568 



THE^ J^JIvHSMlCKm BE® JOURrcai,. 



yield of liom-y, ami tin- (;o|)i()U.s rains 

 of the lal(; nxiiitlis of 1889, and Jau- 

 uary, I''cl)niary and March of 1890, 

 gave good grounds* for the supposition. 



But it is not rain alone that gives us 

 flowers and nectar ; a warm, damp 

 atmosphere must surround the bloom 

 to produce tlic best results as a secre- 

 tion of nectar. 



Hot winds will kill the bloom on 

 many shrubs and i)lants and dry up 

 the nectar in the bloom of any tr(«. 

 Even the bloom of tlu! blue-guni yields 

 to a north wind or a hot wave from 

 the desert. 



Hot or north wiiuls have been so 

 j)revalenl during the latter part of 

 June, and so far in July, that in some; 

 places bees have ipnt storing honey, 

 and are now consuming their stores. 

 In such places the season is ended. 



WHAT \VK KNOW. 



The (pn,lity of honey produced this 

 year in .South(!rn (Jalifornia is eipuil to 

 any in this locality since 187(1, both as 

 to llavor, bo<ly and color. Much of it 

 is bright as a ray of light seen through 

 a dew-drop. 



Spider-webs ouglit to be brushed oft 

 bee-hives to prevent tlie bees Ijciiig 

 caught in tlie webs, and that au old 

 broom is a good thing to use to do the 

 work with. A whitewash made of oni; 

 l)art of I'oitland ceuKMit to five (larts 

 of air-slacked lime, and a little salt 

 mixed with cold water and made (piiti^ 

 thin, is as good or better tlian paint for 

 old bee-hives ; it will lill up cracks, and 

 kill the larva of bee-moth, anil look as 

 white as the? best p.'iint. It can be ap- 

 jilied rapidly with an old broom with 

 the haiidli^ cut oil', so as not to inter- 

 fere with rapid work. 



WHAT WIC IIKAU. 



That the honey sujiply in the San 

 Francisco market is greater than the 

 dcfmand ; that butlittli^ honey is chang- 

 ing hands in San Francisco on account 

 of the large supply of berries and 

 fruit. 



The yi(dd of honey in most of the 

 Eastern Stat(!s is xcvy small— in some 

 places an entire failnr(^ 



San Diego county has proiliuM;d this 

 season, so far, more honey than was 

 produced in the whole! season of last 

 3'ear, and this year's honey is of nnich 

 better color and ipiality than that pro- 

 duced last year. 



Sevfual |)arties are i)r(!paiing to es- 

 tablish apiaries in Arizona. 



(Jarniolaii bees havti made a good 

 record this year as lioney-gatherers. 



WHAT WK WOULD LIKIC. 



To have the; bee-keepers of IIk! Sixth 

 ("ongressional l>istrict meet in conven- 

 tion and form an association for mutual 



benelil to lix prices for honey, to gra<le 

 honey, to obtain reduced rates as to 

 freight, both by land and water ; to 

 gel exact information as to the best 

 markets, both in the Eastern Stat(!s 

 and foreign countries ; to get informa- 

 tion exact aixl reliable as to where iIk; 

 best supplies, hives, .sections and api- 

 arian appliances can be obtained ; to 

 have this convention meet lu^fore the 

 incepting of our .State Legislature, and 

 .S(H! if some measures cannot be taken 

 to elVectually enforce the law relating 

 to foul brood among bees ; and that 

 the law be made uniform as to the 

 assessed valu(! of bees ; to know that 

 California bee-keepers were getting a 

 fair piic(!, six cents a pound, for good 

 sage honey. 



BEE-ESCAPES. 



Tlicir ■■ivviili«»ii Mild Pcrfecliuii 

 for <iiciicrHl Umc. 



WrlUm /or the American Bee Joiiriuil 



BY C. n. UIBBEISN. 



