AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



211 



and do almost nothing at all? I think 

 the latter plan is the best, for when 

 there is nothing to do there is nothing 

 lost, if they do not work for a few days. 



Where increase is wanted, I see no 

 reason for not dividing them, for all the 

 bees that are reared immediately after 

 the harvest, become consumers instead 

 of producers, and, besides this, the old 

 colony, if not divided, will not get any 

 stronger, as the queen has been doing 

 her very best at egg-laying, and is sure 

 to slack up some time after the harvest, 

 and in two months, when the fall crop 

 commences, the colony will not be any 

 stronger thean either of the divisions 

 would be. 



Deer Plain, Ills. 



Comforts in tie Apiary, 



CHAS. F. MUTH. 



With an enthusiasm ever so well de- 

 veloped, every bee-keeper finds that bee- 

 keeping has spells of hard labor in its 

 tracks, and that muscle, energy and 

 perseverance are requisites, without 

 which none can prosper. The smoker 

 has added so much to the comforts of 

 the bee-keepers, that it has become in- 

 dispensable in the aprary. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE BEE-ESCAPE. 



One of the latest inventions is the 

 bee-escape. I was slow to comprehend 

 its importance. Producing extracted 

 honey exclusively, it was so easy a mat- 

 ter for me to take the filled combs from 

 the second story, brush the bees off, and 

 replace them with empty combs, that no 

 improvements seemed possible. How- 

 ever, this season, I fastened Porter bee- 

 escapes to ten boards covering the brood- 

 chamber, stripped for the purpose. 



The bee-space must be provided for on 

 both sides of the board. To some of the 

 boards I fastened two escapes, to others 

 one, in order to satisfy myself if one 

 would be sufficient to pass out all bees 

 during a night. The escapes must be 

 turned down towards the brood-chamber, 

 as a matter of course. 



One afternoon, when the combs of the 

 upper stories needed extracting, I placed 

 these ten boards with bee-escapes be- 

 tween the brood and the honey-chamber. 

 This was any easy job. The next morn- 

 ing, when opening the second stories, 

 they were emptied of bees, a few very 

 young bees only had remained, and 

 needed to be brushed off the combs. 



Before the robbers were aware of the 

 fact that a hive was open, and before 

 the bees of the hive knew what was 

 going on, the full combs had been taken 

 out, replaced by empty ones, the bee- 

 escape taken off, and the hive covered 

 up again. All of it was done without 

 the aid of a smoker, and at a time when 

 honey was scarce, and bees were on the 

 warpath. The most sting-proof bee- 

 keeper will appreciate the bee-escape 

 with the first attempt, and place it 

 among his indispensables in the apiary. 



In the afternoon I placed my ten bee- 

 escapes on ten other hives, with the 

 same result the next morning.. As the 

 bees were out of all the upper stories 

 alike, it appears that ten to twelve hours 

 is sufficient time for one Porter escape to 

 accomplish the job. 



VALUE OF THE QUEEN-EXCLUDER. 



Another late addition to the comforts 

 in the apiary is the queen-excluder. If 

 it seems to make but little difference to 

 the producer of extracted honey when 

 his queens deposit eggs in the upper 

 stories, let him try a queen-excluder, 

 and he cannot help but find the differ- 

 ence in his labor when all the brood is 

 confined to the lower story, and he may 

 look for his honey to the upper story 

 only. 



The labor saved in the fall, when the 

 bees have to be reduced to the lower 

 story, will be appreciated by every one. 

 The queen-excluder has come to stay. 



But the knowledge of the best use of 

 the queen-excluder we owe to our friend, 

 G. W. Demaree, of Christiansburg, Ky. 

 His modus operandi insures a crop dur- 

 ing the worst season, as it is almost sure 

 to prevent swarming, and consequently 

 retains the foragers (the old bees) in 

 every colony, unless the hive is smaller 

 than a ten-frame Langstroth. Here is 

 his method : 



At the beginning of the honey season, 

 when the colonies are strong, and 

 swarms are anticipated, place all of the 

 combs, containing brood, honey, and 

 adhering bees, in the upper story, leav- 

 ing the queen below (on a comb with 

 fresh-laid eggs, or without) ; fill the 

 brood-chamber with empty combs, place 

 the queen-excluder on, then the second 

 story on top, and cover up. 



The bees will go down through the 

 queen-excluder and assist their queen, 

 and as the young bees hatch in the sec- 

 ond story, their vacated cells will be 

 filled with honey as soon as the flowers 

 yield. The queen having plenty of 

 chance to deposit eggs, and the bees 



