306 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15. 



this point. The escape should be made with 

 not too many or too large openings, as the bees 

 are no fools, and readily find their way back 

 through them where there is a fair chance. 

 The escape should also be so placed that there 

 will be no more than a bee-space under it, for 

 the bees to cluster in, for I have learned that, 

 where they can cluster on the cone, they are 

 much more apt to find their way back through 

 it. I have also found that bees can not cluster 

 and hang on to a piece of smooth tin as they do 

 on a wire-cloth cone. If cones are made of wire 

 cloth I would place them on the upper side of 

 the board, with a piece of tin, with small holes 

 punched in it, for the bees to pass out, for the 

 lower side. This is a form of escape I shall ex- 

 periment with this season. I have many other 

 experiments in view on this line, having no less 

 tnan a dozen forms of escapes ready to try as 

 soon as there is any chance to test them. 



I do not see that there can be any doubt as to 

 the advantages of the bee-escape. It makes it 

 not only easier and pleasanter for the apiarist, 

 but irritates the bees much less than any other 

 method. The escape-board can be slipped un- 

 der the super in less than a minute, and the 

 bees will escape into the super or hive below, so 

 gradually and peacefully that they do not seem 

 to know what has happened. Cases can be 

 placed over the escapes, and in a few hoiu's the 

 honey can be carried away without disturbing 

 the bees from their work in the least. 



The escape is particularly useful in the man- 

 agement of out-apiaries. Last fall, when I got. 

 ready to remove what honey there wasin the su- ' 

 pers at my out-apiary, I found that robbing was 

 "just fearful," as there was no honey coming 

 in; and as I had neither shop nor honey-house 

 there, I hardly see how I could have managed 

 without the bee-escape. I was digging a "'bee- 

 cave"' at the time: and as I had many otiier 

 things to look aftei' when out, I had to make 

 good use of my time. When I got oat there in 

 the morning I would place these escapes un- 

 der as many supers as I could haul in my 

 light wagon, and then go about my regular 

 work. When I got i-eady to go home I would 

 load up my honey, with scarcely a single bee to 

 bother. Once I placed the escape-board under 

 a super that had a small knot-hole in it, that 

 had escaped my attention. A few hours after, 

 I heard the shrill note of the robber, and soon 

 found that the bees were robbing through this 

 knot-hole, there being no longer any bees there 

 to defend it. I fully believe that the escape will 

 prove as valuable for extracted as for comb hon- 

 ey. What we want is to get the "hang" of the 

 proper management. Last year some of our 

 California friends objected, on account of the 

 honey becoming too cold if leftover night on 

 hives over the escapes. But, why not put the 

 escapes on in the morning, and at intervals dur- 

 ing the day, so that there would be a succession 

 of supers that the bees had just vacated '? The 

 sun, which I believe nearly always shines there, 

 would certainly keep them warm enough. Of 

 course, the bee-escape presupposes a super of 

 some kind; and such bee-keepers as remove their 

 honey in single wide frames or sections, like 

 Doolittle, will not find much use for them. It is 

 not strange that all bee-keepers do not take 

 readily to the bee-escape. When we remember 

 that we are not at all agreed as to the advan- 

 tages of comb foundation, the extractor, and 

 many other things, it is not to be wondered at. 

 All the same, the bee-escape has "come to stay." 

 and many who arenowshaking their heads will 

 " jome into the agency" by and by. 



There is yet another use for the bee-escape be- 

 sides removing the surplus, that is, in hiving 

 swarms, that promises good results. Last year 

 I tried a sort of combination Heddon-Tiiiker 



bee-escape system, that pleased me greatly. I 

 simply hived the swarm on the old stand and 

 removed the partly filled super to it from the 

 old hive. I then put on the escape-board, with 

 escape in place, and the old hive on top of that, 

 giving them a small entrance of their own. I 

 would leave it there for seven days, during 

 which time bees were constantly escaping to the 

 new colony. On the seventh day the old hive 

 was removed to a new stand, and a hive-cover 

 laid on the escape-board, still leaving the small 

 entrance for th(^ returning bees ti> enter the bee- 

 space under the cover, and escape to the new 

 colony below. To my notjon this works much 

 lietter than the Heddon system, as you are not 

 required to shift the hives every day, and hav- 

 ing them standing around in all sorts of awk- 

 ward positions. Then, too. tlie bees from the 

 old hive are never at a loss to know where to go, 

 and tiie old hive is so reduced in bees that the 

 chances of any further swarming are very 

 small. Pei'haps there are yet other uses for the 

 bee-escape. Time only can tell. 

 Milan, III., April 1. C. H. Dibbern. 



[Years ago, neighbor Dean and myself rode 20 

 miles to see a honse-apia^'y all complete and in 

 running order. The thing seemed to work very 

 W(>ll. with the exception of the difficulty of tak- 

 ing honey from the bees. During that whole 

 twenty-mile ride we two talked the plan over, 

 with the view of getting the honey away from 

 the bees, without shaking or brushing them oflf. 

 My neighbor thought it might possibly be done 

 by waiting until cold weather drove the bees 

 out of the supers. He said he didn't believe it 

 could b<' managed profitably in any other way. 

 I presume such a thing as a bee-escape was at 

 that time used to some extent; but we did not 

 think of it, or did not know one could be made 

 to do the work that they are now doing. Who 

 knows but that bee-escapes may finally revive 

 house-apiaries'? I suggest in the A B C book, 

 that one might have a hive of bees in one cor- 

 ner of the pantry, letting them go out through 

 the wall of the house. Then the good wife can 

 take a section of honey right out of the hive, 

 and put it on the tabh\ provided she can get it 

 without gettliKj the bees aUo. Can't a bee-es- 

 cape be arranged so as to accomplish this?] 



RAMBLE NO. 40. 



I5EE-ST1NGS AND RHEUMATISM. 



While upon my travels I have found many 

 people afflicted with the various phases of 

 rheumatism; and many of the cases that have 

 come under my observation have really been of 

 such a nature as to call out all of my sympathy. 

 Rheumatism that will draw the limbs out of 

 shape, making great knots on the muscles and 

 joints, and inflicting const uit and torturing 

 pains! and rendering the patient as helpless as 

 a child, are cases that we can not think of but 

 with sorrow; and in their presence the joke 

 about bee-stings as a cure for rheumatism 

 would not bespoken; for nothing but the divine 

 hand of love could ever make those limbs 

 straight. 



One of these rheumatic cases, who had enough, 

 but not of the severest kind, has been known to 

 the Rambler for several years. 



I will, with the aid of the camera, introduce 

 you to Mr. John I. Finch and his apiary in 

 North Greenwich. N. Y. Mr. Finch is a black- 

 smith by ti'ade, and for many years wielded the 

 hammer industriously in the little shop by the 

 roadside. But rheumatism gradually slack- 

 ened the blows upon the anvil, and active work 

 was suspended. His attention was thereafter 



