84 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



thickness of the board in a double cone shape, 

 as shown in th« drawing. Over this I tacked 

 wire screen, making the exits eight or more 

 inches apart. 



The now three-cone escape is all inside of 

 the %-inch board, and is well protected against 

 all injury. I have used such escapes ever since 

 the escape has come into use, and they are just 

 as good to-day as ever. I likethe Porter spring 

 escape for use on the hive, but would not want 

 to be without my thus arranged four-point 

 Dibberns. 



I now want to speak of some difficulties 

 arising from and connecied with the use of bee- 

 escapes, and I greatly desire that wiser men 

 would give us a remedy for which, I am sure, we 

 all should be very thankful. 



When escapes are used on a pile of stacked 

 supers, it will be noticed that the bees inside 

 pass out the honey to the robber bees outside, 

 especially if no bee-space separates them; but 

 even in an escape like the one illustrated, the 

 same thing occurs. Indeed, even bees that 

 have come out of the escape are often followed 

 up by robbers, and harrassed until they give up 

 the sweet they are loaded with. Sometimes 

 half a dozen bees can be seen at once, being 

 fed by one loaded bee. This keeps up the ex- 

 citement, and it is for this reason always best 

 to wait until the bees have ceased to fly before 

 carrying the honey to the house. 



When escapes are used on the hive, another 

 and much more serious trouble occurs. I refer 

 to the capping being gnawed or perforated, 

 principally of the central portion of the section 

 of the super next to the escape. It does not oc- 

 cur in every instance, and much more so after 

 the honey season has closed; it injures the 

 looks of the honey very materially. I should 

 be glad if I understood this matter. Who can 

 tell us why bees act so in one case and not in 

 another? 



Naples, N. Y., Dec. 15. 



PROTECTION FROM ADULTERATORS OF 

 HONEY. 



A VALUABLE AND SENSIBLE SUGGESTION. 



By. Wm. O. Hewes. 



I would suggest, as one means of protecting 

 ourselves from the adulterators of honey, that 

 we make an effort to have Congress place an 

 internal-revenue duty on glucose of two or 

 three cents a pound. The coming Congress 

 will have to take steps for increasing the reve- 

 nue, and it is not unlikely that, if the matter is 

 brought to their attention, they will acquiesce 

 in our wishes— especially if we are backed up 

 by the producers of cane, beet, and maple 

 sugar, all of whom suffer by having their syrups 

 adulterated. As to the extent to which sweets 

 are adulterated with glucose, we have but to 



refer Congress to the government chemists. 

 Glucose, I believe, is valueless as food; is of no 

 value in the arts, and is manufactured for 

 swindling purposes only. 



There are but few apiaries in this locality 

 which do not have to be fed this season. Two 

 of mine are among the lucky few, and one I 

 have to feed. I see in the Nov. 15th Gleanings 

 that Doolittle says feeding is not to his liking. 

 Until I read that I always thought that feeding 

 bees was an eastern bee-man's idea of supreme 

 enjoyment, seeing how often it is recom- 

 mended by them to extract all the honey and 

 then feed sugar. 



I have various kinds of feeders, but find noth- 

 ing better than a lard-bucket or other vessel 

 with a few bits of comb floating on the syrup, 

 wooden feeders are apt to be leaky; and with 

 the Miller feeder, unless it fits the super very 

 snugly, many bees will be drowned. The " di- 

 vision-board " feeder, described in Doolittle's 

 "Queen-rearing, " is excellent; but instead of 

 making it the width of a frame I make it three 

 inches wide, and have floats in it. 



I have also practiced elevating the front of 

 the hive, and pouring in syrup at the entrance; 

 but that was the most unsatisfactory of all 

 methods, as so many of my hives leaked. 



I have been painting the cracks in some leaky 

 hive-covers with asphaltum, and think it a 

 rather good idea where the hives are kept 

 shaded, but not otherwise, for the heat of the 

 sun would cause it to melt and run through on 

 to the combs. Probably if it could be whitened 

 it would not melt; but paint does not seem to 

 stick to it, for some I gave two coats to is still a 

 magnificent jet. 



I should like to see how Mr. Frazier figures 

 out a profit on ten-cent corn. Seventy-five 

 bushels an acre is only $7.50. No great profit, 

 even if it were clear gain. Take from that the 

 cost of growing, harvesting, shelling, and sack- 

 ing, and I can not ligure out profit enough to 

 pay taxes. Some people are so peculiar that, if 

 the leaders of their political party tell them 

 they are prosperous, they will promptly accept 

 it as a fact, and proceed to take on fat. 



The prospects for prosperity among California 

 bee-keepers are not very brilliant. With half 

 the bees in the country dead, and no honey 

 gathered now for eighteen months, one would 

 think the price would be good; but it is only 

 four cents for best, and not ready sale at that. 



Speaking of prosperity, the American Agri- 

 culturist, in its Western edition, after telling us 

 what prosperous fellows the farmers of New 

 York are. makes the precious statement that 

 the trouble with the West is that the people 

 are lazy, and have not banks enough! 



Newhall, Cal. 



[Your suggestion along the lines of throttling 

 the glucose evil is the most practical one I have 

 seen yet. Here is a chance for work for the 

 new Bee-keepers' Union. If it is a fact that 



