326 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTIJEE. 



July 



cellar the more economical in the consumption of 

 winter stores. Our bees were very quiet, and 1 

 could have kept them in the cellar until May 1st, 

 and perhaps longer, by the use of that glorious bev- 

 erage for man, beast, and insect,— 



WATER. 



I had experimented some with water upon uneasy 

 swarms, and comparing notes with Bro. Thomas, of 

 Coleraine, I concluded to adopt his size of bottle, a 

 4-oz., and put one upon every hive. I wished to also 

 give the bees that clustering - space above the 

 frames, so I invented a chalf mat according to this 

 plan. 



J. H. MARTIN S WATERING DEVICE. 



I made a rim two inches wide, to go on the top of 

 the hive. Simplicity style; to the under side of this 

 rim I tacked strong cotton cloth — duck is better. I 

 then placed in the center under the cloth a block 

 with a hole through it, in which to insert the neck of 

 a bottle. The block is also notched upon the sides 

 to give the bees free access under it. After placing 

 this block under the cloth the rim is filled with 

 chatf, and another cloth tacked to the upper side of 

 the rim, and both thicknesses of cloth are tacked to 

 the block, and a hole is then cut through the cloth 

 into the hole in the block. When the mat is placed 

 upon the hive, the block rests upon the frames, and 

 a clustering-place is formed; and when the bottle of 

 water is inserted, the bees have free access to it. 

 The bottles were put on about the middle of Febru- 

 ary, and were emptied according to the strength 

 and disposition of the colony. A few swarms emp- 

 tied five or six bottles of water, while others would 

 empty but a part of a bottle. I am so well pleased 

 with the success of the experiment that I shall con- 

 tinue its use. It is also a good plan to keep the bot- 

 tles on after putting the bees out of the cellar; if a 

 cold term comes on, the bees can be shut in the 

 hive several days without becoming uneasy. 



J. H. Martin. 



Hartford, Wash. Co., N. Y., May 8, 1882. 



I think it is now pretty well proven, that 

 water for bees, at the proper time, would 

 have saved many of our troubles in winter- 

 ing. The mass of facts, all in this one di- 

 rection, are beginning to point pretty strong- 

 ly to the importance of some device similar 

 to the one friend Martin has given. The 

 glass bottles, in plain sight, indicate most 

 clearly whenever the supply of water is out. 



piece of carpet, to suit them better than any thing 

 else. It seems that the evaporation from so large 

 a surface draws the bees, and they will fairly swarm 

 there for water every afternoon all summer. 

 Columbus, Ind., May 5, 18S2. J. M. Brooks. 



CHAFF FOK WINTERING. 



TIMOTHY CHAFF VERSUS ALL OTHER KINDS. 



Most assuredly they need water. I winter in cel- 

 lar, and fasten a sponge right at the entrance of each 

 colony, and keep them wet. If you have never tried 

 it, you will be surprised to see them take water. Be 

 careful to make the sponges secure, as the bees will 

 completely cover them, and might roll them off to 

 the cellar floor. The sponges can remain at the en- 

 trances, and be kept wet, even after the hives are 

 carried out, preventing the loss of many bees in ear- 

 ly spring. It is good advice when you say, "Teach 

 your bees to get water at a convenient spot near the 

 apiary." It keeps them from bothering your neigh- 

 bors' pumps, and saves the lives of a great many 

 that get killed in different ways. You will find a 

 shallow tub, filled with water and covered with a 



eN page 237, May number of Gleanings, one of 

 your correspondents details results of expcri- 



""' ments in reference to heat-retaining proper- 

 ties of different kinds of chaff and sawdust. As I 

 have had a large practical experience with chaff 

 hives, permit me to suggest that Mr. Fowls' experi- 

 ments were in entirely the wrung direction. Any 

 of our kinds of chaff, properly freed from straws, 

 etc., also very line dry sawdust, has plenty of heat- 

 retaining properties for the needed purpose. The 

 two great desideratums for successful wintering by 

 any mode, are to keep bees in as even a tempera- 

 ture, and as free from moisture as possible; and 

 the last condition is by far the most important, as 

 well as the most difficult to obtain. Show me a 

 practical method of keeping the entire inside of a 

 hive perfectly dry during winter, and I will have no 

 fiirther fears about unsuccessful wintering. As 

 you already know, I have been quite successful in 

 the use of chaff' hives, and I have learned that the 

 dryer you can keep the packing, the better the bees 

 winter, and that the dryness depends both on the 

 method of using and on the kind of chaff used. 



I have used buckwheat, oat, wheat, and timothy 

 chaff, and have discarded all except the last, retain- 

 ing that because of its greater power of absorbing 

 moisture given off by the bees, without retaining it 

 and itself becoming damp and moldy. I have never 

 tested clover chaff, although a typographical error 

 in the report of the Michigan State Convention 

 makes me advise the use of that ; but I think it 

 would answer well. Very flue dry sawdust is, with- 

 out doubt, an excellent non-conductor of heat and 

 cold, but I should be afraid of its liability to retain 

 moisture. 



I am glad to see so strong a believer in cellar- 

 wintering as is George Grimm, admitting the truth 

 of the statement I made at the Lexington Conven- 

 tion, that "chaff hives are, in my opinion, worth all 

 of their extra cost if used only from the time of 

 taking bees from their winter quarters until the 

 commencement of the honey season;" but I can not 

 understand how he, as well as so many others, have 

 an idea that chaff hives are not successful during 

 long cold winters. I lost only about 5 per cent oi 

 my bees during the winter of 1883-'81, and nearly or 

 quite all of my neighbors who use the same method 

 of packing that I do were equally successful. 



O. O. POPPLETON. 



Williamstown, Iowa, June 22, 1883. 



Thank you, friend P. I presume it will 

 do no harm if I say I had been wishing to 

 hear something from you on this same mat- 

 ter, ever since I listened to your very able 

 address at our very pleasant convention at 

 Battle Creek, Mich. And now, if you will 

 excuse me once more, I want to thank you 

 for your very kind and able exposition of The 

 Dollar-queen Traffic, in the A. B. J. of June 

 21. Said article "sums up, in such a masterly 

 manner, all I would say on the subject, it 

 seems to me I could just drop it right there, 

 and refer all future objectors to it. 



