THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



191 



cuts 2 and 3. The escape proper, as shown 

 at A, is 8'4 inches lont^ by l'>i wide and % 

 inch deep. The top piece C is 4^4 in. long 

 and 1^4 in. wide. The part B, containing 

 the springs as shown in cut No. 2, is 1% in. 

 long. 1 in. wide and I4 in. deep. The object 

 of tliis inner part, B, is to admit of a de- 

 pression under F for the reception of dead 

 bees that may chance to get into the escape. 

 A dozen or twenty dead bees may get into 

 the escai)e and not interfere with the bees 

 passing out between the springs. To pre- 

 pare the escape for use, make a plain board 

 of 'o inch material, the size of the top of 

 the hives on which it is to be used. Cleat 

 the board at sides and ends so as to provide 

 tlie necessary bee space above or below the 

 board. Bore two holes :^'4 inches a{)art from 

 center to center, and near tlie center of the 

 board, with a l^s in. bit, and cut out the in- 

 tervening wood: drop the escape into this 

 opening and it is ready for use. 



To adjust the escape -board on the hive, 

 remove the hive cover. A few puffs of 

 smoke are necessary to prevent the bees 

 from becoming angry. Raise the super, 

 place the board on the liive, and set the 

 super on the board, and return the hive 

 cover. All is done in less time than is re- 

 quired to write this sentence, yet this is all 

 the time that is required liy the bee keeper 

 to remove the bees from the super, as the 

 bees pass out at their leisure, and the super 

 is taken to the honey house at any conven- 

 ient time after the bees have deserted it. 



During the season of 18!K) I removed all 

 my comb honey, about 2, .500 lbs., from the 

 hives by use of escapes, and experienced 

 less inconvenience and annoyance by rob- 

 bers or bees in my honey house than I have 

 frequently experienced in removing a couple 

 of hundred pounds Vjy the old method of 

 smoking, shaking and brushing of the bees 

 from the supers. 



I used four different patterns of escapes — 

 the cone, trap-door. Porter spring, and Mr. 

 Dibbern's latest pattern. Triple-cone es- 

 capes made of perforated tin work quite 

 well at times. Occasionally quite a number 

 of bees find their way back through the 

 cones into the super. 



The trap-door escape works nicely for a 

 little while, but they are soon rendered use- 

 less on account of propolis. 



Mr. Dibbern's new escape gave very poor 

 results, as, in my first trial with it. there 

 was very little decrease in the number of 

 bees in a T super in 24 hours after adjusting 

 the escape on the hive. My second trial was 

 but little better, as only al)0ut half the bees 

 were out of the super in twenty-four hours. 

 In subsequent trials it worked some better, 

 but not any better, if as well, as the cone 

 escapes, as the bees are slower in passing 

 out through the Dibbern. I very much dis- 

 like the Dibbern escape, for two reasons; i. 

 e., it is just as liable to clog up with dead 

 bees as the cone escape is, and there is no 

 way of clearing it out or knowing that it is 

 not in working order witliout taking it apart. 



The only objection I see so far to the Por- 

 ter spring escape is, that it has no automatic 

 principle that will extract the bees from the 

 supers in a given time; and the bees of some 



colonies, under certain conditions of weather, 

 are very slow to move out; but once they are 

 out, they are certain to stay out. 



While the bees have shown a disposition 

 to propolize the perforations in the perfor- 

 ated tin cone escapes, and plaster over those 

 made of wire clothj and glue the doors of 

 the trap-door escapes fast, they have put but 

 very little propolis in the spring escapes, but 

 not enough to interfere with the working of 

 the springs in the least. 



But little need be said concerning the 

 utility of a practical bee escape for remov- 

 ing comb honey from the hives. Any bee- 

 keeper who has gone through the vexations 

 of removing his comb honey from the hives 

 during a honey dearth will agree with me 

 that it is anything but a pleasant task; 

 while with a practical escape the vexations 

 are all removed — no lirushing, no shaking of 

 bees, no robbing, and no bees in the honey 

 house. The escape boards can be adjusted 

 at any time of day, and it is done so quickly 

 that the robber bees have no chance to get a 

 start. The supers can be tRken off at the 

 bee keeper's leisure after the bees have de- 

 serted them, which is usually from five to 

 eight hours. Many of my supers were car- 

 ried in early in the morning, without hat or 

 veil, while the good wife was setting the 

 breakfast. 



Concerning the inventors and manufac- 

 turers, R. and E. C. Porter, of Lewiston, 

 Ills., of the Porter spring escape. I will say, 

 that, so far as 1 have been able to learn, 

 they are the oldest practical bee keepers in 

 this part of Illinois. At present they do not 

 keep a very large apiary, only some sixty or 

 eighty colonies, on account of so many bees 

 near them. In 1882 they obtained between 

 9.000 and 10,000 lbs. of extracted honey from 

 about eighty colonies. In 188(5 they obtained 

 10,000 lbs. from about the same number of 

 colonies. 



Their escapes havf> been as thoroughly 

 tested as one season's work can test them, 

 and they are well enough pleased with them 

 to manufacture several thousand of them, 

 and I presume they will advertise and put 

 them on the market at once. 



S. A. Shuck. 



LiVEKPOOL, III., April 9. 



[Many thanks for your valuable article. 

 We are all anxious to know what we may ex- 

 pect of the bee escaj)e; and, according to 

 your experience, our hopes of its practical 

 utility are not disappointed. If others shall 

 have exTierience similar to yours, it does in- 

 deed promise to work a revolution in the 

 methods of taking off honey, and we have 

 already had some good rt^ports. We, too, 

 have been experimenting with different 

 styles of bee escapes: but none do the work 

 so perfectly as the Porter, illustrated above. 

 It would get every bee out of the upper story, 

 even off combs of brood. With the Reese 

 and Dibbern escapes, a few bees would be 

 left, they having evidently found their way 

 back; and once or twice we found them 

 clogged with dpad bees. We have just re- 

 ceived a few samples of the Porter escape. 

 They are beautifully made, and the price is 

 moderate. If this escape shall do as well as 



