WINTERING. 



495 



WINTERING. 



ince. The cellar is made wholly of concrete, 

 and, what is of particular interest to bee- 

 keepers, has a scheme of ventilation that is 

 almost ideal. It is not only theoretically 

 perfect, but practically gives results in win- 

 tering that can scarcely be surpassed. 



The authors have seen this cellar, and, not- 

 withstanding there were about 500 power- 

 ful colonies in it at the time, there was per- 

 fect quiet and apparently perfect wintering. 

 The temperature was about 43, and the air 

 was pure and sweet. Scarcely any dead bees 

 were found on the cellar bottom. 



The bottom illustration, previous page, 

 shows how his big twelve-frame colonies are 

 piled up, having the ordinary entrance and 

 a honey-board on top. 



The sub -earth ventilator, in the diagram 

 opposite, extends underground several hun- 

 dred feet away from the building where it 

 comes to the surface. At the other end it 

 passes under the floor of the cellar, then up 

 into a small room in which is placed a 

 stove. From this compartment or room the 

 air is distributed all around the cellar by 

 means of a large square wooden pipe sus- 

 pended from the ceiling. Eoul air is taken 

 out at the bottom of the cellar by means of 

 flues reaching down from the roof of the 

 building to within a foot of the cellar floor. 

 The upper story of the building is filled 

 with hives and supers, being, in fact, the 

 place where general shopwork connected 

 with the yard is done. 



Right here we can not do better than to 

 give Mr. Holtermann's description and 

 diagrams. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE CEI^LAR. 



The bee-house is of concrete— even to the chimney. 

 This has a cowl on top, which veers its back to the 

 wind to assist in getting- a draft. On each side of the 

 chimney is a box ventilator projecting through tlie 

 peak of the roof. This is 12 in. square, with a slide 

 to regulate the amount of air passing through. 

 These shafts enter the cellar at the ceiling above, 

 and are for warm weather. The building is 50 ft. 

 long by 36 wide. The cellar walls are below the level 

 of the ground, in (>rder to get a more uniform tem- 

 perature from the earth, and less liability for mois- 

 ture to condense on its walls. 



The cellar-ceiling, to secure uniformity of temper- 

 ature and prevent condensation, has, as seen in the 

 perpendicular-elevation plan, Fig. 3, G, a tongue- 

 and-groove floor; C, E, f elt paper; D, air-space; C, 

 tongue-and-groove floor; F, floor of the cellar, is 

 concrete. The only openings from the outside into 

 the cellar are seen in Fig. 1. From B to A are two 

 glazed waterlime-j ointed tiling, coming above ground 

 just outside of the bee-house at B B, the wall going- 

 down 8 ft. into the ground; then passing under the 

 cellar-wall and floor, entering the cellar at points A, 

 A. Then there is a stairway, C, which is covered by 

 two doors at the level of the ground, and again clos- 



ed from the cellar by two doors. Through these 

 doors the bees are brought in and out. 



D is a 13-inch glazed pipo with wateilime joints 8 

 ft. under ground. This enlerslhe cellar in the com- 

 partment E,acoai-stove standing over this opening. 

 In this compartment, if the air is not sufficiently 

 tempered by its passage under the ground it can be 

 warmed before it passes into tlie cellar. 



Ground plan of cellar. Inner compartment E has 

 solid concrete walls extending to ceiling. Opening 

 E communicates with a sub-earth ventilator, D. 

 When in-rushing air is too cold a Are is built in the 

 stove, tempering the air then it pisses upward to 

 the ceiling, and into the square-box wooden flues 

 shown at D D D D, in Fig. 3, where it is distributed to 

 every point in the cellar. 



In Fig. 3 the system of distributing fresh air is 

 shown. The illustration is not quite correct as to 

 the central compart;nent, however. B is supposed 

 to be the same central compartment as E In Fig. 1, 

 and the distance between it and the west wall should 

 be greater. At the top of this compartment, on the 

 west side, are pipes, D, D, D, which carry the fresli 

 air to the north and south end of the cellar, E E re- 

 spectively being the north and south ends. From 

 there through many one-inch openings (see arrows 

 also, in B, Fig. 3, and the method of turning the cor- 



j 1 inch opemnQS for circulatioa 

 but not draft. 



Fir; 2.. 



Perpendicular elevation of bee-cellar, showing the 

 square-box ventilating-Hue with its one-inch holes 

 as shown in diagram 3. 



ner of the wall), the fresii air is evenly distributed 

 through the cellar and carried off in a more or less 

 fovil condition through openings in the bottom of 

 chimney F, in Fig. 1, and at ventilators, F F, in Fig. 

 3, said ventilators showing through the roof on ei- 

 ther side of the chimnej' sho-wn in the exterior half- 

 tone view of the cellar. 



I have a curtain this winter on the north, south, 

 and west walls, and find it assists in equalizing the 

 temperature. This winter I have had more or less 



