September, 1913. 



American Hee Journal 



311 



Puzzle— Pick Out the Two Americanos. 



been accomplished, and is it likely that 

 it ever will be accomplished ? 



I think Dr. Zander tells us that at a 

 temperature of (J8 degrees, a bee, in 

 proportion to its weight, needs some 70 

 times as much air as a man. It may 

 never be so warm as that in a bee-cel- 

 lar, but it is reasonable to believe that 

 a creature which needs such enormous 

 quantities of ai-r at ti8 degrees must 

 need a good deal long before it reaches 

 that temperature. At any rate, no one 

 has probably claimed that harm could 

 occur from too much air provided 

 there was no draft. 



Views differ greatly as to the best 

 way to ventilate a hive in cellar. Some 

 think it best to have sealed covers with 

 ventilation only below ; others prefer 

 more or less upward ventilation. In 

 my first wintering, with bo.x-hives, fol- 

 lowing Quinby, I turned the hives up- 

 side down, thus leaving the bottom 

 hermetically sealed, and the top wide 

 open. Later, with movable-comb hives, 

 there was an entrance of >^-inch at the 

 bottom with a '4 -inch crack at the top. 

 At present, and for years, I have had 

 bottom-boards 2 inches deep, and the 

 entrance 2 inches deep left wide open 

 in the cellar, and the covers sealed shut 

 by the bees. I doubt if it makes a ma- 

 terial difference how the ventilation is 

 given, only so there is enough of it. I 

 doubt whether too much can be given. 



But no matter how the hive is venti- 

 lated, it avails little if there is no good 

 air outside the hive in the cellar. With 

 sufficient doors and windows there 

 ought to be little trouble about venti- 

 lating a cellar if it were not that in in- 

 troducing fresh air one is likely to in- 

 troduce too much cold. If one could 

 hold the cellar at that temperature at 

 which bees are almost entirely dor- 

 mant, it would matter little about the 

 ventilation, but, alas ! that " if." When 

 the outdoor air is too cold for the bees' 

 welfare, the remedy is to raise the tem- 

 perature in some way by artificial heat 

 in the cellar. Formerly I kept a fire 



in a stove in the cellar whenever it was 

 cold enough. 



When I had a furnace put in the cel- 

 lar, in 1002, the matter was simplified. 

 Instead of gauging the heat in the cel- 

 lar, I now have to gauge the amount of 

 air admitted to make the cellar cool 

 enough. In most winters the outside 

 door is more or less open almost all 

 of the time. When it is cold enough 

 to have the door closed, then the great 

 difference in temperature between the 

 outside and inside air makes enough 

 ventilation through the walls and 

 cracks of the cellar. If a warm spell 

 comes, as sometimes happens in the 

 middle of winter, or when the weather 

 becomes mild in spring, then I open 

 window and doors to their widest at 

 night. The first time I did that — long 

 before the furnace was in the cellar — I 

 had a good fright. The bees, which 

 had been quite noisy before the cellar 

 was opened, now became several times 

 worse. They made a great uproar, 

 running all over the hives and hanging 

 out in .great numbers. It looked a good 

 deal like a general wreck. But the 

 bees did not jump off the hives upon 

 the ground, and by morning they were 

 very quiet. Indeed, on some occasions 

 of the same kind afterward, I found the 

 bees so quiet in the morning that the 

 light could shine directly into the en- 

 trances without harm, and the window 

 could be left open half the forenoon 

 without the bees flying out. 



LIGHT IN BEE-CELLAR. 



It is perhaps genefally understood 

 that a cellar should be kept dark if bees 

 are to winter in it successfully. Cer- 

 tainly darkness is very important at 

 times. In a warm, muggy spell toward 

 spring, with the temperature both in 

 the cellar and outdoors up to 50 or 

 higher, if light be admitted in the mid- 

 dle of the day, thousands upon thou- 

 sands of bees will leave the hives and 

 make for the light, never to return. If 

 the cellar be kept dark, many bees may 



leave the hives and struggle out their 

 lives upon the cellar-bottom, but there 

 will be no such wholesale e.xodus as if 

 the cellar is at all light. So at such a 

 time absolute darkness is at first re- 

 quisite. 



But at other times darkness is not 

 absolutely necessary. Indeed, at the 

 risk of being considered somewhat 

 slack in orthodoxy,! niaysay that I am 

 growing to lean somewhat toward the 

 belief that it is better to have more or 

 less light in the cellar the greatei part 

 of the time. Those who make a busi- 

 ness of telling us what is best for the 

 health of the human family, lay great 

 stress on the healthful influence of 

 plenty of light in our dwellings. We 

 all know that an outdoor life is the 

 healthy life, and in the outdoor life the 

 light as well as the air plays an impor- 

 tant part. If light be good for the 

 human family, why not for the bees? 



What harm does light do in a bee- 

 cellar, anyhow ? Just one thing ; it al- 

 lows the bees to fly out of the hives. 

 That's all. If light can enter without 

 making the bees fly out, then let in the 

 light. And light does not make bees 

 always fly out of the hives, by any 

 means. Suppose some day toward the 

 last of November half the bees of an 

 apiary are taken into the cellar and the 

 other half left on the summer stands. 

 The chances are, nine out of ten, that 

 the cellar will at once be darkened, 

 and kept dark until the bees are 

 brought out in spring. Then suppose, 

 the day after the bees are taken in, the 

 outdoor temperature stands at 40 de- 

 grees or less. The light shines full 

 upon the hives outdoors, but the bees 

 have no thought of flying out. Why 

 should they fly out any more than the 

 bees on the summer stands ? As a 

 matter of fact they don't. At least 

 mine don't; and at such times they are 

 allowed all the light that will enter 

 through open doors. 



.\s an illustration : March 0, at 9 

 a.m., the sun was shining brightly, and 

 the doors were open, but window 

 closed. Standing at the pile nearest 

 the door from the furnace-room to the 

 bee-room, which was about 7 feet from 

 the door (the backs of the hives were 

 toward the door), I could read with 

 ease common newspaper print. Stand- 

 ing at a pile on the farther side from 

 the door, and about 12 feet from it, I 

 could read the same print, but with 

 difficulty. The hives ofthis pile directly 

 faced the door, but no bees came out. 

 It will be noted that this was well 

 along in the spring, when bees will not 

 stand as much light as they will earlier 

 in the winter. But the air in the cellar 

 was fine, there having been quite a 

 wind, with doors wide open. The tem- 

 perature outdoors was 40 degrees, and 

 in the cellar about 4.5; to be exact, it 

 was 43 degrees at the bottom of a cen- 

 tral pile, and 48 on the top. 



From a good deal of observaton I 

 feel safe in saying that when other 

 conditions are all right, light in the 

 cellar can do only good and not harm. 

 Only when other conditions are bad 



130 STu'^TI FOR LEWIS BEEWARE 



Send for Annual Catalo;; which will tell 

 you who is your nearest Distrihuter. 

 G. B. I^ewis Company, Watertown. AVis. 



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