1126 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



have described, this danger does not exist; 

 but T know one can secure more sections 

 from such a hive than from a two-story 



eight-frame hive. I find it necassary to 

 requeen these large colonies every year. 

 Moorland, Iowa. 



COUNTING BEES AUTOMATICALLY 



KY DOUGLAS D. BREARLEY 



The engraving shows my " bee-meter " 

 which I made out of an old watch. Be- 

 fore describing it I might as well say that 

 it is not a complete success. As you will 

 see, it works on the principle of a bee- 

 escape; but instead of the bees passing 

 between two side springs they pass under 

 one spring which is suspended, near the 

 inlet hole, and which terminates at the 

 cenier of the neck in a narrow passage. 

 Attached to the end of the spring is a rod 

 which works the small lever of the watch, 

 the wheel Avith the hairspring being, of 

 course, removed. The bee, in passing under 

 the spring, lifts the rod, which springs 

 back into place immediately after the 

 bee has passed. The lever has to be lifted 

 150 times to register one minute on the 

 dial, and to arrive at the number of bees 

 which have passed thru, it is only necessary 

 to multiply the number of minutes regis- 

 tered by 150. Of course it is necessary 

 to remem.ber the former position of the 

 hands. 



A device for counting bees; 150 hees passing thru 

 the escape cause the hand of the watch to register 

 one minute. 



This device works very well when the 

 bees are not in a hurry to get out; but, 

 as is always the case when the bees have 

 been separated from their queen and 

 brood, they are in a great hurry to get 

 out, with the result that they are so close 

 together the spring does not get a chance 

 to come back into place every time. By 



altering the shape of the sirring that fault 

 was done away with, but another equally 

 bad was encountered. One bee would 

 sometimes register twice, once for the 

 thorax and once for the abdomen* And 

 so it stands, a novelty, but of no practi- 

 cal use until, perhaps, some beekeeper 

 with the skill of a watch-maker completes 

 the job. 



A NEW MULTIPLE-EXIT BEE-ESCAPE. 



My efforts have not been quite in vain, 

 however, for my meter gave me an idea for 

 a b«e-escape which is a great success. The 



fScvTir r \. 



^£XIT 



fENTRANCe 



SOLDERED //£ff£ 



Springs 



del ails are plainly shown in the drawing. 

 With this escape I have cleared a crowded 

 super in two hours. There is not much 

 cliance that it can be blocked by dead bees. 

 Subiaco, W. Aust., Dee. 8. 



[An escape having two exits is certainly 

 very much safer than one having only one. 

 It is a question, however, whether more 

 than two exits are any material advantage. 

 The Porters some years ago demonstrated 

 that a multiple-exit escape is no faster 

 than a single-exit escape. The danger of 

 clogging by dead bees or because of propolis 

 would certainly be reduced ; but is there any 

 appreciable danger of this in case of one 

 having a double exit? 



The device for counting bees would be 

 interesting if it could be applied to the 

 entrance of a hive in order to record the 

 flight of the bees in and out. If it would 

 work both ways the total result would 

 have to be divided by two, assuming that 

 each bee came back. The number of bees 

 in the hive could not be ascertained in this 

 way, of course, for the young bees would 

 not be coming out; and, furthermore, the 

 field bees would make several trips. But 

 such a device Avould be valuable if it could 

 be perfected, in order to record the fre- 

 quency of the bees' flight. — Ed.] 



