144 AGRICULTURAL COLEEGE BULLETINS. 



ground tile are constautly carrying -water into and out of our college bee cellar) 

 a good cistern answers well. The water in this is regulated by the usual tem- 

 perature of the cellar, which is about that of the earth, and so in times of 

 extreme cold or too great warmth protects the cellar against change. I know 

 of such a bee cellar that passed the coldest weather of last winter with an east 

 window constantly open, and yet the temperature was maintained at the desired, 

 point. Such an amount of latent heat stored up in a cellar cistern is a great 

 safeguard, and is especially valuable when a great number of bees are placed in 

 a cellar. Each colony generates some heat, and with a multitude, the heat, 

 especially during a protracted warm spell in winter or spring, is a]it to become 

 ruinously excessive. Sub-earth ventilation secures this moderating agency in 

 air which comes to the cellar, cooled or heated by a long transit through an earth 

 pipe, which runs many yards through the earth beneath the influence of the 

 outside temperature. To secure the necessary exchange of air and certain influx 

 of the tempering atmosphere, a small sized stove-pipe connects from near the 

 bottom of the cellar with a stove-pipe, preferably, of the kitchen stove above. 

 This small pipe has its lower end open, while above it connects with the kitchen 

 stove-pipe some distance above the stove, else the stove will not draw well, and 

 will trouble from smoking. A second pipe of four or six inch tile also passes 

 from the bottom of the cellar througli the wall and thence beneath the frost 

 line for one or two hundred feet through the earth, when it should come to the 

 surface and the end be protected against vermin by use of a wire screen. We 

 can easily see that whenever the kitchen stove is used — daily — the air is drawn 

 from the cellar and the out-door air warmed in winter and cooled in spring and 

 summer is drawn through the tempering soil into the cellar. I have known 

 of this arrangement being tried in many cases, and always with the best results. 

 If it is feared that water may enter the cellar through the sub-earth pipe the 

 joints may be sealed by use of cement, or arrangements made to drain at the 

 lowest point. This arrangement not only protects against extremes of tem- 

 perature, but it serves ever to keep the cellar sweet. Mr. D. A. Jones of Can- 

 ada, builds above ground, when it becomes necessary to have his building 

 double-walled, with a 30-inch space filled in with saw-dust, not only on the sides 

 but above as well. Others dig a pit in a side hill. These methods are only 

 inferior to a cellar in that they are more difficult to regulate. Mr. Jones not 

 only has the sub-earth arrangement but he is forced to provide ice boxes in the 

 warm days of spring in order to protect against too great warmth. In all 

 these cases, good, close double doors should be made, and the rooms should 

 surely be mouse tight. 



Pachmg. 



Many bee keepers have succeeded well by packing. Southard and Rauney, 

 of Kalamazoo, have practiced packing of single hives with marked success. 

 They place a box about the hives six inches distant on each side. This space 

 they pack very closely with straw. They also put a chafE sack in the upj^er 

 chamber of the hive, are sure to have the covers on the hive close fitting, and 

 then pack well above with straw, when they add a cover to keep the straw dry. 



These gentlemen attribute their success to careful, thorough packing, and 

 close covers above the bees and beneath the packing. The packing extends 

 close down to the earth. A tunnel at the entrance) permits the bees to fly if 

 suitable weather entices them out. Others, like Mr. Bingham, of Allegan 

 county, are very successful in the use of packing, but put six or eight hives 

 close side by side and pack snugly about all. In this case the entrances all face 



