bending them directly. Without 

 this, accurate and uniform work is impossible. 

 Such strips of spring metal as are required for 

 the spring of a bee-escape, if brought to place 

 by bending them directly, will not remain there 

 for any length of time. Adjustment in some 

 way is necessary, as it is impracticable to 

 solder such delicate pieces exactly where re- 

 quired in the first instance. In gpneral the 

 workmanship is execrable. We should hardly 

 expect to be able to give away such (^scapes, 

 much less to sell th^m. 



This open-at-both-ends idc^a is old to us, we 

 having made and tested such escapes t)efore we 

 ever sold one of any kind. We inclose one 

 made on this plan. If it is in any way superior 

 to our regular form, we have been unable to 

 find it out. In fact, we believe that the latter 

 will free the super of bees a trifle the more rap- 

 idly as a rule, though there is but little diffcsr- 

 encein them in this respect. The reason that 

 escapes of large capacity free the super of bees 

 no more rapidly, if as rapidly as those of much 

 smaller capacity, lies in the fact that, as the 

 exit room is increased, the desire of the bees to 

 desert the super decreases proportionately. 

 We tested some escapes this season having 1.5 



exits, and I have placed a number of such in the 

 hands of others. We find them no more rapid 

 than the single-exit form, and in no other 

 respect superior. This is also the experienc e of 

 others so far as we have heard from them. 

 Such large escapes, when used with very large 

 supers, may produce less excitement of the 

 bees than the small ones; though our experi- 

 ence is, that the latter produce none to speak 

 of, except in very rare instances, when used 

 with shallow supers, say of a depth of 7 inches 

 or less. 



Regarding the outside-exit idea, now some- 

 what to the fore, we have been over the ground 

 carefully. The arrangement has serious ob- 

 jections, and no advantages over the brood- 

 chamber-exit plan. As a rule, it is not as rapid 

 as the latter, unless the bees are confined till 

 very much excited before being permitted to 

 escape. But this plan will never become popu- 

 lar, because, aside from the extra work Involved, 

 colonies so confined require too careful watch- 

 ing to prevent smothering. 



R. & E. C. Porter. 



Lewisto\\ n. III., Aug. 19. 



THE TAYLOR WAX-EXTRACTOR. 



Friend Root:—l send you to-day the photo 

 of the •' Handy " solar wax-extractor. I think 

 it will make the machine plain. We had to 

 turn the door to the front to make the lamp 

 show. When in use the slide door is at the 

 back. A good-sizpd lamp will answer for a 

 small extractor. The platform on which the 

 extractor-can is ftistened is made from a dis- 

 carded hive-cap. This is fastened on a post so 

 as to revolve. This is an easy way to keep the 

 can facing the sun. The thing will work with- 



out the revolving stand, but there must be 

 some place for it, and there is nothing cheaper 

 than a post set into the ground in some warm 

 nook, where the extractor may remain during 

 the season. 



I have neen using this extractor every clear 

 day lately. We had a large number of extra 

 combs, advancing years making it necessary 

 for me to curtail the number of my colonies. I 

 never expected to be able to melt so many 



