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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15 



TARRED PAPER FOR WINTER PROTECTION. 

 Answer to Editorial Comment on Page 371. 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER. 



Mr. Root: — You. have completely missed 

 my point of value in my paper wrapping- for 

 hives. Your experiments have scarcely a 

 thing in common with mine except that each 

 contained the ingredients of bees, wood, 

 wax, paper, honey, and nails. You tied 

 paper around a hive, and then covered it 

 with a close-fitting winter-case. You got 

 thereby a very poor "chaff hive." I do not 

 wonder that the bees died in it. 



I took a single-walled hive, laid over it a 

 sheet of tarred paper, folded it down and 

 about the hive, and tacked strips of wood 

 around the bottom edges. I thus secured 

 a water-proof and practically air-tight 

 wrapping of black. When the sun shone, 

 that black surface absorbed the heat in a 

 remarkable degree. Even during protract- 

 ed cold spells the snow would melt from 

 such covering, while it would remain on the 

 other hives, both single-walled and chafif. 

 The heat thus gathered warmed the hive 

 through and through, so the bees could and did 

 safely move about. When the sun was gone, 

 the warm wood and air within that black 

 covering yielded their heat very slowly. 



My theory was this: On pleasant days 

 the black-paper-covered hives would absorb, 

 during the time the sun shone, as much heat 

 as they would lose by radiation during the 

 hours of its absence. Furthermore, that, 

 even if it gave it up in less time, the loss 

 would be so gradual that the bees would be 

 able to re-form their cluster before the tem- 

 perature got too low. Also the bees would 

 have had the advantage each week of sev- 

 eral hours of sufficient heat to enable them 

 to move all they needed to. Practice proves 

 the correctness of the theory. 



The entrance, always wide open, being 

 at the bottom, did not appreciably affect the 

 results. Days when the wind blew strong- 

 ly into or across the entrance, the tempera- 

 ture did not rise so much, and the bees re- 

 mained closely clustered. You may argue 

 that such warming-up would induce the bees 

 to fly when it was too cold without. The 

 facts are, it did7Vt. 



I do not claim that such protection is suf- 

 ficient in all climates; but I do believe it is 

 by all odds superior to chaff or sawdust; 

 and that, where bees can be wintered out of 

 doors at all, they can be successfully and 

 profitably wintered with no other protec- 

 tion than the tarred paper about their hives. 



The tarred paper has two or three disad- 

 vantages. It is dirty to handle in putting 

 on; is not good the second year; and the nail- 

 ing-on of strips to fasten the bottom edges 

 tight is undesirable. I have been looking 

 for some sort of close-woven water-proof 

 black cloth that is reasonably cheap. En- 

 ameled cloth is too expensive and too short- 

 lived. 



As a moral to adorn the tale, let me say 

 that, had you grasped the why as set forth 

 in several of my articles on the subject, 

 you would hardly have made the mistake. 

 Look for the whys. Find the why, then the 

 methods will create themselves. 



The general attitude regarding chaff 

 packing has been as if the whole brood- 

 chamber were of the same temperature as 

 that of the cluster. If such were the case, 

 then we might correctly infer that walls 

 which would prevent the too rapid radia- 

 tion of such heat would be desirable. But 

 such is not the case. The cluster is, say, 

 65° F. ; the air about it and the frames and 

 combs outside of the cluster are almost the 

 same temperature as that of the outer air. 

 The chaff walls keep this air, frames, 

 combs, etc., uniformly cold. Bright sun- 

 shine has precious little chance to heat it. 



Providence, R. I. 



[Apparently I did miss the point of your 

 paper wrapping; but in reality I had prac- 

 tically the same thing in mind, as I will 

 presently explain. I used newspaper wrap- 

 ping around the hive, then slipped a thin 

 winter-case of lumber over it, making a 

 snug close fit. But mark this: the winter- 

 cases were painted red, and red is almost 

 as warm a color as black. Contrary to our 

 experience, the red had a decidedly detri- 

 mental effect in our locality by inducing 

 the bees to fly out when they should have 

 stayed inside. The winter's sun in a pro- 

 tected inclosure will warm up a hive quite 

 a considerable, if it be painted red or black. 

 Our experience has shown us that white is 

 a better color the year round. The tarred 

 paper, being jet black, would draw more 

 of the sun's rays, with the result that it 

 would warm the bees up, thus aggravating 

 the very trouble that I speak of. 



I may cite you to a very familiar illustra- 

 tion in poultry-raising. The time was when 

 it was considered best to have much glass 

 in poultry-houses, the glass facing the 

 south, of course. The object was to draw 

 the suns rays during bright days, warm- 

 ing up the coop. The effect was to make 

 too great a change in the temperature from 

 daj' to night, resulting in injury to the fowls. 

 Now the practice, I understand, is to have 

 no more glass than is absolutely required 

 for light, and to paint the bviildings vi'hite 

 instead of a warm color as formerly. 



The footnote above was sent to Mr. Mil- 

 ler, who writes:] 



" The proof of the pudding is in the eat- 

 ing." Most of the colonies which were pro- 

 tected with the black paper now have work 

 well under way in the supers (May 11); 



