1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULtUKE. 



633 



in crocks of ci-ude petroleum ; 3. Weed out all the 

 propolis-carriers. I pi-efer to sit aud look on. 



B. E. Hasty. 

 It is amusing to see the little negatives 

 strung along one after another. Prof. Cook, 

 however, is a little slow about deciding, and 

 replies with a joke. Prof. Cook so seldom 

 indulges in jokes of this kind that it sounds 

 unite funny. Hasty has given us a very in- 

 teresting point, and I should not wonder if 

 he were right about it, although 1 never 

 thought of it before. I know ants dislike 

 propolis, and bees do also, for that matter, 

 if they happen to get their wings or legs 

 caught in it. They are very nice and skill- 

 ful, however, in stepping about so deftly 

 when the hives are tilled with it, for they 

 never get into trouble unless man, with his 

 modern combs and other fixtures, gets the 

 poor bee into it. 



QniiSTiON No. 63.— Hace yon found a Jiee-escape (a 

 device which permits the passage of bees out but not 

 into the inclnsure) as a fl.vturc to a. honey-house door or 

 window, an advantage/t If so, please make a diagram 

 of the one you use. 



Yes, decidedly. H. R. Boardman. 



I never could find a satisfactory arrangement. 



PAUr, L. VlALLON. 



I have never used any bee-escape, except a 

 swinging window. There are several good escapes. 



P. H. Elwood. 



No. T prefer that bees that find their way into a 

 honey-room should remain there until night, when 

 they may be released. L. C. Root. 



My new bee-house has wire screens at windows 

 that open out. At the top of these are funnel- 

 shaped long %-inch holes. When I try them I will 

 report. A. J. Cook. 



With our screen house, we need no bee-escapes. 

 It is simple to fix a window so as to accomplish 

 what you wish. We consider a description too long 

 lor this department. James Heddon. 



I have succeeded so far in getting along without 

 any such device; consequently I have none to illus- 

 trate. When I get "that new honey-house " built, 

 perhaps it will have one on it. E. E. Hasty. 



Bees naturally tiy to the window, and a few 

 moments' work in lowering the window and brush- 

 ing with a feather rids me of them. 1 never used a 

 device of the kind suggested. Geo. Grimm. 



Yes. Simply tack a few pieces of lath above the 

 window on the easing, and let the wire cloth cover- 

 ing the window run up on them six inches or more. 

 In this way the bees from the inside run up and out 

 while those on the outside try to get in below this 

 escape. G. M. Doolittle. 



I let the upper half of my windows down, fasten 

 a wire gauze above the outside of the window, and 

 let it extend over ?.^ or more of the lower half with- 

 out tacking it below. The bees don't dive and. crawl 

 up into my room, though the outside of the gauze 

 is full of them at times. Hut bees in the room (car- 

 ried there> fly against the wire gauze; and, when 

 tired, fall down and out of the crack. 



Chas. p. Muth. 



Yes, I consider a bee-oscape of some kind as an 

 Indispensable fixture. I have used several devices; 

 but the cheapest and most satisfactorj- one is the 



device invented by E. J. Wells, a very poor figure 

 of which was given on page 399 of Gleanings for 

 1886. The common device of running the wire 

 screen several inches above the top of a window 

 will usually work, but not always, as I have at 

 times been seriously troubled by the bees becoming 

 too well educated in the details of that arrange- 

 ment. O. O. POPPLETON. 



We send you a proof en- 

 graving of the new " Lang- 

 stroth on the Honey Bee," 

 to be published soon. The bee- 

 1 escape is at the top between 

 the wall and the screen. Hun- 

 dreds of apiarists have taken 

 this method from us, and are 

 using it. Dadant &, Son. 



After various experiments with bee-escapes, I 

 have found that, to have your honey-house provid- 

 ed with close-fltting blinds, so that you cati make it 

 quite dark; then if in taking off boxes or sections 

 you get the house full of bees (so to speak), by let- 

 ting them stay in the dark a few minutes, and then 

 lowering the upper sash and opening a panel of the 

 blinds, or even the door, I can clear the house of 

 bees quickly. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Yes. I should not want to try to get along with- 

 out them. I prefer simple cones of wire cloth, 

 three inches in diameter at the 

 large end, with a '/4-inch opening 

 at the small end, and 5 inches 

 long. Put two of these in the 

 top of each window. Some- 

 times liees find their way back 

 through thLic. I then keep 

 them closed most of the time 

 for a few days hy a plug of cloth 

 or paper. I have used these 

 cones double— one inside the other— but this is not 

 much use. .Tames A. Green. 



'yZ. 



couldn't keep house without a bee-escape. 

 Here's a cross-section of the one on mj' 

 shop. A hole through the wall a foot 

 square or larger, two strips of lath 

 nailed on the outside on the two sides, 

 and a piece of wire cloth, nailed over 

 all. The lath holds the wire cloth out 

 from the wall, so there is between the 

 wall and the wire cloth a space of about 

 ■'ii of an inch. The. bees crawl up this 

 .space to get out, but don't know 

 enough to go down in. In my out- 

 apiaries I take Root's plan of an 

 open-top tent. Without having had 

 the chance to try it yet, I think 

 highly of Reese's bee-escape. 



C. C. Miller. 



We have a shop in the middle of our bee-yard at 

 home, with two windows; also two storehouses for 

 honey and combs, with windows— in all, seven win- 

 dows, with bee-escapes. Bees go out very readily. 

 I never knew of a single bee going in through one 

 of those windows. It is simply a wire screen, wide 

 enough to tack on to the outside casing and down 

 on the window-sill. Let it run up above the win- 

 dow to ^4 of an inch of the weather-strip, on top of 

 the top casing. Put two or three strips, H of an 

 inch thick, under the wire above the windows, to 



