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C<>tlon rnr Filling Ciisliioiis for 

 Wiiiler Covering. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



QuEKV 741.— 1. Would cotton be a suit- 

 able article lor filling cushions for covering 

 the brood frames in the winter time ; y. 

 If not, what is the best article for the pur- 

 pose? 3. About how thick should the 

 cushions be made ! — Iowa. 



1. Yes. 3. About the size of a small 

 pillow. — A. J. Cook. 



1. Yes. 2. Chaff is cheaper. 3. Two 

 inches, more or less. — Dadant & Sox. 



1. It will do very well. 3. About 2 

 inches.— J. P. H. Brown*. 



1. I have never tried cotton. 3. Chaff, 

 dry sawdust, or dry hard maple leaves. — J. 

 M. Hamhaugii. 



I winter my bees in the cellar, and use no 

 cushion — nothing but the board-cover over 

 the frames.— C. C. Miller. 



1. Yes ; cotton is excellent. 3. Wool is 

 the best, hut it is expensive. Wheat chaff 

 is cheap and good for the purpose. 3. 

 From 3 to 4 inches.— H. D. Cutting. 



I use cushions 4 inches thick, filled with 

 fine, dry basswood sawdust, and like them 

 better than anything I have ever tried. — G. 



M. DOOLITTLE. 



1. Yes; but why use such expensive 

 material ! I consider oat-chaff or any 

 similar material just as good. 3. One inch 

 is thick enough. — C. H. Dibbern. 



1. I would not use any cushions at all. 

 If I did, I would make them from 4 to 6 

 inches thick, and fill them with chaff. — 

 James Heddox. 



1. Cotton is no doubt a very good- article, 

 but as there are other materials equally as 

 good and much cheaper, I would give them 

 the preference. 2. Chaff seems to have 

 the preference. 3. Two or more inches. — 

 P, L. .Viallox. 



1. I fear it would be too retentative of 

 moisture, though I have never tried it. 

 Either chaff leaves, or ground cork, are 

 considered good. 3. Five or 6 inches. — R. 

 L. Taylor. 



I believe that it pays to winter bees 

 in a cellar or cave, anywhere in Iowa. If 

 that is done, you do not need the cushions. 

 I have never used cushions, and cannot 

 answer the questions. — Eugexe Secor. 



1. Cotton is a fairly good substitute, but 

 not the best, in my judgment. 2. Dry forest 

 leaves, chaff, cut straw or hay, or any sub- 

 stance that will not easily retain moisture. 

 3. Three or 4 inches. — J. E. Poxd. 



1. No ; it would gather dampness. Wool 

 might answer the purpose, but it would be 

 too expensive. 2. Chaff, wheat, oats or 

 clover, whatever kind is to be had. 3. 

 Three inches ; so that they could be spread 

 evenly over the frames. If stuffed hard 

 and round would be worse than nothing. — 

 Mrs. L. Harrisox. 



1. A cotton pad, no doubt, would answer 

 the purpose, but it seems to me that it 

 would be more costly than prudent econ- 

 omy would dictate. In this climate (Ken- 

 tucky), the air is very damp during a 

 greater part of the winter months, and I 

 have found that, nothing is cheaper and 

 better than wheat chaff. 3. The cushions 

 should be about fi inches to give the best 

 protection. — G. W. Demakee. 



1. Cotton would answer the purpose. 2. 

 Perhaps the very best material is cork- 

 shavings. Dry sawdust does very well. I 



would prefer it to cotton. Several thick- 

 nesses of old ingrain carpet is very good, 

 and an old i-ag carpet auswers a good pur- 

 pose. 3. Not less than 2 inches, and as 

 much more as practicable.— M. Mauix. 



1. I have never used cotton for the pur- 

 pose. 3. I think chaff' or dry planer-shav- 

 ings would be better and less expensive. 

 Fc)rest leaves, if dry, are also reliable for a 

 winter covering over the brood frames. 3. 

 From 4 to 6 inches. I prefer, however, to 

 put two thicknesses of coarse cotton-cloth 

 on the frames. Hat (no sticks beneath for 

 passages), and then put on the a))Sorbent, 

 to be used loose where it can be done. 

 Single-walled hives may require cushions, 

 or rather sacks, filled with the above 

 materials. — G. L. Tixker. 



Ground-cork for winter-packing is not 

 only cheap, but receives the highest com- 

 mendation by those who have used it. — 

 The Editor. 



IMichigan State Convention. 



The Programme of the S4th annual con- 

 vention of the Michigan State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association, which is to be held in rooms 

 of the Normandie Hotel, Detroit, Mich., on 

 Jan. lands, 1891 : 



First Day, 9 :00 a.m. — Call to order. 

 Appointment of Committees. Reception 

 of new members and payment of dues. 



"The best all purpose queens, and the 

 best manner of rearing them — W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson, editor of the Bee-Keepers' Review, 

 Flint, Mich. 



Discussion — " Are apicultural inventions 

 in demand or in excess ?" — Ernest R Root, 

 junior editor of Gleanings in Bee-Culture, 

 Medina, O. 



Discussion. Question-box. 



