126 



FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



another year, shutting it down, and the 

 loss was not so many. 



A pound of air occupies 12 cubic feet. 

 If heated it expands. If we put the 

 bees into the cellar and the weather 

 turns cold what is going to happen? 

 This warm air being lighter will pass 

 out slowly and the cold air run in, and 

 we have nothing but cold air in there 

 and moisture. 



Suppose the temperature rises out- 

 side and it gets warmer outside, then 

 what is the result? Will that cold air 

 go out? No. it will stay there nearly 

 all winter and all next summer. 



The cellar is w-arm along this time 

 of the year (December) and cool in the 

 spring because the cool air gets in and 

 is heavier and cannot get out. 



Now another thing in regard to the 

 moisture. If air contains moisture and 

 it does where the gees are eating honey 

 and giving off moisture in carbon- 

 dioxide; if the air contains moisture 

 and cool air comes in there it will be 

 damo and cold, and, inside, the hives 

 will be wet; and water will run down 

 from outside the hives. Bees will lose 

 in number; many of them will die, and 

 they will also lose in vitality, so that 

 in the spring you are going to lose 

 more bees because they have not the 

 vitality. 



After I had tried this cellar, I made 

 this sort of arrangement: (Illustrat- 

 ing) — Here is the cellar; here is the 

 W'orkshop; up there is an attic store 

 room. Here is a stove. 



Here is what I did: I put in a 6- 

 inch tile, extending out this way about 

 50 feet. I didn't have any chimney at 

 first but I found when the wind was 

 blowing from the w-est, southwest or 

 northwest the air passes through this 

 tile and the wind blew through the tile 

 as hard as out doors and brought air 

 in here to the bottom of the cellar. As- 

 that air was warm with bees it would 

 rise towards the ceiling. 



I built a chimney from the bottom of 

 the cellar up through the building 

 above extending at the top a distance 

 of 25 or 30 feet. 



The opening is at the bottom, not at 

 the top. 



I found by putting the bees in this 

 kind of a cellar they wintered almost 

 perfectly as long as the air is warmer 

 in the cellar than outside. There will 

 be no condensation — but in the spring, 

 when the air gets warmer outside, then 



the air coming through there will 

 cause condensation if there is suffi- 

 cient moisture, but a draft through 

 there is sufficient to sweep out that 

 moisture. . • 



In the last six years my average 

 losses have been less t'han one per cent. 



I would like to know if there are any 

 out of door bee-keepers who can 

 beat it. 



In one yard we never had a loss, 

 winter or spring, in two years, that is 

 from the time the bees were put in 

 until fruit bloom; two seasons and no 

 loss. 



In other yards there was a loss of a 

 couple of colonies because they were 

 not in proper condition when we put 

 them in in the fall; ! they probably 

 were queenless. 



You notice this, here, (illustrating) 

 is the ground line, that the top of the 

 cellar comes even with the ground. 

 This is to help keep a constant tem- 

 perature. 



The air passes out at the bottom; 

 it goes in at the bottom; as it is heated 

 it rises. The air is pure. The bees 

 come out strong and in excellent con- 

 dition in the spring. 



Mr. Wheeler — What does the stove 

 have to do with it? 



Mr. Miller — Nothing, or^iinarily, but 

 if we have a large number of bees in 

 the cellar and we are afraid there 

 might not be air enough — if you start 

 a fire in that stove it will increase the 

 current of air up that chimney. But 

 at nearly any time during the winter 

 if ^ you hold a lighted match over here 

 the current of air is sufficiently strong 

 to extinguish the flame. 



That chimney works all the time. 

 This works only when the wind is in 

 the right direction. 



I tried putting a similai; one on the 

 other side but I found the air passes 

 through considerably, but the chimney 

 is the thing that works all the time, 

 carrying a current of air through the 

 cellar. 



I found by testing the thermometer 

 at this intake that in warm weather 

 when the thermoneter outside got up to 

 60 or 65 degrees, the temperature 

 lowered very greatly in passing through 

 here; in cool weather the thermometer 

 would rise. 



I have some readings here I took a 

 year ago. I will give you some of 

 those readings to show the change of 



