792 



•rmm mmt-mmicm'm wmm joismmmi^. 



in this locality these were not to 

 be compared with the Italians in any 

 way. And in the same apiary, and 

 under the same conditions, they were 

 badly 'downed" by the Italians. I 

 also notice, upon reading Mrs. Harri- 

 son's article on page 728, that the 

 whole State of Illinois has been 

 •downed," and Iowa is allowed to, 

 carr}- oft' the " blue," at the State Fair. 



The Nebraska bee-keepers do not 

 allow any such thing to happen, and 

 when Iowa comes to our State Fair 

 with their fancy gilt pails, they siniph- 

 say, •' It is of no use, as our products 

 will not compare with this wondeiful 

 displaj'. We will have to gw to the 

 Illinois State Fair in order to keep up 

 our reputation as honey-producers." 

 Why, Mrs. Harrison, do you doubt that 

 that grain was raised in Nebraska ? 

 What surprises me is, that yOur people 

 do not send here for more grain, fat 

 hogs, horses and cattle — j-es, and bees 

 and honey, in order to make a State 

 Fair worth seeing. And we also have 

 a little woman out at Columbus, who 

 keeps bees, and we think that by fol- 

 lowing her example, some of you big 

 Eastern bee-keepers might profit 

 thereby. 



Crab Orchard, Nebi'. 



BEE-ESCAPES. 



The History of their Invention 

 and Practieal Use. 



Written for Vie American Bee Journal 

 BY C. H. DIBBEBN. 



On page 649 of the Bee Journal for 

 Sept. 27, Mr. S. A. Shuck has an arti- 

 cle on this subject that is misleading, 

 if not entirely unfair. As to the in- 

 vention of the old vertical, cone es- 

 capes, I have neVer claimed anything, 

 although I tried in various w.ays to 

 improve them. Though Mr. Reese's 

 claim to it has been disputed, I think 

 ic justly belongs to liim. But this and 

 all other escapes for the .purpose of 

 freeing surplus-supers of bees, were 

 defective, and unsati.sfaetory up to the 

 time I brought out my horizontal bee- 

 escape, as described on page 798 of 

 the American Bee Journal for 1889. 



Up to this time. Nov. 15, 1889, no 

 similar escape had ever been described 

 in any of the bee-papers, or had ever 

 been used by other bee-keepers, to 

 my knowledge, and I therefore claim 

 that I am the original and only inven- 

 tor of the horizontal bee-escape. Mr. 

 Keesc has conceded this point, but 

 claims to have improved it by placing 

 it inside the board. 



When it is remembered that I de- 

 scribed my first device to him, which 

 was a horizontal escape, placed inside 



the space usually occupied by the 

 board, and afterwards described my 

 later design, it became an easy matter 

 for him to unite the two, and claim it 

 as an improvement. 



It is true that some of my first de- 

 signs did not prove entirely satisfactory 

 to me. although they worked as well 

 as any other that were then making 

 an appearance. I had secured pat- 

 terns of all the escapes I could get, 

 but somehow some of the inventors 

 were very shy of me, and failed to 

 send me their models or descriptions. 

 Those I did get were of no use to me. 

 as they proved entirely unsatisfactory. 



After many e.xperiments during 

 warm weather. I hit on my present 

 escape, and not as Mr. Shuck states. 

 patterning after all others. Now. as 

 a matter of fact, my escape is entirely 

 difl'erent from all others, 



Mr. Shuck tries hard to make his 

 readers believe that my new escape 

 will not clear a super of bees in from 

 two to three hours. He states that I 

 must have a different race of bees 

 from his, as his escape will not clear 

 the cases, dtiring the working season, 

 in less than three or four times that 

 long. Now, mine has continued to 

 do this right through the season, and 

 it has never faih^d to do the same for 

 others, that I have heard of. Strange, 

 is it not ? 



Well, I should say that Mr. Shuck 

 has very •' contrary " bees, or else his 

 escape is of but little account. Mr. 

 Shuck pretends to know all about my 

 escape, and intimates that it is 'no 

 good," and at the same time admits 

 that when a friend oftered him one of 

 my old style escapes for trial, he was 

 so prejudiced that he would not 

 take it. 



Now*, what is all this malice that; con- 

 stantly crops out in Mr. Shuck's article 

 about ? What have I done to make me 

 the target for articles like his ? I have 

 freely given the bee-fraternity an in- 

 vention, that in other occupations 

 would have been worth thousands of 

 dollars. I could have patented my 

 first device, and it would have covered 

 the entire ground. This I did not care 

 to do. as I wanted bee-keepers to have 

 the invention at once, and to have it 

 free. All that I ever asked was, that 

 I have the credit of having invented 

 the Horizontal Bee-Escape. 



Why, then, should sucli men as I\Ir. 

 Shuck, tiy to make out that somebodj' 

 else invented it, or to belittle the in- 

 vention ? Ml'. Shuck claims great 

 things for a little escape that he says 

 he can carry in his pocket, being only 

 11x2} inches. M}' experience is that 

 such small escapes are a failure. But 

 allowing it to be a success, is it not 

 a horizontal escape, and would it not 

 come under my claims ? Ordiuarily 



one would think that he need not lay 

 awake nights to defend what he had 

 given away, but such does not yet 

 seem to be the case. 

 Milan. Ills. 



"WINTERING. 



Methods of Wintering Bees In. 

 Doors and Out. 



Read at the Southwestern Wis.Convention 



BY CHAS. E. ZILLMER. 



Wintering bees is one of the most 

 important things in bee-keeping. la 

 this locality I prefci- in-door wintering. 

 By in-door wintering, I mean to put 

 the bees into a good cellar, where the 

 thermometer will not go below 45 

 degrees. 



In the first place the colony must be 

 well supplied with young bees, that is 

 bees that hatch out in October. When 

 I have a strong colony to' begin the 

 winter with, and all are old bees, I am 

 sure to lose them. I have wintered 

 quite small nuclei with success, while 

 the strong colonies of old bees, as a 

 general thing, came out weak in the 

 spring, and kept on dwindling. 



This shows very plainly that the old 

 bees cannot endure the cold spring 

 days that we are almost sure to have 

 in March and April. Then what must 

 we do to have young bees to go into 

 winter quarters ? If we have a late 

 Fall, and there is honey enough com- 

 ing in to keep up breeding, it is not 

 necessary to feed tlmni ; if it is other- 

 wise, the bees should be fed just 

 enough to keep up breeding. No mat- 

 ter how strong the colony is. if the 

 bees are all old. the colony is not fit to 

 go into winter quarters. 



It is not necessary to feed long be- 

 fore the bees are put into the cellar ; 

 just enough to give them time to hatch 

 out a good supply of j-oung workers, 

 before they go into the cellar. 



I would not have much brood in the 

 combs when I put them in the cellar ; 

 for it is sure to disturb them, when in 

 the cellar, with brood hatching. About 

 the last of September is the right time 

 to feed bees in this locality, if feeding 

 is necessary. I have had success in 

 wintering bees when they were young. 

 We often wonder why one colony win- 

 ters better than another. It is on ac- 

 count of the age of bees, and hence we 

 must have young and vigorous bees to 

 go through the long and trying winter, 

 and most of all in tlie Spring months. 

 When the bees are old and feeble. 

 they die before the brood hatches. If 

 thej' were young bees they would stand 

 it all right. I say this, for I have had 

 experience with young and small colo- 

 nies, and have had strong ones, only 



