AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



523 



pie of bee-escapes years ago. I failed to 

 prevent the return of the bees — at least 

 a part of them — over the same route, it 

 mattered not how circuitous and com- 

 plicated it was made. 



And why criticise other complicated 

 traps and springs, when he speaks, on 

 page 302, of one of his new bee-escapes, 

 made out of broom-wire, on the flood- 

 gate principle, and says it has stood 

 every test. I do not understand how it 

 is made, but I think it must be some- 

 what complicated. 



I also see from Mr. Dibbern's article, 

 on page 302, that he does not like the 

 spring bee-escape. So far as I can 

 judge from the cut in the advertisement, 

 and from what others say about it, I 

 think it a good one. The spring ar- 

 rangement inside of the case is new 

 to me. 



The bee-escape described by Mr. Wil- 

 cox, on page 373, is a very good one, 

 and the simplest of all, as there are no 

 inside parts to obstruct the bees in pass- 

 ing through it (I had tested the very 

 same before), but I as often find the 

 bees as slow and stubborn to leave the 

 surplus case through it as any other, 

 and have had robber bees attracted to 

 the point of exit, after they had been 

 open some time, in these slow cases, for 

 the bees to leave the surplus apartment. 



In some cases a simple conductor 

 answers for a bee-escape — all that is 

 necessary is to remove the surplus case 

 as soon as the bees are out, and before 

 they commence to return, but these are 

 exceptional cases, and occur only when 

 the bees in the surplus cases become, in 

 a short time, very restless when sepa- 

 rated from the brood and queen. 



For years I have noticed the difference 

 in time required to get bees of different 

 colonies to leave the surplus cases by 

 any method employed. For instance, 

 take them to a dark room and let them 

 fly to the light, and the difference in 

 time required for them to leave will be 

 noticed. Or, late in the evening, turn 

 the surplus cases upside down on the 

 ground under the hive, and connect by 

 a stick from the case to the entrance of 

 the hive. The bees in some of the sur- 

 plus cases will take to the stick and 

 soon leave the case, while others will 

 remain quiet, and be found the next 

 morning guarding their honey. This 

 same difference in time is found when 

 using bee-escapes. 



From what I have learned in the past 

 ten years about bees in their relation to 

 bee-escapes, from many tests and the 

 practical use of them, I am led to the 

 conclusion that no bee-escape can be 



made that will free the supers of bees at 

 a stated time. 



A bee-escape that will allow the free 

 passage of the bees from the surplus 

 cases through it when they are ready to 

 leave, and prevent their return, and 

 remain in perfect workihg order two 

 days, is all that is required. I do not 

 see that it makes any difference as to 

 the time required, especially if at the 

 end of the honey harvest. I find a good 

 bee-escape one of the most useful 

 devices used in an apiary. It matters 

 not what may be said hereafter about 

 bee-escapes, this is my last on the 

 subject. 



Snickersville, Va. 



Women as Bee-Keepers. 



.lULIA ALT.YN. 



There are many things about bees that 

 are not well understood, although there 

 are some young bee-keepers who have 

 explanations ready for anything that 

 arises. There is a part of bee-keeping, 

 however, that all bee-keepers do not 

 study enough, and that is encouraging 

 the bees to work in the surplus sections. 



If bees, like human beings, differ — 

 and it is reasonable to suppose they do — 

 then some colonies must have different 

 treatment from others. 



A colony, given 56 one-pound sections 

 to fill, may enter upon the work imme- 

 diately, swarm into the empty chamber, 

 the second story of a double hive, and 

 appear to delight in this great addition 

 to the working space. On the other 

 hand, however, a colony given equal 

 space will not enter the surplus cham- 

 ber as quickly. It appears to hang 

 back, to dread the work of filling all 

 that space with honey. These 2 colo- 

 nies, then, are not alike, and must be 

 treated differently. 



Reader, if you live in the country, you 

 may remember that when, in youth, you 

 picked huckleberries, you did not pick 

 into a six-quart pail ; you gathered the 

 berries in a pint dish and emptied them 

 into a big pail. Perhaps bees — some 

 bees — have similar ideas (if they have 

 ideas) in regard to gathering honey. 

 When they are admitted into a second- 

 story surplus chamber, in which is to be 

 packed 56 pounds of honey, may it not 

 appear to them as a great undertaking? 



At all events, when there was a mani- 

 fest disinclination to enter the surplus 

 chamber, the bees have been induced to 

 begin work by contracting the surplus 