1 :30 p.m. — President's Address — Pi'of. A. 

 J. Cook, Lansing, Mich. 



"Foul Brood"— Hon. R. L. Taylor, of 

 Lapeer, Mich. 



Discussion. 



" Is profitable beekeeping a thing of the 

 past ?" — T. F. Bingham, Abronia, Mich. 



Discussion. 



" Honey statistics and their advantages 

 to the bee-keeper" — G.H.Knickerbocker, 

 Pine Plains, N. Y. 



7 p.m.—" In what do we profit by the 

 importation of bees !" — D. A. Jones, editor 

 of the CanaOlnn Bee Journal, iJeeton, 

 Ontario, Canada. 



Discussion. 



Question box and volunteercontributions. 



Second Day, 8 :30 a.m. — " Benefits to be 

 derived from Apicultural Associations " — 

 R. F. Holterman, Brantford, Ontario. 



Discussion. 



Opening of the Question-box. 



Volunteer contributions. 



"Cellar us. out-door wintering" — Dr. A. 

 B. Mason, Auburndale, O. 



Discussion. 



,1 :30 p.m.— Selecting the next place of 

 meeting. 



Election of officers. 



Report of Committees. 



Financial report of the Secretary and 

 Treasurer. 



Miscellaneous business. 



"Apicultural Journalism; its past and 

 future "—Thomas G. Newman, editor of 

 the American Bee Journal, Chicago, Ills. 



Discussion. 



" Benefits to be derived from honey 

 exhibits "— R. McKnight, Owen Sound, 

 Ontario, Canada. 



Followed by dis|;ussion, and a general 

 good old-fashioned l'isit,until adjourned. 



This programme c4n be varied to accom- 

 modate circumstances, and we shall be 



glad to entertain any subjects that may 

 come up under the head of Volunteer Con- 

 tril>utions. Let none stay away because 

 their favorite subject is left out, but let 

 any one prepare a short, spicy essay, and 

 come preiiared to defend it, for bee-keepers 

 as well as doctors disagree. There will be 

 reduced rates on all the railroads, and the 

 large hall ; and reduced rates have been 

 secured at the Normandie Hotel. This is a 

 first-class house, centrally located, and will 

 make grand headquarters for us, with the 

 place of meeting under the same I'oof. 

 Come and help make, and enjoy one of the 

 best conventions ever held in the State. 

 Geo. E. Hilton. 



Assistant Secretary. 



Honey in a Church Roof.— The 



Hartford, Conn., CoitrfHitof Nov. 22,1890, 

 thus describes the capture of 200 pounds 

 of honey in the roof of a Congregational 

 Church of that city : 



Two hundred pounds of honey on the 

 roof of a church was the discovery made 

 yesterday afternoon in this city. There 

 may be a hundred more pounds where this 

 came from, and it is all of the very best 

 kind, stored by Italian bees. Early yester- 

 day morning C. L. Bullock, the steeple 

 climber, and his assistant, A. H. Jones, 

 ascended by ladders to the root of the 

 Windsor Avenue Congregational Chiu'ch. 

 On the top of the front wall, running on 

 both sides from the eaves to the ridge-pole, 

 is a hollow wooden casing which protects 

 the wall, and which is covered with tin. 

 For four or five years the bees have been 

 about the church, and it was known that 

 their home was in this sung little apart- 

 ment. 



The first work of the hunters yesterday 

 was to lay back the tin covering of the 

 long section. Early in the afternoon the 

 boards were removed at the lower part 

 near the eaves, and there was exposed to 

 view a solid mass of honey three feet long, 

 over a foot thick, and several inches deep. 

 When this had been scooped up, Mr. Bul- 

 lock thought that he had cleaned out the 

 whole bee settlement, and considered the 

 haul a good one, more than worth the 

 trouble of the work. Just to make the 

 search perfect, however, another board was 

 taken up further up towards the ridge-pole, 

 and another bank of honey of the same size 

 was found. The whole netted six big pail- 

 fuls of the precious sweet. It will net a nice 

 little revenue for the church and Mr. Bul- 

 lock, between whom the proceeds will be 

 divided. 



Mr. Bullock is not satisfied yet, and be- 

 lieves that there may be still another bee- 

 store somewhere in that hollow, wooden 

 casing, and will explore still further. 



The place will be sealed up tightly, after 

 all the honey has been taken up, so that no 

 more bees will disturb the worship of the 

 Windsor Avenue congregation. Those that 

 are left there will starve, with their winter 

 supply of food gone. 



The two climbers, yesterday, escaped 

 without a sting. Their faces were covered 

 with netting, and their hands with gloves, 

 but, after they had " pacified" the bees by 

 showing them that they " were not afraid 

 of them," as they explained it, the men 

 handled the dangerous little fellows with 

 impunity, brushing them off the combs, as 

 they would so much dust, and going up 

 and down the ladder with several of them 

 perched ou their coats and hats. One 

 crawled down Mr. Bullock's neck, "but I 

 knew enough not to pinch it," he said, 

 " and it did not offer to sting." 



CIul>s of 5 New Subscriptions for S4.00, 

 to any addresses. Ten for $7.50. 



