GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



for the bees, and in June a good many 

 colonies were actually on the verge of star- 

 vation, and ran down in strength. Teeding, 

 therefore, became absolutely necessary. 



Under these circumstances, and as I am 

 away from home a good deal, I decided to 

 feed with moist sugar. I had some nuclei 

 in which the queens had stopped laying; 

 but very soon after the bees got on to the 

 " dry sugar " there was quite a transforma- 

 tion. The queens started laying again in 

 earnest, and the frames were soon full of 

 brood once more. 



The feeder hangs like an ordinary frame. 

 It is easily and cheaply made by nailing a 

 thin piece of board on either side of an 

 oidinary Langstroth frame after first cut- 

 ting out the top-bar, excepting about an 

 inch and a half at either end. The sugar 

 can then be put into the feeder at the top 

 and pressed down tight, and it will hold 

 three or four pounds. A loose piece of thin 

 wood can be fitted in the top in place of 

 the top-bar that is cut away, leaving, of 



course, a bee space under for the bees to 

 enter. This will keej? the quilt in its prop- 

 er place so that it will not drop into the 

 feeder and prevent the bees getting in. 



The advantages of dry-sugar feeding 

 consist in the stimulating effect it has on 

 the bees, as apparently they are not able to 

 take it fast enough to store it in the combs, 

 so that it is practically all used for feeding 

 the brood. Also, after a feeder has been 

 filled and given to the bees it will not re- 

 quire much attention, as it will not need 

 replenishing for a long time, if at all. The 

 best sugar to use is a moist cane sugar with 

 a fine grain such as Porto Rico. 



T feel convinced that, for this province, 

 where in normal seasons we generally get 

 a wet June, dry-sugar feeding will be very 

 suitable, as it will be the means of keeping 

 colonies up to full strength so as to be 

 ready for the main honej^-flow in July. 

 Filled with sawdust or cork dust, these 

 feeders make good dummies for winter 

 packing. 



Nelson, B. C. 



1915 WITH THE WIRE ESCAPE-BOARD 



BY A. J. KNOX 



The difficulties of brushing bees from the 

 combs in the production of extracted honey 

 have led many beekeepers to turn eagerly 

 to any device that promised a measure of 

 relief from existing troubles. 



Since the general adoption of the Italian 

 bee it has become harder to shake the combs 

 clean. A slight jar previous to the shake 

 causes them to stick fast. When the wire 

 escape-board appeared I decided to try it, 

 and to that end made fifty boards. In some 

 of them I put the regular double-end Por- 

 ter escape, set in the center of a strip of 

 wood running across it. In others I put 

 two single escapes on this strip, one at each 

 side. In yet others the double escapes were 

 simply soldered into a hole cut in the center 

 of the wire, without any wood running 

 across. 



In use I did not find any appreciable 

 difference in the time taken to clean the 

 bees out of the supers by any of the meth- 

 ods of attachment or positions of escapes in 

 the boards. I did find it made much dif- 

 ference whether the escape-board was put 

 next to the brood-chamber or under the 

 second or third super. When next to the 

 brood-chamber it took from two to four 

 days to clear out the bees; under the second 

 super, from thirty-six to forty-eight hours. 

 Placed under the third super, the bees 

 would usually all leave in twelve houi's. 



One obstacle in the use of escapes is 

 found in the brace-comb that is frequently 

 built betAveen the supers. If there is per- 

 fect uniformity in the bee-space clearance 

 over the frames, there is not so much trou- 

 ble ; but taking outfits generally, there is 

 quite a percentage liable to this drawback. 

 In this connection the new two-piece board 

 put out by Morley Pettit, the provincial 

 apiarist, is quite an advantage. The board 

 is really two boards, meeting in the center, 

 and having a single Porter escape in each 

 section. 



One end of the hive is pried up, and one 

 section of the board slid in. Then the op- 

 posite end is treated likewise, the boards 

 meeting in the center. By this method con- 

 siderable brace-comb can be squeezed thru, 

 and the boards are very convenient and 

 pleasant to i?ut on. On the other hand they 

 cost more money, and are more bulky to 

 haul around to outyards. The boards are 

 successful in retaining the heat of the hon- 

 ey, and make extracting lose most of its 

 terrors, especially after the flow. 



Sometimes, however, it is difficult to 

 know just where you will be obliged to 

 extract first; and by the time you find out, 

 the delay necessary for their use can't be 

 afforded. They also involve an extra trip 

 to the outyard, and the time required to put 

 them on is considerable. In a well-equipped 



