302 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



lose any this Winter, I shall have 30 

 colonies to begin with next Spring. 



I have learned a way to wire a brood- 

 frame, which I think beats the old 

 method. I learned by having several 

 whole sheets of foundation pulled out by 

 th*e weight of the bees. I put three nails 

 ifi each end and use a little more wire. 

 The top wire I pull down a little so that 

 the foundation is held firm in the groove, 

 and the other wires keep it from folding. 

 I can hive a large swarm on foundation 

 wired this way, and have no trouble, and 

 this, I think, is a great- saving, for foun- 

 dation costs money. 



Columbia, Mo., Aug. 11, 1891. 



Apicnltural Notes from AlaSama. 



ET). CLARK. 



Bees are not gathering much honey 

 here now. The season has not been as 

 good as I expected. 



Sourwood did not yield much nectar 

 this season. 



Sumac is in bloom, but we have had 

 too much rain for it to yield any amount 

 of nectar ; as the weather has cleared 

 up, however, I expect to secure some 

 honey from it yet. 



There has been a great deal of honey- 

 dew this season — so much so that it 

 dripped from the leaves of the trees. It 

 is light-colored and tastes almost as well 

 as any honey. 



The honey-flow from poplar and 

 huckleberry was abundant, but my bees 

 were too weak to get the full benefit of 

 it. The poplar is a grand honey pro- 

 ducer, but unfortunately for bee-keepers, 

 the greater part of it has been cut down, 

 in this section. There was a great deal 

 of poplar on the sides of our mountains, 

 which was sold for $1 per tree, and less. 

 If the owners of the land upon which it 

 grew, had the honey they migthave pro- 

 cured from the poplar trees, it would be 

 worth much more than the price they 

 received for the timber. 



I had 3 weak colonies in the Spring, 

 and have increased them to 8. I secured 

 3 colonies from the woods, but one of 

 them is in the woods now. When I 

 found the colony that returned to the 

 woods, I had nothing to put them in 

 except an old "gum." I put them in the 

 gum, and they remained until the next 

 day, when they swarmed, and settled on 

 a grapevine near by. I returned them 

 to the gum, and they seemed contented, 

 and built several small pieces of comb, 



but after a few days they left the gum 

 and went to a hollow chestnut tree near 

 by, and I shall allow them to stay there 

 until Spring. 

 Nat, Ala. 



Some New Bee-EscaDes. 



C. H. DIBBERN. 



Ever since I invented the horizontal, 

 removable bee-escape, in 1887, I have 

 been trying to improve and cheapen it. 

 In my long series of experiments, I have 

 been greatly aided by the fact that I 

 own a tin shop, and can do ordinary 

 tinner's work. I would get an idea into 

 my head, and straightway make a device 

 to carry it out, and perhaps before night 

 I would be testing it on the hives ; in 

 this way I have tried many things, and 

 now have about a half dozen patterns 

 that work all right. Of these I have 

 selected two, the "New Dibbern " and 

 the " Little Giant," that I am now offer- 

 ing for sale. 



In the New Dibbern I have an entirely 

 original bee-escape; there is not a single 

 point or principle copied from others 

 — which cannot be said of any other 

 escape. The cut in the advertisement 

 gives a very fair idea of it. 



Bees in passing out, need not travel 

 over four inches, through plain passage- 

 ways, which they will do much more 

 readily than where obstructions, such 

 as springs or trap-doors, are used. I 

 thoroughly tested it in actual use on 

 crowded hives, and have actually forced 

 the bees to lie out while the supers were 

 entirely clear of bees. 



All parts of the escape can be seen 

 from the top, and should any clogging 

 ever occur, the escape can be readily 

 cleaned, by removing the center strip, 

 and springing up the wire-cloth, or 

 removing it entirely. There are no del- 

 icate springs?, or other traps, to get out 

 of fix, and with care it will last a life- 

 time. 



There is no patent on the escape, nor 

 is there any intention of patenting it. 

 Of course, they are free to all, and anyone 

 may make them — if they can do so cheaper 

 than I. I trust, however, that bee-keep- 

 ers generally will give me the preference 

 over others, who may commence making 

 them. Full directions accompany every 

 escape, which give some new and valua- 

 ble suggestions. 



THE "LITTLE GIANT" BEE-ESCAPE. 



In my efforts to give the fraternity a 

 perfect escape, I have not confined 



