578 



GI.KANTNGS IN BEE CULTURE 



A GLIMPSE OF OUR DASHEENS AT MEDINA. 



The above picture was taken about ten days ago; and to-day, July 30, owing to a very warm spell of 

 weather, accompanied with abundant summer showers, they are almost twice as high; in fact, some of them, 

 if they keep on at this rate, will soon be as high as my head; and the Evergreen sweet corn, right back of 

 the dasheens, is all tasseled out and higher than I can reach. In fact, it is about the finest-looking sweet corn 

 I ever saw. Do you catch on ? It is the heavy mulching of stable manure that was put around the dash- 

 eens. You can see the fragments of cornstalks in the manure that were used for bedding. You can just 

 get a glimpse of the potatoes further on at the end of the dasheen rows. They not only cover the ground, 

 but some of the vines stretch up higher than my head, although early potatoes. You see the potatoes, Hub- 

 bard squashes, and every thing else, " got wind " of the generous feed, and commenced sending out their 

 white rootlets all over into the dasheen patch to get " Inspiration." The Solomon's Island gourd or " guado 

 bean," in the middle of the row does not show in the picture; but it would show if taken to-day. It grew 

 about a foot and a half while I was absent in Michigan. A letter just received from my nearest neighbor, 

 C. L. Harrison, reads as follows : " Some of my dasheen is 62 inches high, and the leaves are 26 inches 

 long, 21^ inches wide. I have used some of the small shoots for greens. They are excellent now, July 24. 

 — C. L. Harrison, Bradentown, Fla." 



screen), and thus deplete the combs. After 

 careful observation 1 failed to notice such 

 a result. My experience goes to shoAV that, 

 if honey is passed through the screen, it is 

 up rather than down. For example, a su- 

 per fitted with wire-cloth bottom (nuclei for 

 ciueen-reiring') placed above a strong colo- 

 ny will beLome clogged with honey from the 

 colony bekvv. 



I feel quite confident that, with these 

 rapid escaj^e-boards and my eight-frame 

 power extractor, I can handle alone a prob- 

 able ten-ton crop this season. 



In using these bee-escapes there is no 

 back-aching job shaking and brushing in- 

 dividual combs to free them from bees with 

 the conseciuent killing and injuring of hun- 

 dreds of the season's best workers, to say 



nothing of the return in stings, and the 

 danger of robbing is reduced to a minimum. 

 After carefully trying frames with both 

 one and two escapes I am satisfied that 

 there is an advantage (in length of time re- 

 quired) with the frame having two escapes; 

 but this advantage is not important as re- 

 gards freeing the super of bees. However, 

 when I considered the small extra cost with 

 two escapes it seemed practical to use them ; 

 for if, for any reason, one did not operate, 

 the other would. I have never had a Porter 

 escape that did not work beautifully; but I 

 do not wish to take any unnecessary chances 

 confining bees, as confined bees will very 

 rapidly raise the temperature, and this 

 would be disastrous, besides not accomplish- 

 ing the desired results. 



