1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULT LIKE. 



15 



wish to do with them in deciding what ma- 

 chine to use. There is probably nothing in 

 the world, that will do the amount of work, 

 for any thing like the price, like the Smith 

 fountain pump. It can be carried in one 

 hand, with a pail of liquid in the other, but 

 you must set it down when you operate. 

 The Whitman fountain pump can be operat- 

 ed while you have a pail of liquid on your 

 arm, but it costs a great deal more money. 

 Woodison makes a spray-difEuser that is ex- 

 cellent, but it costs three or four dollars. A 

 great deal of time has been spent in devising 

 sprinklers ; but my experience is, that every 

 thing with a perfoiatea head, like a rose, is 

 objectionable because it fills up so soon. The 

 spray diff user is much the best. A water- 

 ing-pot can. of course, be used, but it wastes 

 a great deal of expensive liquid, and gives 

 some of the plants too mucli, and others not 

 enough. Where the liquid is to be carried 

 in a barrel in a wagon, when we have to 

 spray fruit-trees, for instance, a powerful 

 force-pump is needed, and a great many of 

 these are already in the market. The whole 

 arrangement answers for treating potato- 

 bugs with Paris green, where there are large 

 fields of them. I am firmly convinced, how- 

 ever, that, in a majority of cases, Terry's 

 plan of hand-picking is the cheapest and 

 surest for the potato-beetle. At the Michi- 

 gan State Horticultural Convention in Sagi- 

 naw, Prof. Cook gave us quite a talk on in- 

 sect-pests ; and I believe the general conclu- 

 sion was, that hand-picking, or some equiva- 

 lent plan, is, a great many times, the short- 

 est cut to success, especially if we commence 

 just as soon as the first bug makes its ap- 

 pearance. Even on squash and cucumber 

 vines it will often be found to be the cheap- 

 est and shortest way, especially if you cover 

 them, when small, with the plant-boxes. — I 

 am very glad to know you are doing so well 

 in your Florida home ; but our Medina mar- 

 ket would probably not pay the fancy prices 

 you get for your early products. Ten cents 

 a pound for the first tomatoes, cabbages, cu- 

 cumbers, and the like, can be obtained until 

 the market is satisfied, and I presume other 

 towns in your vicinity would pay about the 

 same ; but r presume that most of your 

 products will have to be sold in our large 

 cities. — I am glad to hear of your success 

 with artesian wells. These will be a won- 

 derful aid toward making a sure thing of 

 your crops. 



REESE'S CONE-CASE BEE-ESCAPE. 



HOW TO MAKE, AND HOW TO USE; VALUABLE 

 SUGGESTIONS. 



R. ROOT:— I have had in practical use the 

 past season a device or plan for getting 

 bees out of finished or full cases of honey, 

 etc., while on the hive, without the use of 

 smoke, etc. The plan also works well 

 when applied to a pile— less or more— of full cases, 

 when the bees can escape and not return; but I 

 claim the application to the hive proper as new and 

 original. One of the oldest and most practical bee- 

 keepers and writers on bee-keeping has also given 

 it a rigid test, and pronounced the plan practical 

 and thoroughly successful. Dr. C. C. Miller also 



has the device to test; but his letter, which I inclose, 

 will explain what he thinks of it, without having an 

 opportunity of testing it, on account of the lateness 

 of the season. 



Friend Beese:— There is no question but that your 

 affair will work. It is too late to try it, but I know 

 without trying. Somewhere I have a dim recollec- 

 tion of seeing the double-cone principle mentioned, 

 but it could not have been in the practical form in 

 which you have it, I think. You speak of trying It 

 with feeders; but in this place itis too late and cold, 

 even for that. By all means, send me the pattern for 

 the cones, if yoii will be so kind. Your cone escape 

 will work nicely, I think, in this way: Having driv- 

 en down the usual number of bees, take off the su- 

 pers and pile them up four or five high, then put a 

 cone-case on top to let the bees out. This will be 

 more trouble than your way, but it would be better 

 for an out-apiary, where the work must be rushed 

 through. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111., Oct. 29, 1887. 



Now, in the first place I do not desire to apply for 

 a patent on this " atfair," as Dr. Miller calls it, but I 

 have come to the conclusion that you are the best 

 man to have any appliance that will benefit bee- 

 keepers generally, as you can put it before them to 

 a better and greater extent than any one else. 



REESE'S cone CASE, AND HOW USED. 



The "affair," or cone-case bee-escape, is simply as 

 follows: Take any empty surplus case that any 

 bee-keeper may be using— say, for illustration, the 

 T super you are making. Cut a thin board that 

 will just fit evenly inside the T case; bore two one- 

 inch holes, one near each end. Make two small 

 cones of wire cloth, just large enough to tack over 

 the one-inch holes, and about I'/s inch high. Now 

 make two more larger cones, about 3'/^ inch at base 

 and 3'2 high, and tack over the smaller cones. This 

 will leave a space between the smaller and larger 

 cones, and each cone has a hole in its apex that will 

 admit a bee. You now have a device like E, in the 

 illustration. Fasten this board, with cones, near 

 the bottom of your empty super, as shown by B. 

 Now, as this empty section-case with the false bot- 

 tom—or top— with cones, is just the size of the sur- 

 plus cases already on the hive, the full super may 

 be raised as at A, and a super (C) filled with empty 



