l.-)li 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 1. 



"Make youi! hives and appliances by all 

 means if you can, but draw the line at frames 

 and sections. Buy them and save money, time, 

 and temper, and secure efficiency by so doing." 

 So says the B. B. J. Good advice, only I'd put 

 " hives and appliances" on the same side of the 

 line as frames and sections, in most cases. I'm 

 satisfied with i)utting togctiier and nailing. 



Foui> UKOOT) can be cured by using naphthol 

 beta, so says Dr. Lortet in the Revue Internd- 

 Uonale. The B. B. J. gives a tr-anslation of his 

 article, and speaks approvingly of the remedy, 

 which, it says, is perfectly harmless. Dr. Lor- 

 tet says. "It is the adult bee which is first in- 

 fected." "Contaminated honey may be a cause 

 of the propagation." Cheshire denies the lat- 

 ter. 



"The Honey-bee: Its Natituai, History, 

 Anatomy, and Physioeogy," Mr. Cowan's new 

 book, is just the thing for some of you begin- 

 ners to read up on. who want to be in the front 

 ranks. Ifs so nicely gotten up that it is a plea- 

 sure to leaf it over. I haven't had time to read 

 it yet; but from what I know of its author I am 

 safe in saying it is entii'ely accurate, and up 

 with the times. 



The deposit system is an English kink. 

 The B. B. J. says, " When strangers are dealing 

 together, the purchase money of the articles is 

 deposited at our office. We acknowledge the 

 receipt of the deposit to huth parties, and hold 

 the money until we are satisfied that the pur- 

 chase has be(>n concluded." A small fee is 

 charged. Why wouldn't that be a good thing 

 to copy in this country? 



gENEl^^li C^RREgP^NDENCE. 



BEE-ESCAPES. 



expeuimentixg with different forms : now 



MR. DIHBERN came TO DISCOVER THE 



hokizontai, styee. 



During the 2.") years that I have kept bees it 

 has been a constant problem with me how best 

 to get rid of the bees in the surplus boxes. I 

 tried about all the different methods suggested 

 in all that time, but all proved more or less un- 

 satisfactory. But, let us try. and investigate, 

 to see, if we can, where and what the difficulty 

 to be overcome really was, for the thing is ac- 

 complished. 



When I commenced bee-keeping we had no 

 bee-papers— at least I knew of none— and the 

 only guide I had was Quinbij. He recommend- 

 ed leaving the surplus boxes out over night, 

 about six inches in front of the hives, and plac- 

 ing a few sticks so the bees could run over the 

 bridge to their hives. Sometimes this worked 

 all right, but often the honey would be covered 

 with bees the next morning, ready to go for any 

 one coming to get it. Then, too, should a 

 shower come up during the night, the honey 

 would be damaged. It would also be a "shin- 

 ing mark" for nocturnal prowlers: and should 

 it chance to be forgotten, or left out too long in 

 the morning, what a picnic there would be! 



The next plan suggested was to get several 

 large store boxes and pile the surplus boxes in, 

 bees and all, and cover over with a sheet, occa- 

 sionallv turning the sheet and liberating the 

 bees. 'In that way very many young bees 

 would be lost, never having marked their hives: 

 and it was a slow and tedious way at best. It 

 was also necessary to keej) a constant watch, as 

 a gust of wind might blow the sheet off at any 

 time, and make lively times among the bees. 



When I began to use sections and cases, I 

 adopted the Heddon plan, smoking out all tin- 

 bees I could, and carrying the rest into the hon- 

 ey-house, allowing them to escape at the top of 

 the windows by having the wire screen extend 

 some six inches higher than the windows. The 

 objection to this plan was, that bees would be 

 "bumming around" the room all day: and if 

 any extracting was to be done tliey would be 

 getting into the honey, and be a constant an- 

 noyance. One day I carried in a good many bees: 

 and as it was almost unendurable to work in 

 the honey-house, I went away a while doing 

 other work. When I returned, there was 

 " music in the air;" and I noticed about a quart 

 of bees clustering at the top of one of the es- 

 capes at the window, and liees did find their 

 tO(ty hitrk into th(> room, and were actually car- 

 rying off the honey. This plan is also open to 

 the objection that young bees will become lost, 

 and it is a nuisance in every way. IIow strange 

 that some of our boss bee- men, even editors of 

 apicultnral papers, should still cling to such 

 methods I 



Well, the next thing that s<Mnn('d to offer a so- 

 lution to this problem was the tent escape. 

 This I used by piling up eight or ten cases, and 

 placing a wire-cloth escape, fashioned like a 

 house-roof, with an opening at the apex, on top. 

 When I succeeded in smoking out most of the 

 ix'.es, it would generally clear out neai'ly all by 

 evening: but often the bees would all cluster iii 

 one case, where if became difficult to get rid of 

 them, and many young bees would get lost. 

 When many bees were left in the cases they 

 would often cluster at the top of the escape, 

 and they then seemed to have no difficulty in 

 finding their way back, carrying off the honey, 

 and attracting oth(M- robbers. 



About this time my attention was called to 

 the Reese escape, and I was very favorably im- 

 pressed with it. When a hive was not very 

 strong with bees, it generally worked very well ; 

 but in removing cases from strong colonies, 

 when no more empty cases were needed, the 

 bees would often fill the entire space under the 

 escape-board, and build comb there. They 

 would also sometimes cluster on the wire-cloth 

 cones, and open up communication between 

 the case to be removed and the hive below. I 

 was not long in deciding, tliat, to make a perfect 

 escape, we should somehow have to get along 

 with only bee-spaces. I then constructed a 

 wooden rim ?« inch thick, tacking wire cloth on 

 both sides, allowing the bees to escape between 

 the cloth through a series of V-shaped escapes. 

 1 tested this to some extent in the fiiil. and It 

 worked well. I believe this was the tii'st hor- 

 izontal bee-escape even- tested, and I have it as 

 a relic yet. 



Well, this idea opened up a whole multitude 

 of bee-escapes. I soon saw that this original 

 was larger and more expensive than need be, 

 and soon boiled it down into my pear-shaped 

 escape. This is really a very good form, and, if 

 rightly made, will generally prove satisfactory. 

 After I had published my invention of the hor- 

 izontal bee-escape, a multitude of similar es- 

 capes at once sprang into existence. Thinking 

 that perhaps I had not yet found the best plan 

 on which to make the escape, I studied various 

 designs, and finally adopted a four-pointed star, 

 with openings foi' the escape of the bees at the 

 points. I concluded that, as there were four 

 outlets, it would greatly increase the capacity. 

 It was also made removable, which I consider 

 an important feature. The four large open- 

 ings, however, proved a mistake, as I found 

 that, in warm weather, the bees had no great 

 difficulty in finding their way back through it. 

 This is really the great danger to be overcome 

 to make escapes perfectly successful. By close 



