176 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



rival in the subtle, swinging trap door, when 

 I have procured machinery that will make 

 the little gates perfect. 



Now, in conclusion, I have to say that from 

 the Keese labyrinthin idea, the bee escapes 

 of to-day, and of the future are, and will be, 

 a progression of ideas. 



Chbistiansbueg, Ky.. July 10, 1891. 



Antiquity of Bee Escapes. — Advice in Re- 

 gard to Their Use. 



H. L. JEFFBBT. 



fSEE that you now have Bee-Escapes on 

 the brain, and you very honestly let 

 the fever have its full raving in your 

 first two paragraphs on page 151!. The first 

 paragraph was at its full height and the 

 second showed the result of a weakened and 

 spent force and returning rationality. 



I have seen quite a number of just such 

 cases as you describe as yours, I have told 

 dozens of bee-keepers about the escapes and 

 quiie often met the reply: " Do you think 

 us fools or are you lying to us?" Right 

 here I must say that it is easier to make the 

 majority of people raving mad or set them 

 thinking that you are lying to them by tell- 

 ing the exact truth and the whole of it, than 

 by any other method, and I have many times 

 enjoyed myself in that way and then watched 

 for the chance to hector some one concern- 

 ing the results. For three or four years I 

 used the bee-escape as a means of that kind 

 of enjoyment. 



The first bee-escape I ever saw was the re- 

 sult of a little opposition in that line. One 

 John H. Tanner, helping me one day in 1877 

 when I was taking off some of the old style 

 of sections, asked if "the sections could not 

 be put into a case like a fly trap made wrong 

 end first and attached to a hive so that the 

 bees could go into the hive out of the sec- 

 tions and not get back upon the honey again, 

 and if it would not work? " I dared him to 

 try it and for some days hectored him about 

 it. I often congratulated him on making 

 his everlasting fortune and such like com- 

 pliments, knowing that he would, if really 

 stirred up, produce something that would 

 lead to a practical api^aratus, and out of an 

 old cottage fly trap he made the first suc- 

 cessful apparatus that I ever saw. I tested it 

 in 1877 and used it until I was satisfied of its 

 usefulness, but before I was allowed to ex- 

 amine into its make, yes, before I was really 

 informed of its existence, I was bound by 



promise not to write to any one about it and 

 I kept my promise faithfully until now. It 

 worked perfectly; and parts, if not the whole, 

 of the original escape are in my possession. 

 In principle the Reese escape is the same. 

 For six or seven years quite a number of in- 

 ventive geniuses have made various forms 

 of escapes, but they all had to go back to the 

 original Tanner principle. The Porter plan 

 and principle have been used more than six 

 years ago, but is not equal to the Reese, and 

 I do not believe that there ever will be one 

 that is its equal. I have tried dozens of 

 modifications of escapes but the first Tanner 

 principles are all in all and perfect, and I 

 will. enumerate some of the reasons. 



If a single cone is used the bees will feed 

 through and then will work back and forth. 

 If there is but little space between the board 

 that holds the cones and the hive or sections 

 below they will not go down so readily, and 

 they will soon learn the way back and forth 

 to the crate of sections. 



Your advice to place a case of new sec- 

 tions beneath the escape when putting it on 

 would be in error just often enough so that 

 I would not advise it. A new case of sec- 

 tions placed on the top is quite often deserted, 

 thereby causing a crowding of bees in the 

 brood chamber and either swarming or lazi- 

 ness would be the result just often enough 

 to be perplexing and expensive. To remedy 

 that trouble use a deep space of not less than 

 4 inches or even 5 or G inches under the es- 

 cape board and let the bees have it from 1 to 

 .3 days. They will hang in there quietly, (I 

 like 2 or 3 days better than 1) will secrete 

 some wax and will be in fine condition for a 

 . case of sections and in no way will it prevent 

 them from finishing up those they are 

 already working in. On the 2nd, 3rd or 4th 

 day as is conevnient set a crate of empty sec- 

 tions on a hive body or something near the 

 hive with the escape on, take the escape 

 carefully from the hive, strike it heavily 

 down upon the section case, then set both 

 back upon the hive. The bees are jarred 

 into the sections and go to work immediate- 

 ly building comb, when they would other- 

 wise have been idling around for days or 

 perhaps not doing any thing at all in them. 



Now, a word about the rapid using of the 

 escapes. You say in your leader that "two 

 men ought to place escapes in position at 

 the rate of four a minute." Not a reason- 

 able beekeeper would ever expect 240 es- 

 capes per hour as the work of two men. 40 



