GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



MayI. 



ing is necessary to make it an entire success. 

 Until we have something better, bee-keepers 

 had better stick to the Alley queen and drone 

 trap for hiving-purposes. Indeed, where one 

 can be present, or have some competent person 

 there when swarms issue, nothing better can 

 be desired. With my arrangement I usually 

 allow the bees to swarm out once through the 

 swarmingdevice, and return before preparing 

 the new hive to catch the swarm. This saves 

 much work in preparing new hives for each 

 colony, many of which might not cast a swarm 

 at all. As the back of my device will allow 

 bees and queen to pass, but exclude drones, I 

 cover it with wire cloth when used as a queen- 

 trap. This enables me to see readily when a 

 hive has swarmed during my absence. 



I have no patents or swarmers for sale, and 

 the above is written simply to show what prog- 

 ress has been made. 



Milan, 111. 



[The self-hiver (the Pratt) worked very well 

 with us. Several summers ago it hived over 

 half our swarms; and while I was pleased with 

 its working at the time, it required special fix- 

 tures, some tinkering and patience to make all 

 go right. I am not sure it was very much 

 ahead of entrance-guards or the Alley trap.— 

 Ed.] 



BEE-ESCAPES. 



HOW THEY SAVE TIME, AND PREVENT ROBBING. 

 By F. A. Snell. 



The bee-escapes now in use are of much val- 

 ue, and I would not think of doing without 

 them, even if the cost were much more than it 

 is. Every apiary should be supplied with 

 them. There are times when I do not care to 

 use them very much. In removing surplus 

 comb honey, if this be done during a good 

 honey-flow, I simply remove the supers from 

 the hives and place them to one side in the bee- 

 yard, in the shade, and in a short time the bees 

 will have left them, and I then carry them to 

 the honey-room. 



In extracting honey under the same condi- 

 tions as to honey flow, the work can be done by 

 the shaking-ofif plan very well; yet for this 

 work 1 rather prefer to use the escapes, as it 

 causes less confusion among the bees, and their 

 work is not retarded in the least; and I think 

 the work of the operator is thus made more 

 pleasant. It is essential that the escapes be 

 put under the supers to be emptied 24 hours, or 

 the day before the extracting is to be done, so 

 the supers may be clear, or nearly clear, of 

 bees. With all colonies I put over the brood- 

 chamber a super of empty combs; the escape 

 on top of this, and the filled super over this. 

 By so doing, the bees have abundant room in 

 which to store the honey being gathered, and 

 seem to leave the upper story a little sooner. 

 Another advantage is, that none of the newly 



gathered nectar is in the supers to be emptied, 

 which would be the case where only one super 

 is used and the shaking-off method practiced. 

 This gives us honey of a little better quality 

 than if the escape were not used, and no pains 

 should be spared so slight as this to better the 

 grade of honey. The above applies to times of 

 good honey-flow more especially. With us 

 these occur during warm weather, when, if the 

 honey be cooled a little by the exclusion of 

 bees, no inconvenience from this results. Later, 

 as the honey-flow begins to slacken or is closed, 

 comes a time when the escapes pay their cost 

 very quickly, to the delight of the apiarist. 

 Before the advent of the escape, taking off sur- 

 plus at such a time was very unpleasant work, 

 and required the best efforts of an expert to 

 keep from demoralizing the whole apiary, es- 

 pecially when extracting. Now all this is 

 changed, and an unpleasant task made easy, 

 by the escapes. Thanks to inventive genius. 



During a time of scarcity 'we do not in our 

 apiary take off any surplus except by the aid 

 of these. The supers are simply raised up 

 (using a little smoke to keep the bees under 

 control), the escapes placed, the super set on, 

 and we pass on to other hives until each super 

 has been arranged as described. The comb- 

 honey cases will be cleared of bees in a few 

 hours, and can be removed and taken to the 

 honey room. The extracting supers are man- 

 aged the same, only a longer time is needed to 

 get the bees out of these. Thus hundreds of 

 pounds of honey can be taken from the hives, 

 and at the same time^perfect order reigns 

 throughout the apiary. Work goes on in per- 

 fect order. How different from th e old wa y, 

 under same conditions ! The air was_then 

 filled with robber and angry bees stinging each 

 other, and by no means neglecting their owner"^ 

 I have used the Dibbern, Hastings, and Porter 

 escapes. The Porter has proved to be the best 

 one, after a thorough comparison. The bee- 

 escape has come to stay as a boon to bee-keep- 

 ers, and one of the most useful implements. 



Milledgeville, 111. 



[Our experience has been almost identically 

 yours. I can not conceive how any one can 

 prefer the shake-off brushing plan to the bee- 

 escape method. To shake the bees off the comb 

 causes more or less spilling of honey not yet 

 ripened down, and for an hour or so that colony 

 is so completely broken up that honey-gather- 

 ing is entirely suspended. After crawling into 

 the hive, if they do not stop to do ii before, they 

 have to lick each other off; then if it is during 

 the robbing season there are plenty of other 

 bees that are prying their noses into the other 

 bees' business; then the shaking and brushing 

 necessarily results in killing and maiming a 

 few bees at least, and the possible loss of the 

 queen; and. moreover, it requires a large ex- 

 penditure of strength to shake the bees off from 

 every comb. My last experience resulted in 

 blistering my hands and giving me a lame back 

 for several days afterward; and I vowed then 

 and there thai for me, at least, the bee-escape 

 should be hereafter used.— Ed.] 



