1882 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTUKE. 



335 



THE ^VINTERIKG PKOBIiEM. 



COTTON SEED VERSUS CHAFF. 



fj?N Gleanings, page 166, April No., appears an 

 Ji|[ article from Mr. Geo. Grimm, wliich would 

 — ' seem to convoy the idea, that " some safe out- 

 door winter protection, so as to bring the colonies 

 out strong in the spring," is the great desideratum, 

 "even if it costs ten dollirs per hive," etc. The 

 cellar is too much trouble, and not satisfactory; 

 chaff and stable manure are unsatisfactory also. | 

 He asks the question, " How can we do it ? " 



AVe wish to exclude dampness as well as c^ld. 

 Horse manure is a regular steam generator, there- 

 fore it will not do. Some friend suggests sawdust. 

 It can be packed until it is very dense, and it will, 

 perhaps, remain so, and it is a tolerably good ab- 

 sorbent, and is also the best retainer in the world. 

 All creation can not dry a wet compact pile of saw- 

 dust. I am, therefore, dubious as to its adaptability. 



Now, in my section of North Carolina we have, or 

 at least take, but little trouble wintering our bees 

 out of doors, etc. But we do have, or, rather, did 

 have, lots of trouble wintering sweet potatoes. Re- 

 cently I have found that, by making a large box, 

 similar to your chaff hive in construction, and pack- 

 ing it with cotton seed, then putting in my potatoes, 

 and covering them with an !-'-inch layer of seed, that 

 I can save potatoes any season. Indeed, keeping 

 potatoes over winter has become a pleasant, paying 

 pastime, rather than a wearisome, money- losing 

 labor. Cotton seeds are heavy enough to be packed 

 very densely, and the peculiar lint that remains on 

 them after ginning, repels rather than absorbs all 

 the moisture. Of course, I insert good ventilation 

 in my box of potatoes. I have never heard of bees 

 being wintered in that way, but I reason from anal- 

 ogy, and I do firmly believe that, in cotton seed, we 

 have the very thing Mr. Grimm is looking for, and 

 at a far less cost than $10.00 per hire. 



Now, friend Koot, I have a proposition to make 

 you : I will furnish you the cotton seed next fall 

 for nothing, if you will make a hive like the chaff 

 hive, giving six inches space; insert in each side (5 

 sides) a wire ventilator, in form of oblong cube, 4 

 inches square, long enough to reach clear through 

 to the combs; prepare a sliding cover for each ven- 

 tilator, so they can be closed and opened as the 

 weather may require more or less of them to be 

 open. Pack it full of dry cotton seed, tight as you 

 can pack them ; put into a good average colony as 

 to bees and stores, and set them in a shelter with one 

 whole side open, like the one for swarm-hiving im- 

 plements, a sketch of which you give us in A B C — 

 side open to the south, the other sides, or side and 

 ends, closed very closely, and shed deep enough that 

 snow and rain will not blow in on them, and then 

 open and shut ventilators all winter, as weather may 

 require, etc. 



Such a hive, I am confident, will stand the winter, 

 and come out strong in spring. The seeds are cheap, 

 costing from 8 to 15 cts. per bushei of 33 lbs. retail, 

 and the same seed will do 100 years, if kept In the 

 dry, so the final cost will be far less than Mr. Grimm's 

 proposition of $10.00. 



If you conclude to try cotton seed, you might fill 

 the shelter all around the hive with straw, during 

 the coldest weather, as an additional protection; 

 and don't forget to give good upward ventilation. 

 During the winter of 1880-'81, all who put up pota- 



toes in coal dust, chaff, sawdust, and pine straw, lost 

 all their potatoes, and all of us who used cotton 

 seed saved all our potatoes. Romeo. 



Triangle, Lincoln Co.,N. C, May 23, 1883. 



I am sure we are very much obliged, friend 

 R. ; for if you haven't told us how to winter 

 bees, you certainly have told us how to win- 

 ter sweet potatoes. I will cheerfully give 

 the cotton seed a trial, if you wish; but as 

 our bees winter already as it is, in cliaff, I 

 don't see how the experiment is to prove any 

 thing definitely. It seems to me, operating 

 ventilators, five to a hive, on two or three 

 hundred hives, would be rather tedious; our 

 chaff hive, as it is, usually runs itself six 

 months of the year without any care. \Ve 

 expect the porous chaff to furnish all the 

 ventilators needed. I am now ii:clined to 

 think that cotton seed, properly disposed, 

 will do excellently, and, if I mistake not, re- 

 ports from it have been already given in our 

 back volumes. 



A STOOL, FOR THE APIARY. 



f INCLOSE a drawing of a stool that I have used 

 in my apiary for more than a year. The points 

 — ' in its favor are these: It is just about the 

 cheapest and simplest thing of the kind that can be 

 made. The whole thing is made in a few minutes, 

 out of an oil-can, some strips of wood, and a few 

 nails and rivets. It is lighter than any thing that 

 can be made of wood, and as strong and durable. 

 The pocket on the front side will hold all the tools 

 that it is necessary to carry from hive to hive. I 

 should greatly object to carrying around a whole 

 "work-box," and using about half the tools it is 

 filled with. Set the stool down by the hive with the 

 pocket in front of you, and when you sit down you 

 have the picket just between your knees, always 

 ready to drop your queen-cages, hammer, screw- 

 driver, etc., in. 



DIRECTIONS FOR MAKINO STOOL. 



Get an old oil-can, cut out the top with a common 

 can-opener, leaving about two inches of margin 

 around the outside. Now cut some narrow strips of 

 pine to fit the inside, thus making a wooden frame 

 to stiffen the lower edge; bend the tin down over 

 the strips, and fasten with wrought nails driven 

 from the outside. To make the hole for the hand, 

 just cut a half-circle with the can-opener, and bend 

 up the tin inside of the can. Now set the can right 

 side up and punch a few holes in the top so there 

 will be no danger of sitting down in rain water. 



The cut will thow how 

 to make the pocket. It 

 should be fastened on so 

 as to stand out about 's < 

 inch from the can, atthe ; 

 bottom, to allow water: 

 and dust to escapa. I 



iiiiiiii 



think, if you queen-raisers will make and use one of 

 these cans, you will findthcmtosaveagreat amount 

 of trouble and a pain in the back when you have to 

 stoop over your nuclei all day. Wm. L. Stiles. 



Austin, Tex., M.ay 13, 1883. 



Your seat is certainly ingenious, friend S., 

 and it combines lightness with strength, to 

 a very unusual degree. We do not have oil- 

 cans about here like those you describe, but 

 I presume they are plenty in other localities, 



