THE BEE-KEEPERS, REVIEW. 



297 



ing, ami a tunnel driven into a side hill 

 would make, I think, an ideal place for 

 the safe wintering of bees. 



THE INl'I.UKNCH OK MOISTURE. 



I have already alluded to the matter of 

 dampness in a bee cellar. Pt rha]is in my 

 statement I was somewhat too lenient to 

 moisture. If one's colonies are all strong, 

 and well supplied with sound stores, then 

 my statement would hold good. Such a 

 colony is like a thriving well-fed steer. 

 He delights to encounter the ronidi 

 weather of win- 

 ter, for his glow- 

 ing internal he;it 

 (juickly dispels 

 rain and sleet 

 from hishealthv 

 hide. But all 

 colonies are not 

 strong and w-ell- 

 fed. Those that 

 are not strong 

 mav not have 

 enough internal 

 heat to dispel a 

 large amount of 

 moisture a n d 

 when they fail 

 in that they be- 

 come wet and 

 soon die. But 

 when the stores 

 are of poor qual- 

 ity the effect of 

 moisture is, I 

 imagine, still 

 worse. Poor 

 food is poor fuel, 

 and the proper 

 degree of heat is 

 not kept uj) vvilhout an excessive 

 use of the fuel which is open to the 

 reception of the excessive moisture to its 

 own further injury; and the condition of 

 the colony goes from bad to worse. But 

 there is a partial remedy and this brings 

 me to the question of temperature. 



THE INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE. 



From what I have just said it appears 

 that in some cases bees may lack sufficient 



heat to enable them to dispel superabun- 

 dant moisture. The natural and ready 

 prescription in such cases is, help them, 

 or in other words, rai.se the temperature 

 of the cellar. The temperature which I 

 prefer in the cellar, when everything goes 

 7vi'/l, is from 42 degrees to 45 degrees F. , 

 but if the stores are sound these points 

 are only a little more licsirab/e than others 

 above and below. I have wintered bees 

 lierfeclly witb the temperature almost in- 

 variably at 50 degrees, and I have a 

 neighbor w h o 

 winters his bees 

 just as well, per- 

 haps, with the 

 t e m pe r a t ure 

 ranging from 30 

 degrees 1040 de- 

 grees. With the 

 condition speci- 

 fied, then the 

 temperature 

 may s a f e 1 y 

 range from 30 

 degrees to 55 de- 

 grees. 



IMPORTANCE OF 

 SOUND STORES 



That c o n- 

 dition implies, 

 f>f course, sound 

 stores. But when 

 the stores are 

 bad the aspect 

 of the matter 

 changes. Then 

 the bees should 

 be helped by 

 raising the tem- 

 perature, and I 

 should raise it as high as 60 degrees if it 

 is found that the bees can stand it with- 

 out too many of them leaving their hives. 

 But this is a little aside from the case 

 where there is simpl}' an excess of mois- 

 ture. Without stopping to explain, I 

 should say, keep the temperature of a 

 moist cellar 5 degrees higher than the 

 preferred degree in a dry one, and do not 

 think to allow it to run down with im- 



I'. DAI).\NT, Hamilton, HI., Vice President 

 of llie National Association for 1904. 



