AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



593 



their stings as trowels. Not even that 

 you ever saw them touch the comb with 

 their stings. I do not demand it as an 

 inquisitorial ofScer, but as a brother bee- 

 keeper I ask what proof you have, or 

 whether you have any proof. If the 

 bees do as you say, it ought not to be 

 difficult to furnish the proof. Bees by 

 the hundred can be seen at work on the 

 combs, and thousands of cells are sealed. 

 Surely if every capping is operated on 

 as you say, you ought to be able to see 

 one solitary instance. I ask in all kind- 

 ness, have you any basis for your state- 

 ment, except your own suppositions ? 

 Marengo, 111. 



Colton-Seeil for f inter PacMni. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY W. H. PKIDGEN. 



While there is no little said about 

 packing bees for winter, and the best 

 material to use for the purpose, I have 

 never seen cotton-seed recommended. 

 Is it because bees do not need much, if 

 any, protection where cotton is grown, 

 except a good, tight hive? or has cot- 

 ton-seed been tried and found worthless, 

 or not as good as chaff and other things 

 in general use ? 



The farmers here keep their sweet 

 potatoes in sheds, or open out-houses, 

 by covering them with cotton-seed two 

 or three inches deep, and they are con- 

 sidered safe, if piled on a dry dirt floor, 

 in zero weather, with from three to four 

 inches of seed over them ; and as the 

 weather gets warmer, the seed has to be 

 removed at the top of the pile to allow 

 the heat to escape. Cotton-seed is hard 

 to wet, and a pile of it will not get wet 

 more than an inch or two deep in a hard 

 rain, or by being out in a rain all day ; 

 but if it once gets wet, it will heat, or if 

 piled on the ground, and otherwise pro- 

 tected, the result will be the same, 

 which might injure it some for packing, 

 and especially as it gives the seed an 

 unpleasant odor. But where it is kept 

 dry it will keep almost indefinitely, and 

 I believe it would be the best packing 

 that bee-keepers of the North could use, 

 as two inches of it will keep the bees 

 warmer than a foot of chaff. 



Cotton-seed measures 33^ bushels to 

 the 100 pounds, and can be bought for 

 15 cents per bushel, generally, except 

 near the oil-mills. 



Before I ever saw a movable-frame 

 hive, I used to pack my bees in cotton- 

 seed for winter protection, by placing 



two hives in a meat-box after cutting a 

 place at the bottom for the entrances, 

 and packing the seed around and over 

 them, and protecting the whole with a 

 cover, and they did well. Now I put 

 board covers over the frames, giving }4 

 inch space between them and the top- 

 bars, and put three inches of seed over 

 the boards in the second bodies, and the 

 bees do well here without any other pro- 

 tection. In these boards I cut holes two 

 inches square, over which I tack wire 

 cloth, and put feeders on when I want 

 them, and pack the seed around them. 

 A thermometer buried in the seed over a 

 strong colony will register 50° when the 

 weather is real cold. 



If no one in the North has ever given 

 cotton-seed a trial as packing material 

 for bees in winter, I would like some 

 practical bee-keeper to do so. I will 

 send Dr. Miller the seed, if he will try 

 one or two colonies next winter. By 

 placing a box with a tight bottom flat on 

 a raised place of ground, so as to get 

 the benefit of the warmth of the ground 

 at the bottom, and still prevent the 

 moisture from rising, and pack two in- 

 ches of seed under and all round a hive, 

 in this box, leaving the entrance so that 

 it can be left wide open if desired, and 

 three or four inches on top, covering the 

 whole, so as to protect it from snow and 

 rain — in this way I believe a strong col- 

 ony will winter well anywhere in the 

 United States. Possibly this may be 

 absurd, and if so let any one say so. 



On March 23rd the weather was so 

 warm that my bees were clustered on 

 the front of some of the hives, and 

 drones were flying; to-day (March 26th) 

 it snowed until one o'clock, with a cold 

 wind to follow, but fortunately my bees 

 are still protected by the warm cotton 

 seed. 



Creek, N. C. 



AWOyert^OMRellaMe.'' 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY G. W. DEMAREE. 



That issue of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal of April 12th, strikes me as being 

 more than usually interesting. Of 

 course the "Old Reliable" always con- 

 tains good reading, but one issue of any 

 first-class paper is likely to be more in- 

 teresting than another. 



That glucose honey (?) business quoted 

 on page 456, does not surprise me. The 

 wonder to me is that our watchmen on 



