FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 203 



Another way is a little easier to do, and it is a little better, 

 although a little harder to describe. Take a piece of wire cloth 

 2 1-3 times as long as it is wide. Mark a point at the middle 

 of one of the longer sides, and on the other side mark a point 

 half way from each end to the middle, as shown in the figure. 

 Make a fold at each of the dotted lines. The wire cloth may be 

 cut away at the two outside dotted lines, or, what is better, the 

 end pieces may be folded over and sewed down. Now bring the 

 two parts of the upper margin together and sew with wire, and 

 then proceed to fasten the tent in place as before. In this latter 

 case, of course, a hole must be cut at the top of the tent. Be- 



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fore the tent is sewed together, cut a slit about an inch deep in 

 the two dotted lines at the top, and then fold out the three 

 points. 



When one of these tent-escapes is placed on a pile of 

 supers, or on a hive containing bees, the bees will pass out 

 freely at the top, but the bees that try to get in attempt to make 

 the entrance further down. Once in a great while there will 

 gather a bunch of the outgoing bees at the top so as to clog the 

 exit, and then the robbers will settle on this bunch of bees and 

 work their way in, but a little smoke will scatter the bunch of 

 bees. 



But bees are persevering creatures, and are not likely to 

 stay scattered. In that case it is a good thing to put two escapes 

 over the pile, a larger one over a smaller one. The piece of 

 wire cloth used in making some of mine is 22 x 9^2 inches, and 

 in others it is 14 x 6. The smaller ones seem to work just as 

 well as the larger, and it is a convenience to have the two sizes 



