1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



547 



IMPROVEMENT ON BEE-ESCAPE BOARD. 



I send you some sketches of some kinks I 

 have used to save trouble and to sell honey. 



In taking off honey with Porter's bee- 

 escapes I have two short strips nailed on 

 the upper side of the board, reaching from 

 the side rim of the board to the hole in the 

 escape. These guide the bees to the hole 

 and make them leave the super much easier. 



SMALL SHOW-CASE FOR COMB HONEY. 



Last fall when marketing my honey I 

 gave each merchant who took five or more 

 i;4-lb. cases one show-case to display 9 sec- 

 tions on his counter. They were stained 

 walnut, and varnished, and showed the 

 white comb honey finely. The front of each 

 show-case was arranged with grooved strips, 



i/coc/ 



^.J /Vo/c/'/v flgje. 



3-inch glass, and end-blocks, just like a 

 shipping-case, and the honey rested on 

 shelves with paper and drip-cleats. I show 

 dimensions above for 4i sections. They 

 cost about 25 cts. complete. 



DUMMIES FOR THE SUPERS WHEN IT IS DE- 

 SIRABLE TO GET A FEW UNFINISHED 

 SECTIONS FILLED OUT. 



Last fall, when nearing the close of the 

 honey-flow, in order to have as few unfin- 

 ished sections as possible I made two sizes 

 of dummies— little boxes— the length of the 

 inside of the super, and 4^ inches wide. 

 One size was 3f inches deep, and the other 

 11 deep. These I placed on their sides with 

 the open part of the boxes next to the sides 

 of the super. The largest size occupied the 

 space of two rows of sections, ard the small- 

 er the space of one row. By their use, put- 

 ting in two small sizes, one of each size, or 



two of the larger size, I could place four, 

 three, or two rows of partly filled sections 

 in the center of the super over the brood- 

 nest where they would be more likely to be 

 filled out. 



By adopting this plan my proportion of 

 unfinished sections was much less than be- 

 fore. These dummies are easily made out 

 of scraps of thin boards, and will give lots 

 of satisfaction. The bees can not get in 

 behind the dummies, but have access only 

 to the sections. 



DEVICE FOR NARROWING ENTRANCES IN 

 WINTER. 



I use entrances i for summer. In the fall 

 1 nail strips of i-inch quarter-round molding 

 as long as the width of the hive inside on to 

 little pieces of lath, as shown above, and 

 slip these in the entrances for winter. This 



- -3 



keeps the bees warmer, prevents robbing, 

 and prevents clogging up the bottom- boards 

 as easily as they would were they turned 

 over with the | cleats uppermost for winter. 

 Stamford, Neb. D. R. Waggoner. 



[Your suggestions are all good, friend W. 

 That arrangement which directs the bees 

 toward the bee-escapes may have a good 

 deal of merit in it. It has struck me that it 

 would be advisable, perhaps, to carry the 

 same idea a little further— run a strip of 

 wood from each corner of the escape-board 

 clear up to the escape itself. This would 

 divide the board into four pie-shaped inclos- 

 ures, with the nose of the "pie" running 

 clear to the escape. The suggestion is rp- 

 spectfully referred to R. and E. C. Poi ter, 

 the inventors of the bee-escaoe, who have 

 experimented with this particular escsj^e in 

 a hundred different ways; and if thf-y sav 

 the suggestion is all right the Root Co. will 

 proceed to get out these escape-boards with 

 the pie shaped divisions mentioned. 



The show-case for displaying honey is a 

 good one, and I am not sure but the manu- 

 facturers ought to list it in their catalogs. 

 It would be very cheap, and make a fine 

 display in show-windows and on retail coun- 

 ters. 



Dummies in comb-honey supers — I be- 

 lieve this idea has been suggested before; 

 but I see no reason why, at the close of the 

 season, or whenever the season is light, 

 these dummies could rot be employed to ex- 

 cellent advantage. A No. 1 section will 

 bring, perhaps, twice as much money as an 

 unfinished one; and if the intelligent use of 

 dummies at certain seasons of the year will 

 double the money at the tail end of the 

 crop, as stated by our correspondent, we 

 may well give it a test. 



The entrance-contractor is a good one, al- 

 though something quite similar has been 

 suggested before— I think by our friend E. 

 F. Atwater, of Idaho. — Ed.] 



