THE BEE-KEEPERS' hIA lEW. 



157 



must pay for his raw inaterinl? We have 

 ouly to perfect our uianufacturiuy facilities 

 to be able to crowd all rivals from the Held. 

 W'u are doiug wouders uow in the way of 

 fretting up labor saving implemeuts, and the 

 beauty of it is that the lower the price of 

 honey goes as the result of such inventions, 

 the more safe and pleasant will become the 

 business of bee-keeping.' 



It is true that there will Ije poor ssasons 

 when, even with all the advantages I have 

 mentioned, it might pay to adulterate hon- 

 ey, but these "mix shops" do not start up as 

 tlie result of one poor honey season; it is 

 when tlie average price of honey, one year 

 with another, is above that of glucose. 



In the meantime, before honey is so cheap 

 tliat it drives out glucose, what shall bee- 

 keei)ers do? Do as Chas. F. Muth & Sou, 

 and many others have done. Sell only good 

 honey and sell it under their own name. 

 Establish a reputation. 



BEK ESCAPES. 



When bee escapes were first illustrated 

 and described in the bee journals they at- 

 tracted but little attention. I well remem- 

 ber the first one that was sent me. When I 

 went out to the apiary I took it out and 

 showed it to my brother. I kept a straight 

 face as I explained its use. My voice may 

 have had a laughing or contemptuous tone, 

 although I tried hard to control it, but my 

 brother commenced laughing as soon as he 

 "caught on" to the idea. The more I tried 

 to explain to him its advantages, the harder 

 he laughed. "If I can raise the honey, I 

 guess I can get it off the hives," was his 

 comment. I must confess that I felt that 

 way myself. It seemed like "too many oats 

 for a shilling" — too much riaging for the 

 work to be accomplished. For the moment 

 I forgot the smoking and brushing of bees 

 out in the hot sun, the accompanying stings 

 from the irritated bees, and the robbers 

 gathering around in such crowds that the 

 work umst be suspended. The crowds of 

 "stragglers" that escaped from the cases of 

 honey when brought into the honey house, 

 and buzzed and bumped about on the win- 

 dows until they finally escaped at the top, 

 and robbers sometimes fcmnd their way in 

 at the same entrance, all these, and the time 

 spent in these mani[)ulations, seemed to 

 count for nothing, so strong is the force of 

 habit. 



I presume others had similar thoughts, for 

 it was not until some of the more progressive 

 bee-keepers had tried tlie escapes and called 

 attention most emphatically to these points 

 that the general bee-keeping public took 

 much interest in bee escapes. I intended to 

 give them a trial last season, but had no 

 honey to remove, hence am compelled to rely 

 upon the experience of others, but the inter- 

 est in them is becoming so great, and so 

 many are inclined to give them a trial, that 

 I think it best to gather all the knowledge 

 t at I can in regard to them, even if 1 have 

 not tried them. 



To Mr. Jno. S. Reese, of Winchester, Ky., 

 belongs the honor of inventing the bee es- 

 cape. It was a cone, or a double cone, and 

 an empty super was needed to give room for 

 the cone. This made some complication, 

 and some have reported that the bees clus- 

 tered in the empty space and built combs 

 there. To remedy this, Mr. C. H. Dibbern, 

 of Milan, 111., laid the cone on its side and 

 flattened it out, making a pear shaped ar- 

 rangement. The bees pass in at a large and 

 easily-found entrance at the large end of the 

 "pear" and pass out through the smaller end 

 and in doing so make a few complicated 

 twists and turns. The whole arrangement 

 is such as makes it easy for a bee to find its 

 way out, but difficult to find its way back. 

 The Dibbern is placed in a board not more 

 than half an inch thick and does away with 

 all empty cases or space. It is said that the 

 bees sometimes find their way back through 

 these escapes, in fact Mr. Dibbern himself 

 admits that this is the one great objection to 

 be overcome, and R. & E. C. Porter, of Lew- 

 istown. 111., have now invented an escape 

 that remedies that difliculty. The bees pass 

 out between two delicate springs that close 

 together to such an extent that a bee cannot 

 pass in the opposite direction. It certainly 

 looks now as though the Porter escape is 

 ahead of all others. 



Many who have never tried bee escapes 

 will try them this season, and they are anx- 

 ious to know which is the best escape and the 

 best methods of using it. If I am not cor- 

 rect in saying that the Porter is the best, I 

 shall be glad to be corrected. 



Bees pass down through an escape much 

 more readily when tliere is plenty of room 

 in the hive or supers below. Usually, in the 

 working season, when a case of honey is 

 ready to come off, it is also well to put on 

 another super. When such is the case, the 



