682 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



SEtT. 



veil from his head, "and," said he, "it seemed 

 as thougli half the swarm made a dive for my 

 head." [^ 



" I suppose you rushed for the nearest bush- 

 es, or tlie cellar, to get rid of them." 



'V^l 



"hen" peacock IX the WATEIUNG-XIiOrGII. 



"No, I didn't. I went foi- the nearest thing, 

 and that was the watering-trough, and plung- 

 ed in all over." 



"Ha. ha! that was splendid. Did it get the 

 bees off?" 



"Oh, yes! it cooled them off. and me too. I 

 soon crawled out and ran foi- the barn, where I 

 combed a few out of my hair. I have never 

 managed bees since, and want nothing to do 

 with them." 



" Lucky Peacock!" thought 



The Rami5I>ek. 



VERTICAL VS. HORIZONTAL BEE-ESCAPES. 



THE DIBBERN ESCAPE A FAII.UKE WHEKE THE 

 OLD-STYI.E KEESE SUCCEEDS. 



Since reading friend Doolittle's unfavorable 

 opinion of the utility of bee-escapes in Geean- 

 INGS for Aug. 1, I feel it a duty to give my ex- 

 perience. After a fair trial I found the horizon- 

 tal has been a failure; while the vertical cone, 

 as I use it, is all that I can desire. Without its 

 aid I could not have managed my bees without 

 assistance. I am a practicing physician, and it 

 so happened this summer, that, just as white 

 clover opened (our only source of surplus), an 

 epidemic of measles and dysentery visited us, 

 keeping me on the road almost continuously 

 during flow. Only a few of my queens being 

 clipped, most of my swai'ms went to the woods. 

 But, to my subject, bee-escapes: 



Having given Dibbern's horizontal repeated 

 trials with failure, and being compelled to have 

 some aid along that line. I at once made several 

 vertical (after Reese's plan). With these I find 

 two things necessary for perfect work: First, 

 there must be an air-space between the escape- 

 board and brood-nest. Second, the opening at 

 the apex of the cone must be of good caliber, 

 not less than ^^ of an inch. 



Take a board the size of your section-case, 

 and in its center insert a wire cone having a 2}4- 

 inch base, 3 inches deep, with an opening for 

 exit at the apex not less than % of an inch. 

 Tack the board on an empty case, and you are 

 equipped for business. Now, just before sunset 

 go to your hive having sections ready to come 

 off. Don't take a smoker with you; lift off 

 gently the full super, bees and all. Set the 

 escape in its place on the honey-board, or, in its 

 absence, on the brood-frames. Set the full 

 super on the escape, then put on the cover. 

 Very early next morning, take off your case and 



take it to the hoiu^y-room. Now rc^nove the 

 escape, and with a gentle puff or two of smoke 

 drive the bees below the honey-board. Put on 

 your case of empty sections, and the work is 

 done, and witli no loss of time to the bees, and 

 comparatively none to you. I would say to 

 friend Doolittle, that there will he no young 

 bees remaining behind to be lost. In taking off 

 over .500 lbs. by this method I do not think the 

 average was half a dozen bees to tiie case, 

 sometimes only one or two of what my wife 

 fondly styles "baby bees." lam possibly over- 

 sanguine, but I really b<>lleve that, in the near 

 futui'c. even now, the procuring of comb honey 

 will ])e attended with less trouble and expense 

 than extracted. Wm. S. Adams. 



Guys, Md., Aug. 18. 



BEE-ESCAPES A SUCCESS. 



I have been looking for some time in the dif- 

 ferent bee-journals for some reports of the 

 horizontal bee-escape; but as yet not much has 

 appeared; and lama little surprised to learn 

 that some have met with failure. I became 

 much interested in them last winter, nhen so 

 much \\as going the rounds in the bee-journals, 

 and looked forward with much interest to the 

 time when I could test them. I thought if they 

 would work as represiMited they would be a 

 great help in taking our surplus honey. I sent 

 50 cts. to Mr. Dibbern, and procured a sample 

 of his horizontal escape. It was very nicely 

 made, and looked as though it would do all that 

 was claimed for it. But I did not like the exits 

 being on a level with the tin, to which it was 

 soldered; and I could not see but that a single 

 cone would work just as well as a double one. 

 I made Ave or six after my own plan, with single 

 cones, the cones projecting away from the tin, 

 with the intention of testing all of them when 

 the time came. Now for the result: 



In the morning, while it was yet cool, I took 

 my smoker and escap(^s, and went into the bee- 

 yard. I went to a hive on which was one or 

 more cases filled, or partially filled, with honey, 

 which I wished to take off. I removed the top 

 case, and placed the escape on top of the other, 

 or on the top of the hive, as the case might be. 

 I then replaced the case of honey on top of the 

 escape. I proceeded in this way till my supply 

 of escapes was all gone; and then in the after- 

 noon, or late in the evening, I went around to 

 each hive on which an escape had been placed, 

 and took off the cases of honey, and carried 

 them to the honey-house, a great many of them 

 without a single bee in, and some with a few 

 bees in, with the exception of three or four cases. 

 These I left on for two or three days, and then 

 took them off' \\ith a good many bees in. I can 

 not tell why the bees did not go out of them, 

 unless they were mostly young ones. I had the 

 Dibbern escape in use all the time with the 

 ones I made myself. The Dibbern escape did 

 not seem to clear up a case of bees as soon nor 

 as clean as my own make. The bees seemed to 

 find their way back in. On one occasion, wheu 

 I had taken the Dibbern escape off a hive, a 

 considerable number of bees were on the under 

 side of the escape. I held it in my hand a few 

 minutes to see if any of the bees would find 

 their way back through the escape, and in that 

 short time four or five bees found their way 

 back through the escape. The exits being on a. 

 level with the tin, and the exits of both the 

 cones being directly opposite each other, and so. 

 near each other, if a bee finds its way in through 

 the first cone it passes on directly through the 

 other cone and back into the super. In my 

 escape the exit is away about a bee-space from 

 the tin; consequently it is not so easily found 

 by the bees. 



Perhatps I should say just here, that I made 



