1891 



uLEANiNrrS IN bp:e culture. 



2iM 



OUTSIDE CASES FOR WINTERING. 



.1. A. GltKKN KKVIEWS TIIF: MATTKH. 



If there is one tiling inor« tlian anotlier tliat 

 1 have felt disponed to criticise in the way 

 (ii,i<;ANr>{fts is edited, it is. tliat, in your foot- 

 notcis to articles, you seem to tiiink it necessary 

 to iind some fault with the ideas thej'ein pre- 

 sented, and that, under the pressui-e of tiiis 

 seeming necessity, objections are made, that, 

 while usually real and vital oms. ai'c often un- 

 important, to say the least. Vour supposition 

 tiiat snow would beat under my covers of cor- 

 i-ugated iron is well taken. It would he a I'eal 

 objection if it wei-e true: but I am happy to say 

 that I have not had the least trouble from tliat 

 source. I might, jiei'haps, if it were not that 

 the cases ai'e iilled to ovei'tlowing with packing 

 material, upon and into which the corrugated 

 cover is crowded tightly, and tlicii liehl there. 



But when you find fault with the board and 

 stone as too much rigging, I must smile. Tlie 

 stone is all that is really necessary, though 

 there are few bee-keepers who can not easily 

 find some kind of board eigiiteen inches or so 

 long for each hive, and duplicate them every 

 year if necessary. Some of my covers have a 

 strip Ixl'o, nailed across each end of the sheet. 

 \Vith tliese the cross-boards ai'e altogether un- 

 necessary, and the .-^tone may be reijlaced \\\\\\ 

 liooks, or something similar: but I do not like 

 tluun, as they are moie expensive and because 

 they can not be nested together. With the 

 plain sheets, twenty-tive m^y be stored away 

 out of the weatlier in the space that one of vour 

 covei's will occupy. The stone, or its equiva- 

 lent. I regard as a necessary part of each hive's 

 furniture, summer and Winter. I have some 

 large paving-bricks that are a little more orna- 

 mental. 



When it comes to looks, it may be that my 

 packing-case might be imiiroved upon — at pro- 

 poitioiiate expense. I must confess, though, 

 that, while I take some pride in the appeai'ance 

 of my apiary during the siimmei'. I do not care 

 (juite so much about its looks in the winter. A 

 mantle of snow softens and beautifies all harsh 

 outlines: and if there is none, the severe plain- 

 ness of the packing-cases is only in keeping 

 with the genei'al bareness and desolation of 

 objects of nature. vStill. it the cases are made 

 of better lumber, and painted, tliey may be 

 made to look very neat. 



I doubt very much whether a good cover can 

 be made that will not cost much more than the 

 corrugated iron, especially w lii'ii tiurability is 

 considered. I'aiiited muslin may do. I have 

 never tried it: but I think it would be found 

 unsatisfactory, and. in the long run, (expensive. 

 Rooting-iiaper I have tested thoi-nughly. It is 

 undesirable, except for something cheap and 

 temporary. The material for a tin roof costs as 

 much as the ircjn. tiesides the expense of mak- 

 ing it. 



S'our cases, allowing only ?4 of an inch on 

 each side for packing, are not nearly large 

 enough. It is well enough to talk about put- 

 ting tlie packing material into a cushion in the 

 shape of a thin ring, to go within this %-inch 

 space: but did you ever try it? 



I do not think the "dead-air space" at all 

 practical. Theoretically it is all right when it 

 is a dead-air space: but in practice this can 

 never be secured, and can only be approximated 

 at greater cost than packing. One very real 

 advantage of packing is. that, in the spring, it 

 absorbs heat from the sun during the day time, 

 thus keeping up the temperature of tlie hive at 

 night. If you want to test this, take two ves- 

 sels of glass, tin, or any thing you clioose. 

 Tln'y should be air-tight to make the experi- 



ment conclusive. Fill one with sawdust, and 

 leave th(! other empty. Put them in an oven or 

 otiiei' warm place until tliey are thoroughly 

 heated through: then put them in a cool place 

 and see which retains heat longer. 



I have just received a letter from M. M. 

 Baldridge. in which he says: "The Oatmans 

 discarded cellar wintering (say ten years ago), 

 and thereafter left their b(!es on suminer stands, 

 packed in larg(> boxes w itli chaff on all sides. 



Tlieir packing-boxes were made 



large enough to hold four colonies, and they 

 had an entrance on each of the four sides. 

 They put up their bees thus veiy early — say in 

 September or October, and did not remove them 

 from the packing-boxes until June following. 



The Oatmans wintereil bees thus 



for several winters with tine success. They 

 are now nearly out of the bee-business: Init if 

 they were to begin again they would pursue the 

 same plan. At one time they had some TOO col- 

 onies scattered about the country 



Their jiacking-boxes had bottoms, were made 

 of cheap lumber, and cost about SI.OO each." 



The Oatmans, I suppose you know, wei'e very 

 successful honey - producers at Dundee, 111. 

 They are now owners of several creameries. I 

 believe. J. A. Gkeen. 



Dayton, III.. Maich 10. 



[If I criticise in' a foot-note I do not do so for 

 the sake of it. I do not Ititoid to make any 

 criticism unless there is something that appears 

 as a real objection. Very often, to call out 

 further discussion, I enter a criticism in order 

 to get the writer to elucidate a little more fully. 

 I did not do so with that in view in your last 

 article: but whatever the intention was, that 

 foot-note has called forth a valuable communi- 

 cation in defense. 



This time, friend tJreen, I shall have to as- 

 sume the defensive, as you assume the offensive. 

 You have cornered me up in several places, and 

 I do not really know w iiether 1 can get out or 

 not. Now, then, to the points of your ai'ticle: 



I am glad to know. that, while tlie snow 

 would appai'ently beat iindei' tln^ covei'S, it does 

 not in reality. So, my criticism No. 1 is washed 

 out. 



About that board and stone. I may be wrong. 

 but I still lunui to the point that they make a 

 good deal of extra I'igging. I know there are a 



good i]iany iiractical I; keejx'rs who u.se them. 



They want them summer and winter. But 

 when you add to the toil of going through the 

 ii'hoJe apiai-y. by lifting off a ten or fifteen 

 pound stone for evcnj liirc, you add just so 

 much to the cost of producing a pound of honey, 

 to say nothing of the extra lal)or and wear on 

 the man. We have nev<'r used stones in our 

 yard. It is only rarely that we hav(^ winds that 

 lift the covers off' th<' hives: and W. Z. Hutch- 

 inson, of the Revieir, expr<'sses himself in a 

 similar way. Perhajis this ditt'ei'ence of opin- 

 ion might he explain<'d by locality. 



As to looks, I do not know tliat I would urge 

 that point very hard. Voui- outside packing- 

 cases, I must admit, are rather jiretty than 

 otherwise, although I am opinion that a case 

 such as I have described would look neater. 

 After all. it is not looks, but dollars and cents, 

 w(f are aftei', in bee-keeping, so I will yield to 

 you on that point. 



Now about that air-space. At (irst I did not 

 think it was possible to maintain practically a 

 f?Cfrd-air space; but those outside cases that I 

 described, made of % lumber, and dov(!tailed, 

 with a tin cover, will. I think, hold water. 

 When they were put together I told. the painter 

 to be sure to chink in paint wherever the joints 

 seemed to be possibly a little loose, and he did 

 so. Now, these outside cases are pushed down 



