J 6 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



they do in the movable frame hives, 

 as made and used at present. This is 

 because the bees in the skeps have 

 their hives propolished overhead 

 which prevents upward ventilation 

 and keeps the bees dry. He also says 

 he gets more honey with less labor 

 and cost ; then he^ shows how he 

 sought to combine the skeps with 

 the movable frame hive, advocating 

 about the same advantages that I 

 have given in these articles. 



But the most clinching arguments 

 in favor of doing away with the useless 

 Hill device &c, is found in Ernest R. 

 Root's review of G. R. Pierce's book, 

 "The Winter Problem In Bee-Keep- 

 ing," which appeared in Gleanings 

 for December 16, '91, page 952. Mr. 

 Pierce says the pollen theory is not 

 the cause of diarrhea ; that diarrhea 

 in bees is caused by cold and lack of 

 stores, and is only intestinal catarrh. 



Chaff cushions, or other porous ma- 

 terial over a sealed cover are all right 

 and serve a good purpose. 



Mr. Pierce is a thorough advocate of 

 protection and packing around the 

 bees; but the cover must be sealed down 

 that no heat can escape into the pack- 

 ing above. In the first of this series 

 of articles I took this same position. 

 1 said "Therefore I have drawn the 

 conclusion that a thin walled hive, 

 protected by a movable winter case, 

 and packed on all sides with a cush- 

 ion made of felt and filled with 

 non-conducting material — one that 

 will prevent all radiation of heal 

 be best" — and. in substance, that we 

 could remove cases and packing <>n 

 warm days and have our hives puri- 

 tied by the son ami air and protect our 

 by wrapping them up with the 



warm cushions and prevent the radia- 

 tion of heat at night. In the second 

 article (See American Bee-Keeper, 

 page 164) I said the "pollen" theory, 

 and upward ventilation, cut no figure 

 in the winter problem in my locality. 

 Now if we place a thin board down 

 solid on the top bars of our brood 

 frames early enough in the fall for 

 the bees to glue up the crevices and 

 thus prevent all air currents from 

 passing up through our hives, we 

 again get even with our box hive 

 brethern, and when we prevent all 

 radiation of heat by placing a cush- 

 ion on top of this hoard, the same as 

 we do the sides. And further, in 

 spring and early summer, when we 

 give our bees just the ventilation re- 

 quired by raising this board, we are 

 another long step ahead of them. 



In the winter of 1891 I had The \V. 

 T. Falconer Manf'g.' Co. make for 

 me closed end frames with winter 

 passages through the top bars, and 

 boards to be sealed down for the pur- 

 pose of carrying out my plan as given 

 above. 



"Ernest" tells us of his experiments 

 in using thin boards and pieces of 

 glass imbedded with white lead paste, 

 as it was too cold for the bees to seal 

 them down with propolis. Under the 

 glass he placed a thermometer, which, 

 when the weather outside in the wind 

 was ten degrees above zero, registered 

 45 to 50, and "the hire was perfectly dry 

 inside." These are valuable experi- 

 ments in the right line. 



My ideas, as it is plain to be seen, 

 were given to the public before friend 

 Pierce's book made its appearance, 

 and before " Ernest " tried any experi- 

 ments on this plan. 