Mr. Kecso has very fairly described, 

 on pag(! .'')07, my original horizontal 

 bee-escape, but 7iow claims that it is 

 old, and the invention of others. Now 

 let us see what Mr. Keese thought 

 about this, at the time I sent him the 

 diagram. Mr. K. says, in his letter of 

 Nov. 20, 1880, in regard to the origi- 

 nal (escape, which he now says is old, 

 and was well known : 



Your escape will work like a charm ; tbo 

 ai>iilicati()n of the princiijje is novel, and if 

 yim will publish it now, you will do tlio 

 ri^jlil, tliinK, in my jiulj^ment, ami have i/)i- 

 dixpiilfil i>rliiril)i. lirinf^ it out now ; if 

 you wiiit live years, you may eh:iii)»e llus 

 nrnui(;ciueiit but a little, ami i>rciliably not 

 inipriivL', as tlio in-inciple is well eslali- 

 lislieti. as a nunihei" of parties, ineluilin^ 

 myself, have it applied to doors and win- 

 dows of lumoy-housos. 



Your a|>plicution of it, in a horizimtiil 

 position oil hives ix I'erlnlnly luiw.l tvilli 

 yoii: I had thought of using tlie pi-iiiciple 

 in nil empty T super, in a prrpciidii'iiUir 

 ])r)Hitioii iiisteiKl of the eoiies, liiit cimld not 

 see any advaiitaj^e over the eoiies. hifl I 

 luid never Ihouijlil of uxhiii the lu>ri::i>nliil 

 libin. 



Some of the above italics are my 

 own. If Mr. Kc^eso had readily 

 thought the diagram siuithim, old, and 

 of no account, lie would hardi}- hav(! 

 written all the above. 



Now let us see what Mr. KiM'si! 

 ri'ally claims : He has admitted that 

 I inventeil tlu^ horizontal (escape, even 

 an improv(Uiient antedating his so- 

 called horizontal escape. He has now 

 practically admitted that I lirst in- 

 vented a Imrizonlitl escape, and that it 

 was placed msii/c the space, usually oc- 

 cupieil by the board. 



Now, what Mr. R. really did do, was 

 to lake my second published pattern 



(figure 4) and place it in a board on 

 the plan of m3- original escape, de- 

 scribed on page 507. It certainl3' does 

 not require any great invimtive genius 

 to make the escape a little difl'erent, 

 and nail it into a board, a little difVer- 

 enlly, and call it an original invention! 

 I want to ask bee-kee|)ers in general, 

 and Mr. Reese in particular, if it is en- 

 tirely fair to use my designs and prin- 

 cipU^s, which are not dis])Uted, in an 

 es('ai)e, and call it by their own name ? 

 I agree with Mr. H., that this ought to 

 settle it ! 



But Mr. Reese nor any of the numer- 

 ous bee-escape inventors have yet 

 learned all the kinks necessary to a 

 perfect bee-escape. It is true that 

 most of them will work under favor- 

 able conilitions, but what bee-keepers 

 want, and must have, is one that never 

 fails. Of course, no escape can ever 

 Ik; expcK'tcd to work if there is brood, 

 and perhaps a queen in the supers. 



Mr. Reese says, in an article in a 

 laU; number of the Iteview : " I would 

 think the escape a good thing if it 

 would only clear out two-thirds of the 

 bees ill '24 hours." Well, now ! if I 

 had nothing better than that, I think I 

 should throw it way, and go back to 

 the old smoke-out plan ! Wouldn't 

 you ? 



Now, about using so much smoke in 

 driving bees out of supers : Does it 

 not impart the llavor of smokeil ham to 

 our fiiu; coiub hoiK-y, that apparently 

 never leaves it again P 



I have no objection to any bee- 

 keepers making and using any of my 

 publislied escapes, or making any im- 

 lirovcnKUits, or new ones of their own. 

 Like (copying a iiewsiiaper article, 

 however, they should give credit for 

 th<! parts thai ai'c copied. I have now 

 lierfei'ted the horizontal escape, and 

 have tried it in all reasonable ways, 

 and it has tiever failed with me, oi' 

 others, to mj' knowledge. 



Rock Island Co., Ills. 



VISITING. 



Ilotv Some People Keep Been 

 Hiid Prodiiee Ilonc}'. 



Tfrttfen for tlM American Bee Journal 

 BY J. W. TEKKT. 



During a recent visit I saw at least 

 a thousand colonies of bees, ami about 

 fifty b<u>-keepers, and no two keep bees 

 on the same system — all have dilVoreut 

 plans. 



One, in particular, has kcjjt bees for 

 thirty years, and his father before him 

 for forty years — so he says ; he has 

 ' now 80 colonics in about as many dif- 

 I ferent kinds of hives. I stopped over 

 night with him, and talked "bees." 

 He is a member of the New York State 



