312 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIE]^ 



sition, and opened. The sheet always ad- 

 heres to the lower leaf. It is removed by 

 passing a knife, held perpendicularly, 

 around three sides, and peeling off. The 

 press is dipped in water again and allowed 

 to drip for a moment. It is then ready for 

 the next sheet. 



On page 250 of the American Bee Journal 

 of Aug. 2;], 1894, is an easy method of making 

 such a press, which is very cheap. The uni- 

 form answers to Query 988 in the A. B. .1. 

 are largely based on the cost of foundation 

 roller mills, and apply well enough to sur- 

 plus foundation and to brood foundation 

 destined to be sold, but furnish no valid 

 reason why brood foundation for home use 

 should not be made at home, thus saving 

 the difference between the cost of wax and 

 foundation, which may amount to a good 

 deal when one is increasing his colonies. 

 Little skill or time is required with a press 

 which uses melted wax, according to ac- 

 count; brittlenoss is avoided by making no 

 more than is used at once, while to poor 

 appearance, dark color, or uuevenness, the 

 bees make no objection 



Akvada, Colo. Oct. 5, 1895. 



-^j-^-^^V^I 



Bee Escapes and Section Boxes — The 

 Possibilities of one-half Acre of Land. 



B. TAYLOK. 



v.t. 



EXT after the 

 three great con- 

 veniencies mention- 

 ed in the October 

 Rev i e w , I give 

 fourth place to bee 

 escapes. I am puz- 

 zled over the fact 

 tha' there are people 

 who still decry es- 

 capes, <and I am 

 compelled, to regard 

 them as belonging to the class who refuse to 

 use washing machines and clothes wringers. 

 When I think of the battle I used to have to 

 get the bees from the section cases late in 

 the season, and the safe, quiet, speedy way 

 I do it now with escapes, I am compelled to 

 unconsciously exclaim " A great invention 

 indeed. " I regard the escape as now per- 

 fected, and but little if any improvement 

 possible. The Porter and the Handy escape. 



as invented and made by myself, both work 

 as near perfect as it seems possible. Be- 

 tween these two escapes I see no difference 

 except that the Handy is the simplest in. 

 construction. Last fall I went to an apiary 

 of forty colonies that had been run for ex- 

 tracted honey. No honey had been removed 

 and the hives were tiered from two to four 

 high. An excluder had been used to keep 

 the queen in the lower hive, but all the hives 

 were filled with bees. The time was early 

 October and I expected trouble in getting 

 the bees out. We went to the yard one 

 afternoon and put under the escapes in an 

 hour ; six Porters and some thirty Handy 

 escapes being used. I expected to have to 

 leave them on several days, as there were 

 so many bees to get out. We stayed over 

 night and by nine o'clock the next morning 

 the honey was all off with not a quart of bees 

 in the whole lot. L have had similar expe- 

 riences before. I have now lost all interest 

 in the improvement of escapes. I know 

 there are persons who still honestly believe 

 au escape should have a large opening so 

 the bees can get out faster, but the Handy 

 escape is so small that but one bee can get 

 inside at a time, and 1 know it works better 

 than any escape with a large opening. 



I have sometimes questioned whether 

 sections have made honey production more 

 profitable. I used to have neat boxes of 

 five, ten, and fifteen pounds capacity. I 

 used starters in them so there were just 

 three combs of equal thickness. They were 

 cheap, shipped well, looked very inviting, 

 and only lacked two points of superiority 

 given by the pound sections, viz : , the honey 

 can be cut from them by the consumer with 

 less daub than from the box, but the great- 

 est point with me as a honey producer is 

 the ease with which I can have sections 

 filled with combs one season and then 

 used to secure large yields of white honey 

 the next season, I know that Mr Vander- 

 vort and others claim that full sheets of 

 foundation will be finished as quickly as 

 drawn combs but I know my honey crops 

 for the last three seasons were obtained by 

 the use of drawn combs and that this year, 

 as in previous ones, there were many cases 

 in which the foundation had not been touch- 

 ed, but in the same cases the drawn combs 

 were filled and sealed with salable honey. 



THE OKOP ON THAT ^.j AOKE. 



Recently I received a letter from a bright, 

 iudastrious bee-keeper of long experience 



