TH® MMERICJEH MBM JQURNSl,. 



433 



be of the Roman Catholic clergy, wlieu 

 he would be addressed as Father Smith. 

 So it was from no lack of respect that 

 I wrote as I did, although it might be 

 lack of intelligence, for I do not see 

 an_y sense in making the clergy an ex- 

 ception to the general rule. It seems 

 to me just as appropriate to say " Good 

 morning, Reverend Smith," as to say 

 '•Good morning. Doctor Smith," or 

 ■General Smith." But all this aside, 

 let us try to get at the truth with re- 

 gard to the size of cells, for it may be, 

 and I think it is, a matter of very 

 great importance that the cells of 

 foundation be not too small. 



If Mr. Root is making cells smaller 

 than the bees make them, I think he 

 himself will be glad to know it, and to 

 correct the erroi". Indeed, I should 

 feel he were doing me a wrong to sell 

 me foundation for brood-comb having 

 oells less than natural size. Can we 

 dud out what is natural size ? In my 

 crude way of measuring I do not feel 

 that I could be very accurate, and, 

 indeed, if I am rightly informed, the 

 bees do not always use exactly same size. 



Prof. Cook quotes Reaumur as giving 

 the diameter of a worker-cell at " two 

 aud three-fifth lines or twelfths of an 

 inch." Mr. Cheshire says one-fifth of 

 an inch, or twenty-eight and thirteen- 

 fifteenth cells to the square inch. The 

 revised Langstroth says, "The average 

 number in a square inch is a trifle over 

 twenty-seven." This is probably 

 Dadants' measuring, and as the Da- 

 dants are the largest foundation makers 

 in the world, they have probably given 

 the matter close attention. Twenty- 

 seven cells to the square inch makes 

 th(^ diameter of a cell, if I am correct, 

 .213 of an inch. Reducing all to thou- 

 sandths of an inch for the sake of com- 

 paring, we have the diameter of a 

 worker-cell .200 according to Cheshire; 

 .213 according toDadant ; .216 accord- 

 ing to Reaumur ; and .222 according 

 to Rev. Faylor, if he has 4} cells to the 

 inch. In his last he has the alterna- 

 tive of 4:| to the inch, making the 

 diameter .211 — too small according to 

 Dadant and Reaumur. 



Now to come back to the original 

 point : Rev. Faylor proposed to make 

 foundation -l^ cells to the inch, in 

 which I did not agree, nor do I now. 

 Mr. Doolittle says, "We tried to im- 

 prove the bee so as to make them take 

 cells 4J to the inch, but we had to give 

 it up." Rev. Faylor thinks that Mr. 

 Root's " latest foundation machines 

 make the cells as much too small as 

 some of the old ones make the cells 

 too large." But those •' old ones " are 

 made 4J to the inch, just what Rev. 

 Faylor advocated; and which he now 

 sajs are too large. 



Rev.. Faylor says, " I should like to 

 know who, besides Mr. Root, as a 



foundation-machine builder, advocates 

 5 cells to the inch." Does Mr. Root 

 advocate tliis ? Mr. Editor, can you 

 tell us what liis foundation measures ?* 

 Rev. Faylor says, " The Vandervort 

 machine makes 4J to the inch, horizon- 

 tally, and 5 cells diagonally, which 

 would average 4J cells to tlie inch." 

 That is something new again, aud I 

 must thank Rev. Faylor for calling my 

 attention to it. I always supposed 

 that foundation was made to measure 

 the same each way, but I find on meas- 

 uring (I do not know what machine it 

 is made on) that the cells are larger 

 horizontally than diagonally. I found 

 4.94 cells to the inch diagonally, and 

 4.8 horizontallv. Do the bees make it 



SPACING COMBS. 



I space my combs If inches from 

 center to center, but I do not pretend 

 to really k<9iow what is right. Rev. 

