JANUARY 15, 1916 



and plenty of stores. It is rather impor- 

 tant, in exchanging, that the bees be not 

 excited, as that might cause trouble in their 

 uniting. 



Several members seemed to think that 

 sweet clover has a great promise in store 

 for those who take advantage of the oppor- 

 tunity it gives. The secretary told of the 

 different ways of disposing of the honey 

 crop; namely, by jobber, wholesaler, retail 



77 



groecr, and direct to the consumer. He 

 said that he thought the greatest good for 

 all concerned was by the direct-to-the-con- 

 sumer plan. In many cases this is impossi- 

 ble. Mr. D. C. Hubbard, of Wyoming, told 

 of his views of marketing. Several other 

 questions were brought out and discussed, 

 after which tlie meeting adjourned. All re- 

 ported having had a fine time. 

 Akron, N.^Y. 



THE HANDY ESCAPE-BOARD 



BY E. F. ATWATER 



The writer was long skeptical in regard 

 to the bee-escape, but for some years has 

 been a convert to its use for removing comb 

 honey from the hives. We formerly made 

 a practice of putting three to six supers 

 above each escape, but found that there is 

 likely to be some fighting when supers con- 

 taining many bees from several colonies are 

 piled above a single escape-board. Too 

 often the escape will be clogged with dead 

 bees, and the supers will not be free from 

 bees when we wish to load them on the 

 wagons for hauling home. 



When the supers are from one colony it 

 is usualljf safe to put as many as necessary 

 above a single escape. Possibly some of 

 the clogging has been due to death of some 

 of the bees from suffocation. 



The chief objection to the Porter escape, 

 in the past, has been that it was not made 

 double, like its European imitation, so as to 

 allow more bees to pass, and cut in two the 

 liability of clogging; but the new double 

 Porter escape solves the difficulty and is 

 very satisfaetoiy. We had heretofore used 

 the escape but little for removing extracted 

 honey from the hives, but are now satisfied, 

 after trial, that where it is possible to be 

 at a yard several hours, or over night, be- 

 fore beginning to extract, it will pay well 

 in several ways to use the escapes in order 

 to provide all the supers of honey that can 

 be extracted in the morning. This is espe- 

 cially important here in the West, with its 

 cool nights and mornings. When brushing 

 and shaking bees from the combs for the 

 morning run, the bees become gi-eatlj' 

 aroused, which is not very agreeable to the 

 help or to neighbors. 



Afternoons there is usually no difficulty, 

 and it remains to be seen whether it is 

 worth while to use the escapes for the 

 afternoon run, altho our helpers have form- 

 ed a decided opinion in the affirmative. 



When removing comb honey we prefer to 

 remove all buir-comb from the supers be- 

 fore putting them above the escapes. 



In our practice I usually go along the 

 rows, examine the comb-honey supers, and 

 stand on end at the rear of the hive all 

 supers ready for removal. Another man 

 follows and scrapes off all buiT-comb 

 (worse and more of it here in the West), 

 while a third man puts them above escapes 

 and sees that all are tight and lids closely 

 fitted to prevent robbing. 



Tor taking off extracted honey we believe 

 that the " new " ventilated escape-board, 

 made chiefly of wire screen, is quite an im- 

 provement; but it is a mistake to suppose 

 that the honey from supers so removed will 

 be nearly as warm as when the bees are 

 brushed from the combs. It is the actual 

 contact with the warm bodies of the bees 

 that is the chief factor in keeping the 

 combs warm. When using the escape be- 

 neath two bodies of extracting combs 

 crowded with bees it is particularly desir- 

 able that the escape be doubled — that is, 

 that it have two sets of springs. 



The idea of the ventilated escape-board 

 is not so new as might be supposed. The 

 old La Eeese escape embodied that feature, 

 and in actual use it is second only to the 

 Porter. 



We have several uses for the ventilated 

 escape-boards, and find them so useful that 

 we shall make many more of them. 



For moving bees, in weather not too hot, 

 and where circumstances make open mov- 

 ing undesirable, simply tack a ventilated 

 escape-board on top of the hive, or one 

 above and one below. 



We carry a few of them with us at every 

 trip with the wagon; then if we find a foul 

 colony a screen is tacked above, the hive 

 stapled ready for moving, and the entrance 

 closed. We leave the ventilator open. Then 

 the last thing we do at that yard is to close 

 the ventilator and load the diseased colony 

 on the wagon, when it goes home, where it 

 can be watched and treated safely. 



When the swarming season comes, there 

 are several plans involving their use. A 



