1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



629 



WHAT IS MEANT BY "SEALED COVERS" 

 AND "ABSORBENT CUSHIONS"? 



How the Details Affect the Results of the Two 

 Plans. 



BY B. WRIGHT. 



Your editorial remarks on sealed covers 

 vs. absorbents, April 1, give me a strong de- 

 sire to "butt in" and ask just what you 

 have in mind when you speak of these two 

 things. Do you do away with the bee-space 

 above the top-bars when you use cushions? 

 Do your conclusions apply to single-walled 

 hives? 



You say it seems to be proven again, that, 

 for your locality, sealed covers have the 

 preference; that the bees under them winter 

 perfectly. And you say that you have a 

 suspicion that those who so loudly champi- 

 on the absorbing-cushion plan of wintering 

 may not have tested the two plans side by 

 side. Pardon me; but have you tested the 

 two plans,.other conditions being equal? 



Year after year you have been making 

 statements about the two plans which are 

 not clearly understood by me; and I am won- 

 dering how your other readers understand 

 you — that is, what do they picture in their 

 minds when you say "sealed cover" and 

 "absorbent "? 



There is a very grave difference in results 

 between a cushion laid directly upon the 

 top-bars and a cushion over a Hill device, 

 especially with single-walled hives; yet you 

 appear to ignore this point. In my opin- 

 ion a bee-space above the top-bars is of more 

 value than a sealed cover. Oil-cloth makes 

 a sealed cover without the bee-space. In 

 testing this wintering problem we should 

 all be careful not to create a condition in 

 one case that does not exist in the other, 

 such as having no bee-space in one and not 

 in the other. 



Where a Hill device is used, there is a 

 clustering- room for zero weather which I be- 

 lieve to be worth more than a mere bee- 

 space. If you use a Hill device, then what 

 kind of quilts do you use? This is a most 

 important factor if you use a light packing 

 like forest leaves. I had one colony die of 

 mere " coldishness " with a new muslin 

 quilt with a Hill device and a foot of leaves. 

 There was a draft right through that hive. 

 Another colony came through "a whoop- 

 ing" under the same conditions, except 

 that it had a heavy canvas quilt which pre- 

 vented all draft. With cork-dust cushions 

 it is not of so much importance what the 

 quilts are; and the same might be said of 

 fine pine sawdust; but heavy duck or can- 

 vas quilts should be used with light pack- 

 ing, such as cut straw, coarse planer shav- 

 ings, etc. 



A colony on closed-end L. combs is almost 

 sure to die of starvation with plenty of hon- 

 ey in the hive in a hard winter with a quilt 

 directly on the top-bars, and without a win- 

 ter passageway; and I am not sure, but I 

 think that Hoffman frames will give nearly 

 the same result in single- walled hives. 



Now, when you tell your readers that seal- 

 ed covers are best "in your locality," what 

 proportion of those readers picture a chaff 

 hive in their minds in connection with the 

 remark? Perhaps the majority, but how 

 about the minority? I know of but one man 

 who uses chaff hives around here. I let ten 

 chaff hives stand empty this winter because 

 I have so much faith in your Hill devices 

 on single-walled hives, and yet you are not 

 booming these things at all. 



Bees packed in chaff hives ought to win- 

 ter in spite of sealed covers in Medina, and 

 no doubt would make a better showing than 

 bees with a porous burlap quilt which allows 

 a draft to suck the vitality of the colony. 



I have succeeded up to date in wintering 

 a three-frame nucleus (closed-end frames, 

 spaced Xyi inches center to center) under a 

 heavy canvas quilt with a miniature Hill 

 device, warm dry packing above, with a 

 tight bottom-board, and a half-inch-square 

 entrance. This was in a single-walled hive 

 with no chance for a draft through it. I al- 

 ways give good ventilation above the cush- 

 ions to keep them dry. I just know these 

 bees would have been dead by now had they 

 had what I picture in my mind when you 

 say "sealed cover." 



i know a man who says he, winters under 

 sealed covers; and when I went to see his 

 bees I found that he called oil-cloth a seal- 

 ed cover. Another man I know says he 

 winters with sealed covers; and if you ex- 

 amine his bees you will find the sealed cov- 

 er five inches above the top-bars. He puts 

 an empty shallow super under the cover in 

 order to give his bees clustering room. With 

 such a plan he says he never is bothered 

 with dampness or mold. Here are two ex- 

 tremes of sealed cover. 



Last fall I left ten colonies under sealed 

 covers with a bee-space above the top-bars 

 and with warm packing above; and these 

 bees suffered severely from dysentery, and 

 the combs were damp and moldy, with an 

 entrance y% by 12 inches, and a ^-inch space 

 under bottom-bars. No such damp condi- 

 tions existed with about seventy colonies 

 with absorbing cushions and single-walled 

 hives. Wouldn't it be folly for 7ne to use 

 sealed covers, even were I in Medina? 



Morton Park, 111. 



[It is very evident that you have read but 

 little of what we have said on the subject of 

 sealed covers vs. absorbent cushions; and it 

 would appear that even what you have read 

 you went over so hurripdly that you must 

 have missed much of what we have written. 

 In the very editorial to which you refer, one 

 of your questions was answered very explic- 

 itly. Referring to the absorbing cushion 

 and sealed covers you ask in the last sen- 

 tence of your second paragraph, " But have 

 you tested the two plans, other conditions 

 being equal?" For answer to this question 

 please turn to the editorial to which you re- 

 fer, viz., April 1st Gleanings, page 207, last 

 paragraph, first column, where you will 

 find, "When it is remembered that we have 

 tried these two forms of wintering (sealed 