 Faylor advises li inches, aud on the 

 very next page J. E. Pond strongly ad- 

 vises close spacing, which I under- 

 stand from his former writings to be 

 one and three-sixteenths. As the lat- 

 ter desires to "start a discussion," we 

 might all learn something if these two 

 gentlemen would bring out the points 

 on both sides. For one, I should like 

 to know what spacing is best. 



Marengo, Ills. 



[*No. We have not seen any comb 

 foundation of Mr. Root's make for 

 several years. — Ed.] 



BEE-ESCAPES. 



Some luiprovenients and Further 

 Experiments Considered. 



Written for the American BeeJounml 

 BY C. H. DIBBERN. 



Some may wonder why I did not 

 reply sooner to the article of Mr. 

 Reese, published on page 294. One 

 reason is, that I have been very busy 

 establishing an out-apiary, building a 

 honey-house, making up 300 hives, 

 and 500 supers, besides all the other 

 very necessary work connected with 

 an apiary of 240 colonies. Besides, I 

 do not like personal controversies, and 

 as Mr. R. concedes to me the invention 

 of the horizontal bee-escape, there 

 need be none. 



Now, as to placing the hoi'izontal 

 escape inside the board (which Mr. R. 

 claims as his improvement) is but of 

 minor importance. I would like to 

 ask Mr. R., however, if the first dia- 

 gram, seiit him about Nov. IS, 1889, 

 was not a horizontal escape ; aud if it 

 was not placed inside the space oc- 

 cupied by the board. In answer to 

 this, I have his letter of Nov. 23, 1889. 



in whicli lie says that he never lliouglit 

 of placing tlie escape in that way. This 

 letter shows Mr. Reese's own drawing 

 of my board, and it will certainly lie 

 pretty haril to get around that. 



Just now, I am more interested in 

 making the horizontal escape an entire 

 success than in quarrelling over prior- 

 ity of making some trivial improve- 

 ments. 



Since warm weather has come. I 

 have experimented a good deal with 

 al:)out all the escapes Ijrought out dur- 

 ing the past six months. Now, to be 

 candid, I believe that all are more or 

 less defective, including my own four- 

 point escape. 



JNIost of them will work all right 

 when placed over an empty super, or 

 whei'ever the old-style Reese escape 

 would work. They will prove unsatis- 

 factory, however, if placetl directly 

 over a strong colony, or between ex- 

 tracting combs and the main hive. 

 When thus placed, it is a fact that bees 

 will fill the escapes full, and seem td 

 be able to conduct other bees directly 

 through the escapes both ways. The 

 bees, of course, will continue to occupy 

 the super. The same thing happens 

 when they cluster on the cone of the 

 old Reese escape. 



I have also noticed where bees clus- 

 ter on the apex of the tent escape, or 

 at the escape on the windows of the 

 honej'-bouse, when man^- bees have 

 been carried in, robbing is speedily 

 started. It will not do to make the 

 outlets so small that workers can 

 barely get through, as drones would 

 get clogged, and die there. All these 

 difficulties have set me to thinking.and 

 further experimenting. 



I soon made some important dis- 

 coveries, and now I have an entirely 

 new escape, that woi'ks like a charm. 

 Yes, sir ; the hoi'izontal bee-escape is 

 a perfect success, and, in my opinion. 

 is the only practicable one. With this 

 new escape, I have cleaned the bees 

 out of hives that were used as upper 

 stories, aud in which they were storing 

 honey, in just two hours. It cleans 

 out every bee ! In making many tests, 

 I have never failed, and I am confident 

 that I now have the escape that xvill till 

 the bill. 



Mr. Reese says that he has been ever 

 anxious to give bee-keepers an escape 

 that can be made for next to nothing. 

 Bee-keepers are not generally paupers, 

 and I believe they are willing to pay a 

 reasonable price for a good, well-made 

 escape that will do the business. 



BEES UNCAPPING THE HONEY. 



Some one has advanced the idea in 

 opposition to bee-escapes, that the bees 

 in leaving will uncap cells, and fill 

 themselves with honey. I have used 

 bee-escapes of all kinds during the 



