174 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



times were mostly five-pound boxes — not 

 very suitable for using bee escapes. Their 

 time had not come. I wish to say right here 

 that any escape with trap doors, springs or 

 other working parts will always be a slow 

 process and unsatisfactory in the long run. 



The escape should be as plain as possible 

 and instantly removable from the buard. 

 It should be provided with abundant ventila- 

 tion so that in hot weather, with crowded 

 hives, the bees in the supers will not smoth- 

 er and the honey be ruined. I would sug- 

 gest that where escapes are defective in this 

 respect, a few inch holes be bored through 

 the board and covered with wire cloth. The 

 escape should also be made so that all parts 

 where it may become clogged with bees or 

 drones may be seen from the top. I find 

 that drones are particularly likely to die in 

 escapes, even where there is plenty of room. 

 Some of these things I have only lately 

 learned, and I admit thai some of my older 

 escapes were defective in these respects. I 

 am now experimenting with a very plain 

 little escape that seems to answer all require- 

 ments. I shall give it a severe test upon 

 strong colonies that are run for extracted 

 honey, and when I know it is all right I 

 will make it known, and there will be no 

 " patent applied for " either. 



As to the uses and advantages of escapes, 

 little need be said. They will soon speak 

 for themselves. Take an armful of escape 

 boards with escapes in place, and place one 

 by the side of each hive from which you 

 wish to remove a case. If honey is still 

 corning in, place an empty case beside it. 

 Now have an assistant blow in a little smoke 

 as you pry up a case and slip in the board 

 and super in place, and you will be surprised 

 to see how quickly the work is performed. 

 Now, when, in a few hours, you can go and 

 carry in all the honey, with no bees to 

 bother with, you will be still more surprised 

 that you could ever have put up with the 

 old " smoke-out-brush-'em-off " plan. 



Most of us have some defective bee spaces 

 in which burr comb will be built, especially 

 in good years. Now, in the " good old way " 

 we would pry the case off and drip the honey 

 over the hive and all over the apiary, making 

 a sort of " free tight " for the bees and often 

 a red hot time for ourselves. By the use of 

 escapes there is not a particle of drip out- 

 side the hives, the bees will save all that 

 drips in the hive and the supers will come 

 off dry and clean. This is a 6(V/ point. 



There are yet other uses, aside from the 

 removal of surplus, to which bee escapes 

 may be put. I am now practicing what I 

 call the bee escape system of swarming. 

 The plan is to hive the swarm upon the old 

 stand, remove supers from the old to the 

 new hive, put an escape on top and the old 

 brood chamber on top of that, giving it a 

 small entrance of its own. The bees con- 

 stantly escape into the lower hive, and, on 

 the seventh day, the old hive is given a new 

 stand. Of course this is the Heddon idea 

 divested of its bunglesome features. In 

 connection with the self hiver, I am now 

 practicing this system with great success. 



As I have intimated, I think that a perfect 

 bee escape is not yet In the market. I have 

 a number of devices ready as soon as I can 

 give them a severe test in actual use. I feel 

 confident that I have the coming escape, 

 but no matter, the person who can give us 

 the simplest, cheapest and best device is the 

 one we are looking for. The escape that we 

 now have, however, will do the work, and we 

 will make good use of it until a better is 

 found. 



Milan, 111. June 30, 18'J1. 



Great Value of Bee Escapes — Most of Them 



Work Under Right Conditions— The 



Porter the Best. 



J. A. GBEEN. 



PHE bee escape is the greatest of recent 

 inventions in bee-keeping. Since the 

 invention of comb foundation and 

 the introduction of queer excluding metal 

 nothing has been brought forward of greater 

 practical value than the bee escape. 



One of the greatest of labor savers, it will 

 do more to simplify and cheapen the pro- 

 duction o£ honey than anything brought for- 

 ward in years. It is equally valuable in the 

 production of comb and extracted honey. 

 It is of greatest value in the out-apiary, and 

 by its use I think even the house-apiary may 

 be made a practical success. 



I have just returned from an out-apiary 

 run for extracted honey. Yesterday I put 

 bee escapes under such supers as were full of 

 sealed honey — the work of only a few 

 minutes. To day all I had to do was to pick 

 up those supers — not a bee in any of them 

 except one — load them on my Wagon and re- 

 move the escapes. In the one case the queen 

 had found her way through the honey board 

 and there was brood in the super. 



