WINTEKING. 



WINTEEING. 



the surface of the ground. The outer end is 

 brought to the surface of the ground, and 

 the inner opens near the bottom of the cel- 

 lar. Cold air entering the ventilator is warm- 

 ed in passing under ground; and until it en- 

 ters the cellar, not only supplying the latter 

 with pure air, but at the same time raising 

 its temperature several degrees. 



SPECIAL REPOSITORIES OR A CELLAR UN- 

 DER THE HOUSE. 



The ordinary cellar under a dwellinghouse 

 often affords excellent conditions for win- 

 tering bees. Where a furnace is used to 

 warm the house it should be shut off from 

 the bee part by means of a brick wall having 

 a door. Should the bee cellar get too cold the 

 temperature can be raised by opening the 

 door leading into the furnace'-room. When 

 it gets too warm, one can open an outside 

 window; or, perhaps, better still, swing wide 

 the cellar-door leading into the furnace, and 

 thence, when tempered, into the bee-room. 

 Hives properly shaded to shut out the direct 

 rays of light will permit the doors left open 

 day and night. If the temperature in the 

 bee part can thus be maintained approx- 

 imately at 45, the conditions for wintering 

 will be ideal; for a perfect bee-cellar is one 

 where the temperature can be held at about 

 45, and fresh air admitted every hour of the 

 day. But if opening the cellar-door reduces 

 the temperature that is otherwise uniformly 

 at 45, or causes it to rise, it would be better 

 to keep the bee-cellar closed— not because 

 the ventilation does harm, but because the 

 change of temperature does. House cellars 

 are very often too small, perhaps lack room 

 to put bees and vegetables. And right here 

 let us say it is a bad practice to put bees and 

 garden truck together in the same room. 

 They should be kept separate. 



Objection has been raised that the noise 

 overhead in the house cellar disturbs bees ; 

 but no absolute proof has been adduced to 

 show this. We have had some excellent re- 

 sults in wintering in a bee-cellar under a 

 machine-shop where rumbling machinery 

 every now and then was accom{)anied by the 

 bumping of heavy castings. We have never 

 been able to discover tliat this noise inter- 

 fered with good wintering in that cellar. 



But where a house cellar is damp, too 

 small, too cold, too warm, or too something 

 else, it may be well U) construct a special 

 rei)ository for the bees. Tliis should be lo- 

 cated in a side-hill if possil)le. A little later 

 on we give illustrations of cellars used by 

 some extensive bee-keepers; also other 

 schemes of ventilation. 



ARRANGEMENT 



OF HIVES 

 CELLAR. 



IN A BEE- 



They may be piled up one on top of an- 

 other in such a way that any one can be re- 

 moved without disturbing more than the one 

 or two above it. The reason for this will be 

 apparent later. Strong colonies should be 

 put in first, and placed on a 2x4 scantling. 

 On top of these may then be placed the 

 weaker ones. This has no special advantage 

 except the convenience of having the heavy 

 ones at the bottom and the light ones on top. 

 The entrances of the hives should be left 

 about the same as they were during the late 

 fall— I deei) by 8 inches wide. Some consid- 

 er it essential to remove the bottoms of the 

 hives entirely. Others consider it good 

 practice to have a deep space under the 

 frames by raising the hive off the bottom in 

 front and supporting it there by a couple of 

 blocks. But some disastrous results in win- 

 tering seem to show us, at least, that too 

 much bottom ventilation is bad unless the 

 cellar is kept at a temperature of about 60 

 and thoroughly ventilated. The bee is essen- 

 tially a warm-blooded animal; and if large 

 openings be used under the bottoms of the 

 hives the cluster will come down to shut 

 out the cold from the interior of the hive. 

 We have uniformly secured the best results 

 with a reasonably small entrance, or one 

 about the size used during the fall or late 

 spring. The larger the colony, of course tlie 

 larger the entrance that will be required. 

 In the case of a strong populous colony we 

 would have the entrance | deep by the full 

 width of the hive. The colonies of medium 

 strenofh should have the entrance reduced 

 accordingly. 



INSPECTING THE BEES DURING MID- WIN- 

 TER; AND DEAD BEES ON THE CELLAl; 

 BOTTOM. 



Experience has proven that, when the 

 temperature is maintained at 45 degrees, 

 very little attention need be pa id to the bees, 

 especially in the fore part of the winter. 

 But during the last month or two of con- 

 finement the bees require watching more 

 carefully; for if they get to roaring many of 

 them will be lost. It then becomes necessary 

 to make frequent examination to determine 

 the temperature and the quality of the air. 

 It will also be found, perhaps, that a good 

 many dead bf es will be found on the cellar 

 bottom. This is not necessarily cause for 

 alarm; because in normally good wintering 

 the old bees will generally come out of the 

 hive and die. Their bodies, however, should 

 not be allowed to stench the living bees but 



