1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



459 



BEE-ESCAPES IN FLORIDA. 



A VALUABLE ARTICLE RIGHT FROM THE FIELD; 

 BEE-ESCAPES. FIXED DISTAXCESV EXCLUD- 

 ERS, AXD THE REVERSIBLE EX- 

 TRACTOR REVOLUTIOXIZING 

 BEE-KEEPIXG. 



Both the Dibhei-ii and Reese escapes are a 

 success with me. Like others I met with fail- 

 ures when tirst using them; but a little obser- 

 vation soon put me on the right track. The 

 main secret of success is in the fact that bees 

 will not all desert their queen or brood, sealed 

 or unsealed; therefore to succeed with the es- 

 cape, surplus supers must be free from all 

 brood, <ind the queen below. This can be ac- 

 complished to a certainty only by the use of 

 zinc queen-excluders. 



The space between the escape-board and the 

 top of the frames below should not be over a 

 bee-space (M inch) : for if, as some recommend. 

 a space of one to three inches is left, the bees 

 will cluster in- this, tilling it with brace-combs, 

 at the same time clustering on the escape, 

 thereby forming a communication back to the 

 supers." To secure the best results, supers of 

 empty combs, or sections, should be placed un- 

 der the escapes, as the bees are slow in going 

 down in a ci'owded brood-chamber below — es- 

 pecially in eight-frame hives. I generally place 

 the escape on just before night, and take the 

 supers otf by s^^ven or eight o'clock next morn- 

 ing. As a rule there will not be more than a 

 dozen or two bees left in the supers. In two or 

 three instances it cleaned them out completely. 

 Half-depth supers are freed from the bees much 

 quicker than full ones. A free use of the smo- 

 ker when putting on the escapes will hasten 

 the bees in going below. It takes me about one 

 minute to each hive in putting on the escapes, 

 thev being made in a board just the size of the 

 hive: and all there is to do is to raise the super 

 and slip this between; give a few pufls of 

 smoke in the top of the super, and we go to the 

 next. In the moi'ning take your wheelbarrow 

 and wheel your supers, now free from bees, to 

 the extractiiig-room, whei'e you can extract at 

 your leisure. This is a long way ahead of the 

 old plan of shaking and brushing the bees off 

 each individual comb, with an army of cross 

 robbers following you ai'ound in the not sun 

 all day. 



THE GREAT POIXT OF ADVANTAGE IX THE USE 

 OF THE BEE-ESCAPE. 



A few points of great advantage in the use of 

 these escapes, overlooked by some, are, that, 

 when extracting every week or 10 days, as some 

 do, you do not disturb the wo rhing force of bees 

 in the fields. This is quite an item: for. often- 

 times, by the old way you so excite the bees 

 that it causes them to lose the best part of the 

 day, right in the midst of a good honey-flow, 

 which means 8. 10. or 15 lbs. of honey less. I 

 am confident that large amounts of honey are 

 lost i-ach year in just this way. Who has not 

 seen colonies cluster out on their hives, all day. 

 sometimes longer, just from being disturbed in 

 the way mentioned? When taking off honey 

 after the flow has passed, you avoid all that 

 troublesome robbing, which is sure to annoy 

 one at this season. Again, after using the es- 

 capes one season you can not fail to note the 

 change in the temper of your bees compared 

 with what it was when managed the old way. 



I would not part with the escapes for a good 

 deal : for by their use one saves three-fourths 

 the labor of taking off a crop of honey. 



HOW TO PRODUCE HOXEY AT LESS THAX HALF 

 THE COST. 



Give me a hive having frames at fixed 



distances, with a plain zinc queen-excluder, 

 these escapes, and a good reversible extractor, 

 and I will show you how to produce honey at 

 less than half the" cost nowadays. 



BEE-STIXGS A FAIX>tTRE FOR THE CURE OF 

 RHEUMATISM. 



I have been down flat with the rheumatism 

 for the past four weeks, but am able to sit up 

 some. I hope to be out again in ihe course of a 

 week. Bee-stings for the cure of rheumatism 

 is all bosh. I have been stung thousands of 

 times. The day I gave up and went to bed. 

 more than .50 stung me. so you see it is no cure 

 for me. 



Palmetto is just opening; but as I have beeit 

 unable to attend to my bees. I do not suppose 

 they are in the best of shape to take advantage 

 of it: nevertheless. I will make the best of it. 

 Half a crop from 100 colonies is better than 

 none. A. F. Browx. 



Huntington, Fla., May 1?.. 



[You have given us one of the most valuable 

 and seasonable articles of the season: and there 

 is many a bee-keeper who is craning his neck to 

 see how these ■■ new-fangled things "are com- 

 ing out. It is pleasant to know that these in- 

 novations not only work nicely on paper, but in 

 actual practice. I have thought, for over a 

 year back, that the bee-escape and fixed dis- 

 tances were going to I'evolutionize present 

 methods in the pi'oduction of comb and extract- 

 ed honey: and the way reports are coming in, 

 it begins to seem as if I had not surmised amiss. 

 In fact, it is dififlcult to see how any one could 

 come to a different conclusion who would be 

 willing to lay aside his old-time prejudices. 



We want more reports of the bee-escape, and 

 under what circumstances it will and will not 

 work; for. as Solomon says. "' In the multitude 

 of counseloi'S there is wisdom." 



Your next to the last paragraph, unless you 

 are an ardent enthusiast, contains an idea that 

 it may be well for some of those who are hold- 

 ing back, to think over and digest a little. In- 

 stead of raising such a hue and cry about the 

 low selling price of honey, let us pay a little at- 

 tention as to how the product may be lessened 

 in cost. We need to exercise all reasonable 

 means to keep the price up; but let us not for- 

 get that there is a good deal of sense in reduc- 

 ing the cost of an honest pound of honey. 



And now, my dear moss-backed bee-keeper, 

 do you observe that Mr. Brown says, in effect, 

 that fixed distances are a success, even in 

 Florida ? There have been a few mild hints of 

 late, that they would not answer in the South. 

 Well, perhaps they will not in some places. 

 We hope. Mr. Brown, you will favor us with 

 another article on how you succeed in produc- 

 ing honey at a low cost.] E. R. R. 



A CHEAP HOME-MADE SHIPPING-CASE. 



OXE MADE OUT OF PAPER, L TIXS. AXD GLASS. 



We do not depend on our SO colonies for a liv- 

 ing: and to lessen their care we run them mostly 

 for extracted honey: but we have shipped more 

 or less comb honey in the past, and have seen a 

 good deal as it arrived on our markets. There 

 are drawbacks to our present system. The 

 cases become very much soiled in transit. If 

 we use small packages, the freight men will see 

 how many of them they can carry; and the 

 consequence is, they often let one drop. Now, 

 are not we as bee-keepers coming to the conclu- 

 sion that we want small crates, and these pack- 

 ed in a larger box ? 



I thought we could spare about .300 lbs. of 



