THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



or two of uiislacked lime in each cellar to 

 take up the moisture; and we also sprink- 

 le lime around the walls to sweeten the 

 cellar. I like to get the bees into the 

 cellar before the hives have had a chance 

 to contain any ice or damp combs from 

 the congealment of the bees' breath. It 

 is also desirable to have them placed in 

 the cellar before the outside of the hives 

 is wet with snow or rain. In the cellars 

 we have benches twelve inches from the 

 floor upon which to place the hives. A 

 piece of wood one inch thick is placed 

 upon the back side of the bench before 

 the colonies are placed upon it, and then 

 we raise the front of the hive one inch 

 from the bottom-board, thus giving them 

 an entrance 12 x i. This gives plenty of 

 ventilation, and also allows the bees to 

 more easily rid their hives of the dead 

 bees. The whole problem of cellar win- 

 tering, which has long since been worn 

 thread-bare, may be summed up in a ver}^ 

 few words: have an abundance of healthy 

 food, an even temperature and plenty of 

 good ventilation. 

 Richland Center, Wis., Dec. 14, 1S99. 



MOW F.\R BEES MAY FLY IN 

 GATHERING NECTAR. BY 

 IRA BARBER. 

 Noticing the answers to the 

 question : How far will bees go in search 

 of honey ? leads me to give you, for pub- 

 lication, a few of 

 the surprises that 

 have come under 

 my observation 

 along this line. 



My first experi- 

 ence with Italian 

 bees was in the 

 spring of 1874; 

 having bought 

 seven colonies 

 the fall before, 

 and placed them 



I 





in the yard with about 100 colonies of 

 black bees. No other Italian bees were 



owned in Northern New York. When 

 dandelions were in bloom, plenty of Ital- 

 ion bees were seen five miles from my 

 home; working on dandelions. 



The night of the Chicago fire, in 1S71, 

 I think, we had a fire here in the forest 

 that burned down two or three thousand 

 acres of timber standing in a black ash 

 swamp that was as dry as tinder; so the 

 fire burned in the ground deep enough 

 to level every tree to the ground. 



The next season was a poor honey sea- 

 son up to August loth; and there were 

 few colonies in the yard that had any 

 sealed honey in their hives. All at once 

 quite a number of colonies became very 

 active; and in three or four days the 

 whole apiary was sending out all of the 

 forces that could be miistered. They 

 struck a gait equal to any I ever saw when 

 they are doing their best on basswood; 

 and all were going north, towards the 

 great fire slashing. 



I knew what they were working on; 

 but as to how extensive the sujiply was I 

 had no knowledge. It was of too much 

 importance to me to be guessed at; so, on 

 the third da}' after the bees had made 

 such a rush, I drove to the fire slashing, 

 which was four miles in a direct course to 

 the nearest point. I had to walk about 

 one mile through the fields, after leaving 

 nn^ horse, as there was no road leading to 

 it. 



When I got there such a sight I never 

 saw before. One vast field of celandine, 

 or touch-me-not, lodged down like a rank 

 growth of clover, where not held up with 

 brush or logs, and such a roaring of bees 

 I never heard, when working on any hon- 

 ey producing plant. The slashing was five 

 miles long, and from one-half mile to 

 one mile wide, and one solid bed of cel- 

 andine. 



Bees working on this ])lant always 

 come home with their backs covered with 

 pollen white as chalk, as they have to 

 enter the flower to get at the honey, and, 

 in so doing, they get the pollen on their 

 backs and shoulders. 



