GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



insure a splendid trip, and give opportunities to get 

 acquainted and discuss matters while en route. The 

 sleeper charges will be about $3.00 in addition to 

 the regular fare. Those intending to go from the 

 south and west of Chicago will have the opportunity 

 of joining the party if they will give me notice in 

 time. All who are intending to go should write me 

 and get full information, and thus insure ample 

 accommodations. 



Redkey, Ind. Geo. W. Williams, Sec. 



It is our intention to join that bunch of 

 beekeepers. 



Our Cover Picture 



As mentioned on page 62 the picture on 

 the cover shows a part of our Blakeslee 

 yard in the Holtermann winter cases. We 

 have twenty-five of these eases at this yard 

 with four colonies in each and one ease at 

 the home yard, so there are one hundred and 

 four colonies in all that we are wintering in 

 this way. 



For alighting-boards, we used a lot of 

 old covers that were not worth much to 

 form a runway from the ground up to the 

 entrance. We would not recommend using 

 a good cover in this way. 



As shown in the photograph there are 

 some dead bees in the snow about each en- 

 trance. This is true in every case, although 

 before some of the entrances there were 

 more bees. This brings up the question of 

 whether it pays to shade the front of the 

 hive or case to prevent the bright sun from 

 luring the bees out on days when it is too 

 cold for them to fly. While the matter has 

 not been settled definitely the consensus of 

 opinion seems to indicate that it is impossi- 

 ble to prevent a good many of the older 

 bees at least from coming out in the sun- 

 shine and becoming chilled in the snow. 

 Sometimes boards may be leaned up against 

 the front to shade the entrance; but too 

 often these serve to confuse the bees that 

 do come out so that it is doubtful whether 

 they are of much advantage. There are 

 fewer bees in the snow about the entrances 

 in the cases than there are in front of in- 

 dividual colonies separately packed. 



" Buy More Cotton." 



This is the slogan that has been going 

 through the country to help out our friends 

 and neighbors in the South who are loaded 

 down with great quantities of cotton with 

 no market for it. A gi-eat many people 

 benevolently inclined have been buying it 

 up, and this is certainly a move in the right 

 direction. In this connection our friend H. 

 G. Quirin, the queen-breeder of Bellevue, 

 0., has got hold of an idea that may be 

 worth developing. He writes: 



The A. I. Root Co.: — We wish to ask whether you 

 folks have ever tried cotton for cushions and winter 

 packing for bees. We are thinking quite seriously 

 of making sufficient cushions for all our outyards, 

 and also our home yard, from cotton ; but «s ire hare 

 never tried it, and know of no one who has tried it 

 to any extent for a term of years, we thought it well 

 to make inquiry in regard to its use. 



Our brother put up five colonies last winter with 

 about a pound cushion over each, and he speaks very 

 highly of it; but last winter was rather mild, and the 

 bees might have wintered without any cushion at all ; 

 and as one swallow does not make a summer we 

 thought we would make further investigation in 

 regard to the use of cotton as packing material for 

 bees. We can get cotton by the bale for about 3 

 cts. per pound. Of course it is not of the very 

 highest grade, but it would not be necessary to have 

 the best. One hundred cotton cushions would be but 

 half as bulky as that many chaff cushions. This 

 would be quite an item ; but one of their main ad- 

 vantage would be that they are perfectly clean. With 

 chaff there is more or less dirt and dust sifting 

 through the burlap. 



Bellevue, Ohio, Dec. 21. H. G. Quibin. 



There will never be a better opportunity 

 to lay in a stock of cotton-packed cushions 

 for bees than right now. During the win- 

 ter months beekeepers and their women- 

 folks can make up a good supply. A thin 

 cotton-packed cushion, if placed under a 

 telescope cover, will make a wonderful 

 difference in the amount of brood that one 

 can rear in the spring during the early 

 chilly days just after bees are taken out 

 of the cellar. Our correspondent's sugges- 

 tion is worth trying. 



Not Paralysis but Poison, Perhaps 



Major Shallard's article, on page 995 of 

 the December 15 issue, wherein he discusses 

 the symptoms for what he calls the " disap- 

 pearing disease," raises the question wheth- 

 er he hasn't had Ms bees poisoned. It may 

 be that the bees were poisoned at their 

 watering-place. Haven't we read in some 

 place that our Australian friends sometimes 

 poison a watering-place to get rid of the 

 rabbit pest, fencing against stock with a 

 coarse mesh, but not against rabbits — and 

 bees? Or it may be there is some flower in 

 that locality yielding a poisonous nectar. 

 Why not, when we have the poison plants 

 on the range, which, though appetizing to 

 stock, are fatal to bees? Our own govern- 

 ment has taken cognizance of this fact, and 

 is trying to work out a system to protect 

 the grazers on the forest reserve. 



There is a disease known as paralysis, 

 and this has come under observation in 

 different localities; but we never knew bees 

 to go to the field when once affected with 

 ordinary bee paralysis. In all cases of 

 paralysis we have seen, the bees got no 

 further than the edge of the hive-stand, 

 when they dropped on the ground and died 

 within a foot of the entrance to the hive. 



