ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



125 



Mr. Cavanagh, has left us, and I move 

 you that the committee write up some 

 resolutions sending our sympathy to 

 Mrs. Cavanagh, and that a set of reso- 

 lutions be spread on the minutes of 

 this meeting. 



Motion seconded and carried. 



Mr. Miller — I would suggest that, if 

 there are other resolutions to be 

 offered, they be handed in. 



Pres. Kannenberg — The next thing 

 on our program is a talk on Bee Cellars 

 —by Mr. E. S. Miller. 



Bee Cellars. 



(By E. S. Miller.) 

 Mr. Chairman, Brother Bee-Keepers: 



It is estimated that in the northern 

 part of the United States the average 

 winter loss of bees wintered out of 

 dodrs is between 20 and 40 per cent. I 

 think it was the Secretary of the Mas- 

 sachusetts State Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion that sent out several hundred let- 

 ters to prominent bee-keepers and 

 others asking them to report the num- 

 ber of losses, either two or three years 

 ago, and. from this he made an estimate 

 that about 40 per cent of the bees were 

 lost in that year in wintering. 



Now the losses in cellar wintering 

 are nearly as great as the losses of 

 bees wintered outside, and chiefly be- 

 cause the proper conditions are not 

 maintained. 



I believe if we winter bees in the 

 cellar the cellar should be properly con- 

 structed. Several conditions must be 

 observed in the construction of bee 

 cellars and of the bees before they are 

 placed in the cellar. 



I think that as early as August we 

 should go through the colonies and see 

 that every colony has a good queen; 

 that there are plenty of bees and plenty 

 of stores. 



I make a practice of strengthening all 

 weal colonies by taking queens away 

 from colonies where there are undesir- 

 able queens, a colony of queens that 

 are very old or not pure blood. 



In August, and again in October, I 

 lift the hives and if there are any light 

 combs I put in plenty of combs of 

 honey. 



Again, before putting the bees into 

 the cellar I do the same thing. 



If I find it necessary to give them 

 combs of honey I do so, removing the 

 empty comb. 



It is surprising to find how much a 

 colony will go down in weight between 



the first of October and the first of De- 

 cember. 



Now so much in regard to the condi- 

 tion of bees before going into the cellar. 



In making a bee cellar there are 

 some important things to take into 

 consideration: 



One is temperature. 



In order to have proper temperature 

 in the bee cellar, it should be entirely 

 underground. The top of the cellar 

 should not extend above the surface of 

 the ground. 



The ordinary house cellar constructed 

 two or three feet out of ground is not 

 a suitable place for keeping bees over 

 the winter. 



Another important thing is the venti- 

 lation. 



I know there are plenty of people who 

 say that bees require but little ventila- 

 tion. 



Some people claim you can cover the 

 bees all up without any means of al- 

 lowing air to enter and they will come 

 through all right. I tried that and 

 nearly all came through all right. I 

 kept them in a sand bank; twenty or 

 thirty stands; two rows face to face, 

 with a space of two or three feet be- 

 tween, and a covering over that sand, 

 and only two colonies were lost, but 

 the air must have come through in 

 some way. 



There are other people who claim 

 that in ventilating the cellar all that 

 is necessary is to have an opening at 

 the top. 



I have here attempted to make a 

 drawing to show what I mean by that. 



I think it was Mr. Hutchinson, editor 

 formerly of the Review, who claimed 

 that. We had quite a little discussion 

 over it. He claimed the opening from 

 the top into the cellar was sufficient. I 

 disagreed with him. 



His cellar was constructed some- 

 thing upon this plan. (Illustrating.) 

 Here was the opening, probably 3 ft. 

 long, 1% ft. wide. His claim was that 

 that furnished sufficient air. I do not 

 think so. 



I bought a piece of ground with 

 building and cellar a nuijiber of years 

 ago. We had that kind of an arrange- 

 ment, and I found in the spring of the 

 year — (The old gent of whom I bought 

 it said that was to be left open in the 

 winter so that the bees could get air). 

 I tried it and the result was I lost half 

 of the bees the first thing. I tried it 



