HARVESTING. 



465 



the lower story, unless the bees are crowded out of breeding 

 room, v/hicli will not happen, if they had plenty of room above. 



7G9. The 



re- 

 moval of the bees 

 from the supers, 

 may be simplified 

 by the bee-escape 

 (fig. 207). This im- 

 Fig. 207. plement is placed 



PORTER'S BEE-ESCAPE. in a board V2 inch 



in thickness, and of the size of the top of the brood-chamber 

 and so cleated that, when placed between the brood chamber 

 and the super, there will be a full bee-space both above and 

 below it. The hole for the escape should be made near the 

 center of the board by boring two lYs inch holes, 2V2 inches 

 from center to center and cutting the wood between them. 

 One escape to the board is sufficient. If there .is no brood, 

 or queen, in the supei', and the escape is' put on the day 

 before, the bees will practically be all out the next mornin;.;. 

 and sometimes within six hours after it has been placed on 

 the hive. 



The only objection to the bee escapes is that they must be 

 placed on the hives the day previous, and this necessitates an 

 extra trip, when the bees are located in an out-apiary. Other- 

 wise they are very useful, if not left on the hive through the 

 heat of the day, when the exclusion of bees from the super 

 might cause collapse of the combs, by lack of ventilation, in 

 very hot weather. 



yfO. In the honey house, there should be an extractor, a 

 capping can (fig. 208), a honey knife, a funnel with sieve, a 

 pail, a barrel, and two tin pans like those used in the apiary. 

 Each person may be provided with a good enamel-cloth aproti, 

 and all the windows furnished with wire cloth netting, to al- 

 low the bees to escape (586). The tin pans above mentioned 

 are shallow, in the shape of broad pans, large enough to 

 receive one of the supers freely, to keep the leaking honey 



