230 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



the day. Instead of conducting the bees back 

 directly into the brood chamber, it is placed 

 in an opening in the rim that surrounds the 

 escape board and forms the bee-space, thus 

 turning the bees into the open air. As Mr. 

 Aikin suggests, this is all right so far as the 

 old bees are concerned, but Mr. Stead over- 

 comes the objections as regards the young 

 bees, by having the opening in the escape 

 board come over the regular outside entrance 

 of the hive. Besides this, he does not allow 

 the bees to pass out when the escape is first 

 put in place, but lays a piece of iron rod on 

 the gates until the bees are terribly excited 

 in their efforts to escape, which time usually 

 comes in about half to three-fourths of an 

 hour, when the weight is removed and the 

 bees come rushing out very much like a 

 swarm, thus freeing the super very quickly. 

 The old bees go to the entrance and set up a 

 buzzing which soon calls all the young bees 

 into the hive. I should fear that the gates 

 would become waxed or propolised were it 

 not that they are on the hive so short a time. 

 Mr. Stead has applied for a patent. 



I do not know how much experimenting 

 there has been with escapes that turn the bees 

 into the open air, but it strikes me that 

 allowing light to enter the super through the 

 escape would be a very important point. It 

 also seems that all trouble from young bees 

 might be avoided in such a manner as that 

 practiced by Mr, Stead. — Ed.] 



Old-Time Bee-Eeeping in Calilornia.— Some 



Appreciative Words fer Gleanings 



and the Review. 



ISAAC BUMFOBD. 



— " Could be happy with either, wore 'tother 

 dear charmer away." 



[ VER since receiving the copies of the 

 Review I have felt like sending my 

 thanks for the offering of such a pub- 

 lication to the public. Between 1880 and 

 1884 I was in the honey producing business 

 to the extent of one hundred hives ; having 

 built up from two swarms by increase and 

 purchase as I learned to manage the little 

 musicians and make their labor profitable. 

 It was the way that the Lord opened to 

 enable me to earn a living for my family and 

 pay a debt of over a thousand dollars that 



had been eight years outlawed. During that 

 time I wrote " Beginnings in Bee-Keeping " 

 for the a ral Press, and considered Glean- 

 ings as the bee journal, par excellence. How 

 we all loved to get that journal. When it 

 came from the office in Bakersfield, some 

 eight miles away, all work was put aside un- 

 til it was read from cover to cover. We 

 wired our frames, made our own foundation 

 and tilled every frame full ; made our own 

 extractor out of an old barrel, and one sea- 

 son produced 13,000 lbs. ; an average of 

 about 150 lbs. to the hive ; getting 300 lbs. 

 from some. How we worked and loved the 

 work and what a joy it was to see all those 

 debts paid by the little workers. Is it not 

 natural that I should love those little work- 

 ers ? 



About 18M4 the Lord called me into an ex- 

 clusively spiritual field and I have seen no 

 more of the bees nor read any bee literature 

 until last year I subscribed for Gleanings 

 for my son who has about 25 stands and at 

 present I am permitted to help him care for 

 them. I wanted the most advanced thoughts 

 of the age on particular parts of the subject, 

 and thank the Lord here comes the Review 

 to fill the bill. I don't have to buy papers 

 half full of all about keeping bees through a 

 hard winter. (We raise oranges here.) I 

 wanted a paper full of all about the special 

 subject under consideration. Say, one about 

 smokers. That decided me to send for a 

 Crane ; and we like it the best of any we 

 have tried. It fills the bill. One about wax 

 extracting. Another on producing the most 

 extracted honey and retaining the flavor of 

 comb honey ; and we found it. I tell you 

 that plan of making one number represent 

 one subject is right up to the times. The 

 Review has almost opened the way for us to 

 do without Gleanings; would if our dear 

 friend Root did not put in so many good 

 hints on the subject of gardening and we 

 like some of his old fashioned sermons. I 

 would suggest that you keep to the plan of 

 one subject for each number, then when 

 there is a new article on the subject comes 

 up, print it as a suplement so it can be taken 

 out and stitched into the old number ; or if 

 the subject should be so thoroughly reviewed 

 as to fill up another number they could be 

 tacked together. You might reserve a few 

 pages in the back of each number to note 

 important passing subjects just as Root puts 

 in about gardening and Our Homes. 



Los Gatos, Calif. May 5, 1893. 



