96 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



US. Even if it is not very good, it is honey this 

 year. It is worth ten dollars a hundred more than 

 we can get for clover or basswood other years. 

 From one peck of Japanese buckwheat I thrashed 

 18 bushels of good clean seed. D. Anguish. 



Brautford, Ont., Jan. 11, L889. 



FROM 30 FAIB TO 12 STRONG, AND TJr,( lO LBS. OF 

 HONEY. 



I produced 2500 pounds of honey this season from 

 2 i hives in the spring, mostly weak. 1 closed the 

 season with 42 strong colonies. I had single stands 

 that made me 225 pounds of comb honey in pound 

 sections. Considering the season, I thought my 

 yield was worthy of a report. H. Lathrop. 



Browntown, Wis., Jan. 0, 1889. 



0a^ QuEg>Fi0N-B@& 



With Replies from our best Authorities on Bees. 



All queries sent in for this department should be briefly 

 stated, and free from any possible ambiguity. The question 

 or questions should be written upon a separate slip of paper, 

 and marked, " For Our Question-Box." 



Question KJ3.— What do j/ou consider to be the best 

 covering for frames in ivinter, regardless of a few 

 cents' difference in expense— woolen ingrain carpet, 

 muslin, linen, <luck. enamel cloth, or burlap'/ 



Woolen or straw, most assuredly. 



Chas. F. Muth. 

 The cover of the hive— nothing more. 



H. R. liOARDMAN. 



I do not think it makes much difference, if the 

 bees are properly prepared for winter. 



A. J. Cook. 



We use a straw mat; but of all you mention, we 

 would use woolen carpet. Dadant & Son. 



The enamel cloth is what I use, because I find the 

 bees eat it less than any other material. 



P. L. Viallon. 



I use burlap, the same as is on in summer. I 

 leave it as the bees fix it in summer. I would use 

 enamel cloth if I had it. Dr. A. B. Mason. 



Light woolen first; burlap second; muslin third. 

 I have no use for linen, duck, or enamel cloth, for a 

 winter covering. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



First I use a sheet of duck or common factory 

 cloth over the frames, then over this I use a 

 cushion from 3 to 4 inches thick, made of factory 

 cloth filled with dry basswood sawdust. 



G. M. Doolittle. 



I use neither, but leave on the honey-board. This 

 gives the bees about % inch space over the frames; 

 and the honey-board, being slid forward about x i 

 inch, gives all the upward ventilation I want them 

 to have. Geo. Grimm. 



I suppose this question refers to covering for 

 open-top frames; and if so, I can not answer it. I 

 consider a good chaff cushion the best covering I 

 know of for any kind of frames, not only during 

 winter but su mmer as well. O. O. Poppleton. 



For indoor wintering I prefer enamel cloth with 

 any kind of a mat over it. For outdoors I would 

 use enamel cloth with a heavy cloth or mat over; 

 and over and around all. four to six inches of loose 

 packing of leaves, chaff, cut hay, or straw. 



L. C. Boot, 



I use enamel all the year round, whenever supers 

 are not on. lam not positive it is the best thing; 

 but it seems to me that a contracted chamber, tight 

 on the top aud all sides, gives them power to 

 ventilate by the entrance, when they wish to do so, 

 better than when their covering is porous. 



E. E. Hasty. 



That depends upon the hive somewhat. It doesn't 

 make so much difference if you have a board over 

 it. If you depend upon these alone for upward 

 ventilation, then neither is warm enough. I think 

 1 would as soon have a board well glued down as 

 any thing. Our hives are so constructed that we 

 have to use something else, so use a burlap quilt 

 filled with cotton. P. H. Elwood. 



Enamel cloth with woolen carpet over it. But I 

 don't use that, and I like mine well— a single thick- 

 ness of muslin (sheeting) well glued by the bees, 

 and over it a quilt made of sheeting with several 

 thicknesses of newspaper in it. Perhaps it would 

 be just as well to have a single thickness of sheet- 

 ing and another hive fitting closely over it. 



C. C. Miller. 



It makes no difference. A board cover I have 

 found just as good as any thing. You were strain- 

 ing at a gnat and swallowing a camel. Bee 

 diarrhea is what sweeps away our stock, and you 

 can not prevent it in the least by the use of woolen 

 ingrain carpets, muslin, linen, duck, enamel cloth, 

 or burlap. If there is no nitrogen in the food they 

 are to consume during confinement, then you will 

 be all right with any of these covers or none of 

 them. James Heddon. 



I prefer enameled cloth. 1 want the top of my 

 hives as closely sealed and as nearly air-tight as 

 possible. Many of my hives have board covers, 

 and I like to have the bees seal them down tight as 

 long as possible before winter. 



I am more firmly persuaded than ever, that, with 

 proper protection, no upward ventilation whatever 

 should be permitted. I have wintered bees in tin 

 cans (as near as I could conveniently get to the 

 glass bottles we talked of a couple of years ago), 

 with good results and no loss. James A. Green. 



I am glad to see, friends, a disposition to 

 decide that it does not matter so very much 

 what the covering is, providing all the cir- 

 cumstances are as they should be. Now, an 

 enamel cloth waxed down tight will do very 

 well, providing you have a chaff cushion, or 

 its equivalent, on the top of the enamel 

 cloth. If you have simply an upper story 

 over it, so the frost can get in aud reduce 

 the temperature of the upper side of the en- 

 amel cloth, it will act exactly like a pane of 

 glass on your windows in the winter time ; 

 namely, the under side will be covered with 

 dampness, or may be a thick coating of 

 frost ; whereas, were the frost kept away 

 by means of a good chaff cushion on the 

 upper side there would not even be any 

 dampness on the side toward the bees. 

 Put a chaff cushion or pillow tight against 

 one of the panes on your window, on a cold 

 frosty night, and you can see it for yourself. 

 There will be no frost on the outer side, 

 while all the rest of the panes will have a 

 thick coating of ice. The other condition is, 

 as has been mentioned , that there be venti- 



