THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



107 



the cluster at all. The wet sheet gave a chill 

 to the air inside of the hive so the bees did 

 not feel the warmth, and the wet rag at the 

 entrance excluded the light, so that they ap- 

 parently did not realize but that they were 

 still in the cellar till they were safely on 

 their stands. I now have no dread of set- 

 ting the bees out of the cellar, and they also 

 are not in such a hurry to rush out but that 

 they properly mark their entrance, thus sav- 

 ing the mixing of bees so frequently occur- 

 ring in the old way, by which some colonies 

 have more bees than they should, and others 

 being deficient." 



The Infinence by Which Bees are Actuated 

 When Pasing Throaeh a Bee Escape. 



Mr. R. C. Aikin^ in another column, ad- 

 vances the theory that the controlling inilu- 

 ence leading bees to desert the supers when 

 the bee escape is used, is their desire to get 

 back to the queen from which they find 

 themselves cut ofif. Mr. Halley advances 

 the same idea in Gleanincjs. He says: — 



"I find that no one in Gleanimjs has yet 

 given thel true principle upon which the 

 bee-escape is supposed to work. The super 

 from which it is desired to rid the bees being 

 shut off from the heat of the hive, it would 

 seem that, when the weather got cool, the 

 bees would go down much faster: but such 

 is not the fact. It may then take days in- 

 stead of hours for the sections to be cleared. 

 The true reason is, that, when the bees find 

 they are separated from the queen, they get 

 panicky, and leave forthwith in pursuit of 

 the queen. It is a mistake to suppose that 

 the ragged edge of the tin or paper prevents 

 the bees from going back into the sections; 

 but the fact is, the cause that induced them 

 to leave prevents them from going back. 

 Now for the proof: You will find inclosed a 

 piece of tin. This was formed over a 20- 

 penny wire nail. This I tack over a hole on 

 the under siHe of a board. This is my bee- 

 escape. It will be seen that the bees can go 

 one way as well as the other. My section- 

 cases ail have crlass. I put on the escape in 

 the morning, so I could watch them, which 

 I did closely. Some will miss the queen 

 very soon, and the sections will be cleared in 

 two or three hours. Others will remain 

 quiet for several hours; but when they dis- 

 cover their isolated position they will be 

 seen in a perfect panic, which they keep up 

 until the last bee leaves the sections. Among 

 others I put sections, containing about 60 

 lbs. of honey, over a board fixed with three 

 of these tins. The next morning when I 

 took off my sections I found bees enough to 

 make a fair swarm, clustered all over under 

 the board. There were many bees deep 

 over the tins. They had commenced comb- 

 building; but not a bee had gone into the 

 sections. I have used these tins through the 

 past season with unvarying results. In no 

 case did the bees go back into the sections. * 

 I believe that a zinc queen-excluder, if plac- 

 ed on an empty section-holder, and the zinc 



all covered up but a narrow strip, would 

 make a good bee-escape. 



William Halley, 



Rockton, 1)1., Jan. 23. 



The editor of Oleanings comments as fol- 

 lows : 



[It is very possible that you may be right, 

 and we hope those, of our readers who have 

 made observations in regard to the actual 

 workings of the bee-escape will let us know 

 what they think about it. Another summer 

 shall not go by without our fixing up an ob- 

 servatory hive, to watch the actual operation 

 of the various bee-escapes. However, even 

 if your point is true, would it not be better 

 to have something like the Porter, so the 

 bees will actually be prevented from going 

 back, even if they should desire to do so ? 

 The Porters, who have conducted a long 

 series of experiments along this line, will 

 doubtless be able to give us some informa- 

 tion." 



The Wax in Comb Honey is Indigestible 

 but not Injurious or TInwholsome. 



'• My son, eat thou honey because it is good ; 

 and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste." 



Mr. Henry M. Hawley writes as follows to 

 GJeaningft : 



" I desire to say that I am surprised to 

 find a dyspeptic advocating the use of comb 

 honey, as, in all lessons learned or teachings 

 taught, the prime principle is that the comb 

 is indigestible. I judge, if you eat ' Schu- 

 macher ' graham gems for a few months the 

 bran will be sufficient irritant for the stom- 

 ach without the comb that will not digest nor 

 melt in the stomach." 



Those are in error who imagine that be- 

 cause wax is indigestible its consumption in 

 comb honey is attended with injurious re- 

 sults, or that it is in the least unwholesome. 

 Ten years ago. Prof. Hasbrouck, in the 

 Bee-Keepers' Magazine, explained most fully 

 the philosophy of this subject. He said : — 



" So much is said now-a-day* by such in- 

 fluential men as King, Dadant, .Tones, and 

 many others, to ' boom ' extracted honey, 

 that it seems necessary that something 

 should be said to recall the claims of comb 

 honey, that its virtues may not be forgotten 

 and its production neglected. It may be 

 that, for the present, more money can be 

 made in running bees for extracted honey — 

 five dollars to one, as Jones says ; but I 

 think I can see reasons why, with increased 

 production, we may expect extracted honey 

 to depreciate in price much faster than coAb 

 honey. Extracted honey must always com- 

 Viete with similar sweets ; such as sugar, mo- 

 lasses, syrups, and glucose, and its princi- 

 pal recommendation will be its novelty or 

 cheapness ; while it is weighted in the race 

 for popularity by its inconvenient tendency 

 to candy, and if it does not candy, it is im- 

 mediately exposed to the suspicion of being 



