AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



771 



honey customer, and then he is not 

 always easily found. I have looked for 

 him sometimes at home, and sometimes 

 abroad ; and I have looked as far, even, 

 as New York, and then have not found 

 him. 



Still another discouraging feature is, 

 that my bees went into winter quarters 

 light in both bees and. stores. I am not 

 sanguine of being able to make a very 

 good report for 1891, even should the 

 season be fairly favorable. 



The Bee-Keepers' Union has been a 

 comfort to me in the past ; in fact, it 

 sprang into life through my need, and 

 came to my defense for its first work, 

 and is still doing for the fraternity and 

 individuals valuable service. Long may 

 its officers live, and long may its banners 

 wave ; but I am discouraged because it 

 does not number thousands where it 

 numbers hundreds. 



In justice to ourselves as bee-keepers, 

 it behooves us to be as prompt to 

 chronicle losses and discouragements as 

 we are its of success. I know it is more 

 pleasant to tell of success than failure. 

 We all like to tell a big story, if a true 

 one. But our interests demand both 

 sides ; so, let us see to it that we report 

 both sides faithfully. — Read before the 

 Wiscojisin State B^e-Keepers^ Association. 



Ithaca, Wis. 



Porter Spring Bee-Escape. 



S. A. SHUCK. 



I think the artists have succeeded so 

 nicely that there is but little left for me 

 to do more than give the dimensions of 

 the different parts, together with a 

 comparison of the practical workings of 

 the Porter spring escape with that of 

 other escapes now in use. 



Figure 1 shows the escape complete, 

 which, when placed in an escape-board, 

 is ready for use. The bees enter the 

 escape at F and pass out at D, as shown 

 in Figs. 2 and 3. The escape proper, as 

 shown at A, Fig. 2, is 2% inches long 

 by 1>^ wide, and K inch deep. The top 

 piece C is 4j^ inches long, and 1% 

 inches wide. The part B, containing 

 the springs, as shown in Fig. 2, is 1% 

 inches long, 1 inch wide, and }i inch 

 deep. The object of this inner part, B, 

 is to admit of a depression under F for 

 the reception of dead bees that may 

 chance to get into the escape. A dozen 

 or twenty dead bees may get into the 

 escape and not interfere with the bees 

 passing out between the springs. 



To prepare the escape for use, take a 

 plain board of K-inch material, the size 

 of the top of the hives on which, it is to 

 be used. Cleat the board at sides and 

 ends so as to provide the necessary bee- 

 space above or below the board. Bore 

 two holes 2X inches apart from center 

 to center, and near the center of the 

 board, with a 1}^ inch bit, and cut out 



PORTER SPRING BEE-ESCAPE. 



the intervening wood ; drop the escape 

 into this openiftg, and it is ready for 

 use. 



To adjust the escape-board on the 

 hive, remove the hive cover. A few 

 puffs of smoke are necessarjBto prevent 

 the bees from becoming angry. Raise 

 the super, place the escape-board on 

 the hive, set the super on the escape- 

 board, and return the hive cover. All 

 is done in less time than is required to 

 write this sentence, yet this is all the 

 time that is required by the bee-keeper 

 to remove the bees from the super, as 

 the bees pass out at their leisure, and 

 the super is .taken to the honey-house at 

 any convenient time after the bees have 

 deserted it. 



During the season of 1890 I removed 

 all my comb-honey — about 2,500 pounds 

 — from the hives by the use of escapes, 

 and experienced less inconvenience and 

 annoyance by robbers or bees in my 

 honey-house than I have frequently 

 experienced in removing a couple of 

 hundred pounds by the old method of 

 smoking, shaking, and brushing off the 

 bees from the supers. 



I used four different patterns of 

 escapes — the cone, trap-door, Porter 

 spring, and Mr. Dibbern's latest pattern. 

 Triple-cone escapes, made of perforated 

 tin, work quite well at times. Occasion- 

 ally quite a number of bees find their 

 way back through the cones into the 

 super. 



The trap-door escape works nicely for 

 a little while, but they are soon rendered 

 useless on account of propolis. 



