1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



197 



and sandy deposit ; and during dry seasons 

 plants seem to grow right along, without 

 any need of rain. While at Green Bay, Wis., 

 our good friend J. M. Smith informed me 

 that an artesian well had been sunk there 

 that gave water with sufficient pressure to 

 raise it in pipes something like 80 feet. This 

 location is also on the lake shore, where there 

 are no hills of such a height within many 

 miles. 



BEE ESCAPES. 



HOW TO MAKE AND HOW TO USE. 



The editor's foot-notes on bee-escapes in Glean- 

 ings (see p. liiO) would seem to call for more light 

 on this subject, as 7(6, even ?i,e. has not grasped the 

 full meaning of the term and benefits to be derived. 

 The horizontal escapes recently described by both 

 Mr. D. and myself have not been thoroughly enough 

 tested to warrant much being made over them, 

 and may prove, like many plausible inventions 

 that are incubated in the winter months by pleas- 

 ant tlresides, to fail to materialize under a July sun. 

 Being anxious to have the new escape tested as 

 soon as possible I have sent models to practical bee- 

 keepers in Florida, and they promise to report as 

 «oon as they can. Tests can be made in this climate 

 almost any time during winter— especially this one, 

 with feeders, sections, and extracting-combs that 

 need cleaning out, etc., but this is not a fair test, as 

 there is no doubt about any style of escape work- 

 ing to perfection under such circumstances. What 

 we want is an escape, simple and cheap, that will 

 lead the bees out of finished or full supers down 

 into empty ones or into the brood-chamber when 

 the season is over, and one that is so simple and 

 cheap that anybody can make. Please bear in mind, 

 that the word super is applicable to extracting- 

 cases as well as section-cases or super, and our edit- 

 or must confess he has been very slow to "get 

 hold " of the extracting part of it. You could not 

 tell my extracting-supers from section-supers with- 

 out looking inside. Friend Langdon and many oth- 

 ers have used the vertical single-cone escape with 

 entire satisfaction, and I am satisfied that this style 

 of escape has not been much improved, taking into 

 account the cheapness and simplicity of construc- 

 tion. Just think a minute. Take a board as long 

 and as wide as your hive; arrange a bee-space on 

 one or both sides, if necessary, to suit the hive or 

 fiuper you use. Hore a 2'/4-inch hole in the brood so 

 it will come directly over the center of a section 

 near the middle of the super. Cut a piece of green 

 wire cloth 6 inches square; form it into a cone over 

 the point of a l/i-inch round stick sharpened like a 

 lead-pencil; tack the cone, which should be about 

 three inches long, over the hole, and the escape is 

 complete for either extracting or section supers. 

 You will understand, an emptied super will have to 

 be used for this escape-board, when it is placed be- 

 tween two extracting supers; also when the last 

 ■super is to be taken off after the honej'-How has 

 ceased. Now, when the escape-board is to be plac- 

 ed between a super of full sections and one with 

 empty sections, take out one empty section (before 

 the case is put on the hive), so the cone will have a 

 space to drop into (I hope I make this quite clear). 

 Place the super of full sections and bees on, and 

 the bees will pass down into the super of empty 

 sections, and very few will find their way back. 



Now, I do not think that any one would think of 

 " fastening bees out of supers containing filled 

 combs " (if the combs in the super are yifted what 

 need of bees in it?) without putting empty combs 

 under the escape. J. S. Bgese. 



Winchester, Ky., Feb. 3. 



Please do not be too severe on your old 

 friend A. I. Root, friend R.. even if he has 

 not grasped all that is accepted of our new 

 invention. The idea that I had in mind 

 was this : When we decided that the upper 

 story of the hive is ready to extract, we wish 

 all the bees out of the way. With a bee- 

 escape, however, it must take some little 

 time, I should say three or four hours, or 

 over night. If during the night, no honey 

 will be lost, as a matter of course. During 

 the day, when the hive has the brood-cham- 

 ber already crowded with honey, there would 

 certainly be a loss unless the bees could be 

 employed on another set of combs, as you 

 suggest. Now, even if the bee-keeper has 

 an extra set of combs, some manipulation, 

 as you suggest, is necessary. But has any 

 one of our readers besides Mr. Langdon re- 

 moved the bees from the combs for extract- 

 ing, with a bee-escape V I know that we 

 lose honey when we interrupt the bees ; for 

 whenever we used to extract our colonies 

 that were kept on the scales, there would be 

 a loss. Sometimes the bees that were shak- 

 en from the combs would cluster in a body 

 on the outside of the liive, and very often 

 would not get to work until the next day; 

 and this very often resulted in making the 

 yield next to nothing, from a hive that had 

 been bringing in from 5 to 10 lbs. per day 

 right along. Some colonies will go to work 

 at once after being extracted from, I am 

 well aware, but others will not. In work- 

 ing for comb honey it would be a much 

 simpler matter to put a new crate, or a 

 partly linished one. under the one that is 

 ready to come off. 



■WANTED— HONEY-EATERS. 



shall we ship oub honey to the cities? 



Ten million people to eat honey! I thought I 

 would not be too "cheeky "in the first call; but 

 when this is answered, I will call for more. " Bless- 

 ed Bees " was written to open up a market for sup- 

 ply-dealers, and now its readers want a demand for 

 their product. Is there any thing unreasonable in 

 this? What we want now is consumers, and not 

 producers of honey. Judging from the price of 

 this sweet, during the last score of years, produc- 

 ers have increased in a much greater ratio than 

 consumers have. " What are you going to do 

 about it?" Ts there no help for it? I believe there 

 is, if every producer of a pound of honey would 

 put his own " shoulder-blades " to the wheel. 



I know bee-keepers who tell with pride that they 

 never sold a pound of honey at home. I know a 

 bee-keeper who lives at a county seat of probably 

 15fl0 inhabitants who exultingly says: " I never sold 

 a pound of honey in my town. I ship it all off in 

 barrels." We have too many bee-keepers of this 

 persuasion; and may their shadow grow less. Too 

 little business to sell honey? Can't peddle. Oh, no! 

 You .ship your honey to large marts, where it ac- 

 cumulates until the price gets down lower than ze- 



