AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



19 



complete fructification of the fruits as 

 well as the highest developmeut of plant 

 life. 



But bees do not always live on the 

 nitrogenous food which pollen-bearing 

 plants furnish. Mature bees live on 

 honey. This is the only proper food for 

 them after maturity. Hence the nectar 

 in the flowers. It tempts the bee to 

 enter, with the hope that some of its 

 pollen-dust may be carried to a distantly 

 related plant, or that some already ad- 

 hering to its body may be brushed 

 against its receptive pistils. 



The primary object of nectar in flowers 

 was not to furnish man a dainty and 

 delectable sweet, but as an inducement 

 to insects to visit the plant and accom- 

 plish for it what it could not, unaided, 

 do. The fact that man has learned by 

 observation and experience that bees 

 will gather and store more honey than 

 they need for winter, and has turned 

 the instinct of this industrious worker 

 to his own advantage and profit, does 

 not prove that this is not a secondary 

 object in their creation. 



Bees are as necessary in the economy 

 of Nature as birds. They take no life 

 from the plant which they visit, but give 

 life through fructification, and in the 

 added vigor which comes from cross- 

 fertilization. The drop of nectar is of 

 no advantage to the plant, if not appro- 

 priated, for it soon evaporates and is 

 wasted. Bees, therefore, while perform- 

 ing a valuable service to the farmer in 

 the fertilization of clover, to the horti- 

 culturist in assisting him to a full crop 

 of fruit, to the florist and market-gar- 

 dener by constant and friendly visits, 

 add another resource to rural economies, 

 which, without their aid, would be scat- 

 tered to the four winds of Heaven. 



Bees never injure sound fruit. Al- 

 though this charge has been laid at 

 their door, all creditable expert testimo- 

 ny exonerates them. In the first place, 

 they cannot if they would, bite through 

 the skin of sound fruit. Their man- 

 dibles are not made for cutting, like 

 those of the wasp and hornet. Where 

 they are thought to be guilty, it is 

 generally found, on investigation, that 

 some other insect or bird is the depreda- 

 tor, or that the fruit is decaying from 

 other causes. 



In the second place, the stuff that 

 bees get from fruit is not only worthless 

 as food for them, but is positively injuri- 

 ous, showing that Nature never in- 

 tended the juice of fruit as food for 

 bees. They never use it or gather it, 

 except when natural and proper sup- 

 plies are exhausted. 



There is therefore no reason why the 

 horticulturist and bee-keeper should not 

 be friends. There should be a reciproc- 

 ity of acknowledgments between them. 

 The one cannot live and prosper with- 

 out the other. Both avocations may 

 follow side by side without prejudice, 

 and with mutual advantage. The same 

 spirit that outlaws the bee because, for- 

 sooth, we think some one else is reaping 

 where he has not sown, would regard 

 jealously the acquisition of any property 

 or other desirable thing by any other 

 person, no matter if we through lack of 

 industry or ability fail to acquire our- 

 selves. 



Forest City, Iowa. 



The Bee-Escape a ValuaWe Iinpleineiit. 



Written for the American Dee Journal 



BY CHAS. DABANT & SON. 



We were among the late ones in trying 

 the bee-escape. We have always been 

 of the opinion that many implements 

 were made that were only a nuisance to 

 the bee-man — a catch-penny, and noth- 

 ing 6lse — and we had at the first glance 

 ranged the bee-escape among them. 



In the spring of 1892, seeing so many 

 favorable comments upon the escape, we 

 concluded to give it a trial. We were 

 astonished at the result, and after two 

 trials, we decided to experiment on a 

 larger scale. So we ordered 30 dozen 

 of the Porter escapes. Owing to the 

 bad crops both in 1892 and 1893, only 

 about one-third of these escapes have 

 been put to use, but here is the result : 



In an apiary of 80 to 90 colonies, we 

 put on the escapes from 4 to 24 hours 

 before removing the supers. The labor 

 of placing them on is but a short job, 

 though it usually requires two men to do 

 it fast. We smoke the bees lightly, pry 

 the supers loose, and while one man 

 raises them off, the other puts the honey- 

 board, containing the escape, over the 

 brood-frames. The supers are then put 

 back on the hive, and we go to the next 

 colony. It takes but little more time to 

 do it than to write it. 



Usually in four or five hours most of 

 the supers are about empty. Much, 

 however, depends upon the weather and 

 the time of day and the season, when 

 this is dpne. But in the great number 

 of cases, there are not more than two or 

 three dozen bees left in any super after 

 24 hours. Some are entirely deserted 

 by the bees. 



The advantages of the escape are sev- 



