GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



iieatli our clothes to take uj) the insensible 

 perspiration. No, we avoid all garmeuls 

 that will retain moisture, and use only those 

 that will retain heat and allow moisture to 

 pass through. 



I agree with Mr. Hand that porous pack- 

 ing called an absorbent is a misnomer. It 

 is not an absorbent. But if I were to 

 liazard a guess 1 should guess that the prin- 

 ciple of the use of winter packing has often 

 been misunderstood. The fact that it is 

 often spoken of as absorbent leads me to 

 think so. 



The object of packing is not to absorb 

 moisture, but to conduct moisture away 

 from the brood-chamber without letting the 

 heat escape. If we were to call a cushion 

 u.sed for this purpose a moisture-conduct- 

 ing and heat-retaining cushion you have the 

 idea exactly. If a cushion or packing fails 

 to do this it is a failure. If we were to use 



a sheet of iron or a fiat stone over our 

 brood-chamber we should have exactly the 

 opposite result- — viz., the retention of the 

 moisture and dispersion of the heat of the 

 hive. A properly packed hive allows very 

 little air to escape thi-ough the packing or 

 very little upward ventilation. I doubt if 

 as much air escapes through the top of a 

 well-packed brood-chamber without a sealed 

 cover as from a brood-chamber with sealed 

 cover and large entrance. 



T began the use of packing above brood- 

 chambers more than forty years ago by the 

 use of a thick layer of wool over a cloth 

 above the frames, and I am still using old 

 cast-oft; woolen cloths for this purpose. I 

 do not use them for absorbing moisture, 

 but as a good material for retaining the 

 heat of the hive, and allowing the moisture 

 to escape. 



Middlebury, Vt. 



PICKLED PARAGRAPHS 



BY BENJAMIN F. KIRK 



Lots of ink is spilled in cussing and 

 discussing the old box hive; but there's no 

 hive that battles the inspector like the mod- 

 ern hive with crossed combs and the bot- 

 tom-board nailed firmly on, unless it is the 

 old box hive with the bottom-board slipi:)ed 

 up on the inside and nailed in from the 

 sides. But what's the use of mentioning it, 

 as I have been told with emphasis by good 

 authorities that those hives were not con- 

 structed with the view of facilitating the 

 work of the inspector? The accompanying 



luu l'it(|iieiitly inspeilors meet 



photographs show conditions that inspec- 

 toi's m.eet too frequenth' when attempting 

 to inspect comparatively modern hives. 

 There is no branch of rural industry that 

 is treated with such careless indifference by 

 the average farmer as beekeeping. 



It may seem paradoxical; but experience 

 bears out the statement that quite frequent- 

 ly the only man in the community who is 

 harboring foul brood is the up-to-date bee- 

 keeper who emphatically demands that the 

 inspector come to his community at once 

 and make his neigh- 

 bors clean up. This 

 is not said in a spii-- 

 it of criticism, but 

 simply to show that 

 the business beekeeper 

 frequently invites foul 

 brood by b u y i n g 

 queens, bees, and ap- 

 pui-tenances of tlie 

 ai)iary. He himself 

 brings in the disease, 

 and then innocently 

 assumes that it lias 

 been carried in by his 

 bees robbing his 

 neighbors' extinct col- 

 onies. 



I often wondei' wliy 

 moi-e of the intelligent 

 young beekeepeis who 

 are striving to get nice 

 apiaries established do 



