THE BEE-KEEPERS' BE VIEW. 



185 



evening. These were of the earliest form of 

 cones. As early as l.ss;5 I saw others use 

 cones and used several myself to trap rob- 

 bers in hives which were being robbed. The 

 earliest form of cones consisted of many 

 converging wires like the all-wire rat trap ; 

 where the rats could crowd their way in but 

 could not crowd out against the points of 

 convergent wire. For bees a simple wire 

 cloth cone was made and then the lateral 

 wires raveled out. In fact the first escapes 

 were faithful copies of the rat trap. From 

 this inventors switched off on to the simple 

 wire cloth cone. This was a faithfnl copy 

 of the principles of the Hy trap. Then came 

 escapes with lateral leaf springs. These are 

 convergent, and a lateral leaf spring is the 

 union of several converging wires into one. 

 Many of the converging wires and all of the 

 gated traps provided the unobstructed floor 

 for the bees to walk upon. Cones, converg- 

 ing wires, springs, gates, exits and floors 

 were hashed up and lay for a longtime upon 

 the apicultural board and enter into present 

 and future escapes by tiie simple process of 

 selection and placing upon a separate dish. 



The inventor of a device is required to 

 construct a model or prepare specifications 

 of his preferred way, which, considering use 

 and manufacture, is supposed to be the best 

 way. In order to do this in most apicultural 

 inventions requires a most thorough under- 

 standing of the various dispositions and in- 

 stincts of the bees. Then the particular de- 

 vice is patented and not the principles it may 

 involve. Thus a patent is only a partial pro- 

 tection as it leaves so broad unprotected 

 territory. It is a guide-board to show in- 

 ventors where to find productive ground. 



By a study of the action of the bees toward 

 escapes we find them to be very much like 

 those of a hog or setting hen. If we under- 

 take to trap the hen off the nest we are likely 

 to not get her right away because she is not 

 disposed to leave the nest until she gets 

 ready. Then when we attempt to drive a 

 hog he is very careful not to step over or 

 rub against anj thing, until, when he finds 

 himself cornered, then it turns into a 

 desperate case and he prepares to squeeze 

 through or lift anything that comes in his 

 way ; and failing in thus making a hole in 

 the fence, he turns and attempts to run over, 

 or under, the operator. When the bee es- 

 cape is first adjusted the bees remain quiet 

 and undisturbed for about an hour. If a bee 

 goes in and tries the springs, it tries them 



lightly, then perhaps comes out and another 

 bee does the same. If it happens to pass 

 through it may think it a mistake and try to 

 get back at the side of the springs. This 

 sort of proceedure goes on until some of 

 them start to go down into the brood cham- 

 ber for some purpose. They are confused 

 on finding a bottom board so near. After 

 rubbing their eyes once or twice they start 

 for the accustomed entrance. If the en- 

 trance were there, or some other outside 

 exit, they would take wing and alight at the 

 entrance of the hive, below, and the other 

 bees in the super would be none the wiser 

 until eacii bee, (like the setting hen), got 

 ready to perform the same operation. And 

 they are so slow in getting ready that it spoils 

 all practicability of the outside exit. As no 

 entrance is found they examine the other 

 crevices until they realize that they are con- 

 fined, and then curiosity changes into un- 

 easiness, and in a very short time nearly all 

 in the super join in a demoralized throng 

 which continues to course about, part on 

 the side walls of the super and part on the 

 escape board ai;d they tumble into the cor- 

 ners where the super and escape board meet 

 several bees deep : and the greatest accumu- 

 lation is on the side of the super where they 

 expect the entrance to be. At the same time 

 they pull and bite at every crevice to force 

 an opening. 



Now I have known a swarm to begin to 

 issue from a hive and in order to adjust a 

 swarm catcner a block of wood one inch 

 square and a foot or more in length was 

 placed against the entrance to stop the bees 

 for a moment. This block was quickly 

 pushed away and even rolled over when it 

 was an inch or more away from the en- 

 trane. This is the kind of force and energy 

 we have in a swarm of confined bees and I 

 have soeu them go through a single-exit Por- 

 ter escape four abreast and two deep, or at 

 the rate of 500 per minute. 



The first evidence an excited bee gets that 

 she is no. a mile from the brood nest instead 

 of only V of ^■ii inch is when she catches a 

 whitt of air that emanates through the es- 

 cape. She instantlj turns round, fans the 

 wings twice, and, not being sure of her dis- 

 covery, runs toward the opening two inches. 

 The draft comes more unmistakeably, and 

 after fanning again for about two seconds, 

 runs hastily forward again. When you are 

 about to grasp a hog by the hind leg or tail 

 he does not stop to test the fiexibilily of the 



