1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



in one apiary, and had gathered 300 lbs. of hon- 

 ey per colony, spring count. This certainly es- 

 tablishes the fact that California is the banner 

 apiarian State of our country, if not the best 

 locality for bees in the world. 



The experiment of mixing glucose Ki Xi and 

 34' with honey, and allowing the bee-keepers' 

 present to taste of each and of pure honey, re- 

 sulted just as it did in Michigan a year ago 

 when I prepared similar samples. Every one 

 could detect the adulteration. Such adultera- 

 tion is openly practiced by the dealers in the 

 large cities, and is a rascally fraud. It crowds 

 the market with the spurious article, which is 

 so inferior that it would surely lesson the de- 

 mand for honey. Such spurious stuff leaves a 

 disagreeable taste in the mouth, that would 

 surely take from me all desire for honey if I 

 were to eat it, even though I did suspect its 

 real nature. California bee-keepers are in 

 earnest, and are bound to secure state and na- 

 tional laws looking to the suppression of this 

 nefarious practice, and they are of one mind 

 regarding the advisability and necessity of see- 

 ing that such laws are enforced. Resolutions 

 were passed, and committees appointed, in 

 hopes that speedy legislation, both state and 

 national, may be secured, which will make it 

 very dangerous to prosecute any such calling as 

 thatof adulterating honey and selling the prod- 

 uct as the genuine article. It was resolved, 

 also, to exclude any person from the society who 

 should engage in such adulteration. Without 

 doubt this is right and wise. Bee-keepers every- 

 where should unite to strike down this terrible 

 enemy. 



Claremont, Cal., Feb. 13. 



[Prof. Cook has been very busy for the past 

 year or so preparing to leave his old college at 

 Lansing. Michigan, moving, and finally getting 

 settled in his new home in that land of flowers. 

 He writes us that the climate and people are 

 delightful. He is much pleased with his new 

 work and the opportunities before him. Now 

 that he has got out of his rush, we shall hear 

 from him as before, we hope. The article above 

 is among the first at hand, and we are sure it 

 will be read with pleasure. Observe that he 

 verifies again the position we have taken, that 

 glucose — the commercial article — can be success- 

 fully detected by the taste.— Ed.] 



THE USE OF BEE-ESCAPES. 



F TIIEIU ADVANTAGES AND DISADVAN- 

 TAGES IN CALIFORNIA. 



By Rambler. 



To use or not to use the bee - escape is a 

 ■question that seems to be causing a little ripple 

 on the otherwise placid surface of the bee-keep- 

 ing interests. There are not a few that look 

 upon the little tin instrument as an innovation, 

 and openly declare they will have nothing to do 



with it. This view smacks something of set 

 notions, and, if adopted by all, would shelve 

 many worthy inventions. 



My experi(!nce with the escape is confined al- 

 most wholly to their use in this State, using 

 them hero for two seasons; and I would say 

 that my use of them so far hardly fits me to 

 write of their advantages or disadvantages, for 

 I have much to learn yet in their use. There 

 are those who can use two or three escapes two 

 or three times on two or three hives, and then 

 write learnedly of their advantages, leaving 

 out a great many of the hitches and obstacles 

 to entire success. I propose, therefore, in giv- 

 ing my experience, to relate all sides of it so far 

 as it goes, and tell the rest after further expe- 

 rience. 



I have used the escape exclusively for obtain- 

 ing extracted honey. If I were to remove comb 

 honey I think another method would be prefer- 

 able in this country; still, I would give the es- 

 cape a thorough trial in that case. 



To get rid of the disagreeable labor of brush- 

 ing off bees, and exposing combs that have just 

 been through the extractor, is a desideratum 

 sought for by all bee-keepers who extract hon- 

 ey; and if the escape will enable ns to accom- 

 plish it, or even to make the work more pleas- 

 ant, then we want the little tin instrument. 



My experience teaches me that the escape is 

 a useless article unless used in connection with 

 the queen-excluding honey-board. If we do 

 not use the queen-excluder, there will be more 

 or less brood in the extracting-super; and where 

 there is even a small amount of brood, the bees 

 will not leave it; while, if there is much brood 

 and a queen, scarcely a bee will go through the 

 escape. 



There is another hitch in the smooth working 

 of the escape: If there are many young bees, 

 even above the queen-excluder, they are not 

 world-wise enough to use the escape, and are 

 found clustered upon two or three combs; just 

 where we do not want them. 



My method of manipulation has been to give 

 the queen unlimited room up to the firstor even 

 to the middle of May; using two extracting-su- 

 pers, with frames the same size as the brood- 

 combs. If the queen is prolific, not only the 

 brood-chamber but the super above will be well 

 filled with brood; after the first of May the 

 queen-excluder is put to service and placed up- 

 on the brood-chamber with the two extracting- 

 supers above. In order to get the queen in the 

 proper place — the brood-chamber — the combs 

 are manipulated: if the outside combs in the 

 brood-chamber have honey an.i pollen, they are 

 removed; and larval brood from the super is put 

 in their place. If the honey has been coming 

 in freely, it is possible that the second super is 

 well filled with honey, and ready to extract. 

 If the escape is put under this super it works to 

 a charm, except now and then a cluster of the 

 aforesaid young bees; but if the escape is put 



