THU MiyiERIC^tlM BE® JOURKltL. 



G49 



ti 



viH-y often noticed that 

 tached to tlu' bottom 



they were at- 

 iii thi' usual 

 iiiaiiuer. 



I thiuk that I am jiistilied in nialiing 

 the stalomcnt that wlicu there is a 

 queen present in the hive, the eggs are 

 always laid in the queeii-eell cups by 

 the queen ; but wh^n there is no queeu. 

 the woi-kers attend to that part of the 

 work when eggs are not available, or 

 there is no larvas of the correet age in 

 the combs. Who knows but what the 

 poor, destitute little bees borrow the 

 paltry wherewithal to sustain life from 

 their neighbors ? I believe they do. 



Marlboro, Mass. 



BEE-ESCAPES. 



The History of llieir Invention 

 and Practical li<«e. 



Written Jor the American BeeJmvmal 



BY S. A. SHUCK. 



pui-pose 



Avery interesting history, together 

 with the illustrations and instructions 

 for making bee-escapes, may be found 

 in (xleanings in Bee-Culture, on paces 

 15, 200. 533. 681. 765 and 838 for 

 1888 ; and pages 735 and 857 for 1889. 

 Suftice it to say here, that the credit of 

 introducing bee-escapes for the pur- 

 pose of freeing surplus receptacles of 

 bees before removing them from the 

 hives, belongs to Mr. J. S. Reese, of 

 Kentucky ; however, it appears that 

 Mr. H. R. Boardman. of Ohio, had 

 used escapes for the same 

 some two years before. 



Mr. Boardman attached his escapes 

 in a horizontal position to the outside 

 of the supers, and permitted the bees 

 to pass out into the open air ; while 

 Mr. Reese placed his escape in a per- 

 pendicular position with the point 

 down, allowing the bees to pass into 

 an empty super placed between the 

 brood-chamber and the surplus re- 

 ceptacle to be freed of bees. Both of 

 these plans worked reasonably well. 

 but were inconvenient in their applica- 

 tion ; and, in further eftbrts to perfect 

 this device, it appears that Mr. Reese, 

 and Mr. C. H. Dibbern. of Illinois, at 

 about the same time, attached a hori- 

 zontal escape to a plain board to be 

 placed between the super and the hive 

 below. Mr. Reese afterwards inserted 

 the escape in the board in such a way 

 as not to occupy and space above or 

 below it. 



Concerning this arrangement. Mr. 

 Uibbern says : •I admit that yours is 

 an ingenious arrangement — something 

 that I tried to conceive, but failed" (see 

 January Gleanings, page 6). However, 

 it appears since, that Mr. D. has 

 claimed the invention, and after a 

 hasty trial in the fall, winter and 

 spring of 1889-90. he advertised and 



sold hundreds of these escapes. (See 

 page 80 of the Western Plowman for 

 1890.) But it was found in testing 

 these devices during the working sea- 

 son, that they are unsatisfactory. (See 

 the Bee-Keepers' Review for July, and 

 the American Bee Journal for June 

 28. 1890.) 



It appears that Mr. Dibbern has cor- 

 resBonded far and near, securing pat- 

 terns of all the escapes invented or 

 tried by other bee-keepers, so far as he 

 was able to do so, and from these he 

 claims to have originated something 

 new — an escape that is perfect. Of 

 this new device the inventor sa3s ; 



•'I have cleaned the bees out of 

 hives that were used as upper stories, 

 and in which they were storing honey, 

 in just two hours. It cleaned out 

 every bee." He further sajs : -I 

 have emptied numerous supers in 

 which the bees had commenced work, 

 also full hives used as supers over 

 strong colonies. In no instance were 

 there more than a dozen bees left after 

 the escape had been on three hours." 



