166 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



of rising up so liigh in the air that they can- 

 not be reached with the water. (Better clip 

 your queens, or use traps or swarm catchers 

 according to the circumstances.) 



But to return : I was raising comb honey 

 and practicing contraction of the brood nest. 

 The swarms were hived on the old stand 

 upon five L. frames or in one section of the 

 Heddon hive. The sections were transfer- 

 red from the old to the new hive. It finally 

 occurred to me that it was the crowded con- 

 dition of the hive that caused the swarming- 

 out. I changed my plans slightly. I gave 

 each swarm either a full, eight-frame L. 

 hive, or both sections of the Heddon hive. 

 They were left in this condition three days, 

 by which time the bees had recovered from 

 the swarming fever and settled down to 

 steady work, and would bear crowding with- 

 out swarming-out At this time the lower 

 section of the Heddon hive was removed and 

 the bees shaken out, or, if in an L. hive, 

 dummies were put in f.t the sides, contract- 

 ing the brood nest to five frames. Starters 

 only were used in the frames and these would 

 be nicely started in the frames removed. 

 The section of the Heddon hive that was re- 

 moved was in nice shape to use for the upper 

 section of the next hive iiito which a swarm 

 was hived, and the L. frames removed were 

 in good condition to place in the center of 

 the hive that was used for the hiving of a 

 swarm. But to the point : with this method 

 of management I have never had a swarm 

 leave the hive into which it was placed. 



Have clean sweet hives, keep them in the 

 shade and shade them after the bees are 

 hived, give a generous entrance, and don't 

 crowd the bees too much for the first two or 

 three days, and I think there will be little 

 trouble from absconding swarms. 



Some have advised giving a comb brood, 

 but I have tried that too many times to my 

 sorrow. 



IBXXRT^OTED. 



A Bee Escape With an Abundant Exit. 



" This is the way, walk ye in it."— S/Sif. 



Upon reading the articles of Mr. Aikin, in 

 which larger exits are advised for bee es- 

 capes, Mr. J. W. Wilcox, of Scales Mound, 

 111., called my attention to a contribution of 

 his published in the American Bee Journal 



of September 17, 181)1, wherein is described 

 an escape that has an abundant exit, and 

 one that, Mr. W. says, gives perfect satisfac- 

 tion. Here is the article describing the es- 

 cape : 



" Since a great many bee-keepers are try- 

 ing bee escapes, and succeeding more or less, 

 permit me to relate what success I have had 

 in the matter. After two seasons of experi- 

 menting with bee escapes, I tried the follow- 

 ing about two weeks ago, and found what I 

 was seeking ; namely, a ' perfect escape ' — 

 one that will free a super, or supers, of bees 

 in a very short time. 



Make a rim the size of t':e super, and 1}4 

 inches high ; nail on a bottom of 3^-inch 

 lumber ; in one end of the rim, cut an open- 

 ing 3 inches long and ''g wide, for bees to 

 pass out, place this under your supers bot- 

 tom down on the hive, with the escape-hole 

 in the rim over the bee-entrance to the hive. 

 Make a triangle of f^ inch strips large enough 

 to reach from ttie escape-hole to the hive en- 

 trance ; but do not join the apex of the tri- 

 angle by one inch, but leave it for the bees 

 to pass tlirouyh, and into the hive. Over the 

 triangle tack wire-cloth, and then fasten to 

 the front of the hive, so as to cover the es- 

 cape-hole in the rim, the opening in the tri- 

 angle to connect with the hive entrance. 



When this is adjusted properly, it is a 

 pleasure to see the bees come humming down 

 the front of the hive from the escape-hole in 

 the rim to the entrance of the hive. With 

 this escape I have had no failure to entirely 

 free the super of bees in an incredibly short 

 time : and to adjust it requires very little 

 more time than to put on a super. This tri- 

 angle, covered with wire-cloth, will prevent 

 robber bees from entering supers, and at the 

 same time conduct the bees to the hive en- 

 trance below." 



How to Take Care of Queens When There 



is a Surplus. 



For holding aright an elephant white. 

 To breed her, then to feed her. 



I have just read in Gleanings an article 

 written by Mrs. Atchley. I wish that she 

 had written it about fifteen years ago. It 

 brings so clearly to my mind the time when 

 I was making a specialty of queen-rearing. 

 There is no trouble in rearing young queens 

 so that one can be given to a nucleus as soon 

 as the laying queen is out of the way, and if 

 orders only come in fast enough to take the 

 queens as soon as they begin to lay, every- 

 thing passes along smoothly, but, alas, 

 orders for queens are quite erratic, they 

 come by fits and starts. One week a breeder 

 may be over-run with orders, then there will 

 be a dearth for two weeks, during which time 

 the nuclei will fill up witii laying queens, 

 and young queens that keep hatching must 



