THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



159 



capes in the out-apiary, but iu the home- 

 apiary also, managed by Mr. Adams. 



This season I have (.hanged so that if the 

 bees get any honey it will be in the comb in 

 one-pound sections. 



In the case of extracted honey it matters 

 little if the cells are uncapped by the bees. 

 Disturbing the bees in the brood chamber is 

 useless ; and, if those iu the upper story (or 

 super) are much disturbed it might retard 

 the work, because, after the disturbance it 

 would require some time for them to get set- 

 tled down again and find out that they were 

 separated from the brood apartment. If 

 they uncapped cells it would be to obtain 

 loads of honey and before they would begin 

 to make much effort to find the way through 

 the escape they would take time to unload. 



As regards tlie condition we find tlie bees 

 in, there are two ways of operation. One is 

 to proceed moderately and subdue the bees 

 with smoke (or carbolized cloths) ; the otlier 

 would be to work quickly, without subduing. 

 When the stories are pried up suddenly, 

 amongst the thousands of bees present, there 

 are usually about half a dozen unloaded sen- 

 tinels (unloaded of honey but loaded with 

 fight) which fly straight out and sting the 

 first object that comes in their way. After 

 the harvest there may be a hundred ; some 

 active of wing, wliile others crawl out, snake- 

 like, as soon as the crevice is wide enough. 

 If these bees smell a little smoke before the 

 crevice is wide enough to admit their bodies 

 they will crawl the other way, which is down 

 on the inside wall of the hive. Where I said 

 that "every bee would get out of the way 

 (of smoke) as soon as possible," I did not 

 mean literally, but that every positively dan- 

 gerous bee would. These are prepared for 

 instant action and have the notion that they 

 must do something, and bemg too scared to 

 charge outward they rusli back pell mell 

 down into the hive. The other bees are too 

 stupefied for immediate attack "Sharp 

 blasts" contain less smoke which would be 

 driven through and out again. This does 

 not subdue or force retreat, only confuses 

 for a moment the flying arrows wherever it 

 finds them and with force it is surer to find 

 them all. While the escape board is being 

 fitted on the top of the brood chamber they 

 renew their courage for another charge ; but 

 by this time I depend upon having the es- 

 cape board in a position for protection and 

 by the time the stupid mass gets ready to re- 

 treat it finds nothing to retreat for. It is 



only those bees which dart straight up 

 from the top of the hive, into my face that I 

 care for. Those which fly downward from 

 the bottom of the super, circle about, and 

 come around to my back, as I stand facing 

 the wind, cause little trouble. By the time 

 they have flown out and looked over the sur- 

 roundings their spitefulness subsides. 



Thirty upper stories make a fair day's 

 work for one man to extract and the adjust- 

 ment of that number of escapes usually takes 

 from forty minutes to one hour. I would 

 think it would take one-third of that lime to 

 prepare the carbolized cloths for use. Nor 

 do I see how a sheet of any kind could be 

 spread over the hive sooner than a light es- 

 cape board. The bees which are caught un- 

 der the carbolized sheet would creep out, and 

 this would require some time ; bi;t, with the 

 escape board, those at the points of contact 

 are pushed out of the way even sooner than 

 they are able to move themselves. The 

 boards are laid on with a sliding motion and 

 their weight is not enough to crush the bees : 

 when if they are slightly raised again the 

 bees, having been squeezed, will almost 

 jump out. I do not mind killing a bee, or a 

 few bees now and then, but just as few as is 

 consistent with getting through the work. 

 We cannot cultivate a patch of corn witliout 

 pulling out or covering up some plants, or 

 harvest it without missing ears, or else our 

 carefulness would be more than the gain. 



When I used escapes for removing comb 

 honey I put them on in the forenoon as soon 

 as I arrived at the apiary and removed the 

 crates when ready to go home in the evening. 

 This was simply a matter of convenience. 

 As to the management of the bees inside the 

 hive I prefer the middle of the day when they 

 are busy enough not to need smoking and 

 active enough to get out of the way. Yes- 

 terday I looked over about thirty stnmg col- 

 onies with neither smoke or veil and that in 

 California means more than it does in the 

 eastern or northern States. While the bees 

 of strong colonies are more apt to volunteer 

 an attack distant from their hives, it is the 

 weaker ones which fight worse when the hive 

 is opened. Being surrounded by the flying 

 bees in examining a strong colony it serves 

 as a protection from the attacks of the angry 

 bees of the rest of the apiary. 



With me the crates of filled sections have 

 been cleared in less time and more thorough- 

 ly than full stories of full depth extracting 

 combs, and the reason seems to be that the 