While I shall not attempt to dispute 

 Mr. D's statements as to the time re- 

 quired to clear the bees out of his 

 supers, so far as he has experimented, 

 I do wish to say that if he intends tliat 

 we shall infer that his escape will do 

 this as a rule throughout the working 

 season, we must have a diiierent race 

 of bees from anything that has ever 

 been tried in tliis country. No. there 

 is no race of bees known that will quit 

 any part of their domicile in so short a 

 time, except where they are actually 

 driven out. 



I have used bee-escapes all summer 

 — escapes, too, tliat I consider as satis- 

 factory in their application as an api- 

 cultural device, as modern surplus 

 arrangements or bee-smokers. I have 

 taken off over 1.600 pounds (^f comb 

 honey with as little inconvenience and 

 less trouble with bees in my honey- 

 house, than I usually experience in 

 taking off a hundred pounds; and 

 while in a few instances the supers 

 have been cleared in a couple or three 

 hours, in most instances it requires 

 from two to four times that long, 

 owing to the condition of the weather, 

 and the quantity of bees in the hives, 

 etc. 



When it comes to forcing bees by 

 means of an escape, out of well-filled 

 supers, when the hive is so full below 

 that a portion of the bees must hang 

 outside at a temperature of 80^. Mr. 

 D. will find that it will take three 

 times three hours. 



Concerning Mr. D's new escape, in 

 closing he s<ays : •• It is to be hoped, 

 however, that not more than a dozen 

 will claim that they invented this new 

 escape ' about the same time' I did." 

 I cannot see why Mr. D. should have 



made such a statement, unless he would 

 that others should not do as he has 

 done ; and lest he should want to 

 charge me with being the first one of 

 that -dozen," I will say here that I 

 know nothing about any of his escapes, 

 except that -Double-cone-wire-cloth- 

 soldered-on-tin- now -perfect -get- one- 

 and-get-it-just-right-bee-escape " — one 

 of which a bee-keeping friend offered 

 me for trial, but my faith was want- 

 ing, and I refused to give it a trial. 



I have three different patterns in 

 use — one cone. Two are entirely new 

 and different from anything yet 

 brought before the public ; and to 

 further assure Mr. D. that I shall not 

 Lay claim to any of his property. I will 

 state that I am not the inventor of the 

 escapes that I am using; and to show 

 that the inventor is not disposed to lay 

 any claiiii to Mr. D's escape, the one's 

 I have here are small — about 1} by 2} 

 inches — I can carry a half dozen of 

 them in iny pocket, and as Mr. D's is 

 some 4 by 6 inches, I trust that he will 

 not lose any sleep by thinking that I 

 am trying to claim his new invention. 



CLIPPING WINGS. 



%'ariou$ Ways of Ciippini&r the 

 Wings of Queens. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY FRANK COVERDALE. 



The clipping of queens' wings has 

 been objected to by some of our most 

 prominent bee-keepers, and that foi 

 different reasons, namely, that the 

 practice causes many of the queens to 

 be superseded, and again, when the 

 bees swarm, the queen (if one is not 

 there) is apt to hobble off in the grass 

 and be lost. Both of these reasons 

 would indeed be very objectionable, 

 that is, if true. 



When I first began to clip my queens' 

 wings, I, too, found some ditlicultj^ 

 One thing I did notice was, that some 

 of my queens ceased- to be prolific for 

 several days after being clipped, and 

 some would be missing. This state of 

 affairs did not suit me. so I worked to 

 find out the cause of this failure, and 

 by continual practice I became master 

 of the situation, and that there was no 

 need of having my queens die, lose 

 their prolificness, or be superseded on 

 account of their wings being clipped. 



My first lesson was on a fin6. large, 

 black queen. I picked her up with 

 my left finger and thumb, and with a 

 common pair of tailor sheai-s, I clip- 

 ped oft' three-fourths of one wing, and 

 let her go. In about one week the 

 hive was opened, and the queen 

 was found to be all right, but she had 

 not laid manveggs — not over one-third 



