THR BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



359 



tions of warmth and air. A bee-keeper 

 of cjiiite large experience told nie in our 

 convention at Madison last winter of hav- 

 ini,' wintered several colonies of bees in 

 his shop within a few feet of the bench 

 on which he was poiindintj and working 

 at hive making every day. The bees 

 seemed to get used to the noise and jar, 

 and paid no attention to it. But when- 

 ever bees are wintered without the chance 

 of flying freely in and out, I think it very 

 important to keep the room absolutely 

 dark. 



To winter bees in the open air in a 

 northern climate requires protection of 

 some kind. There must be a chaff-pack- 

 ed hive, or else the hives must be sur- 

 rounded with boards, and packing put in 

 next to the hives. As Mr. Lathrop says, 

 hives that are light and readily movable, 

 such hives as are the most desirable for 

 use in the summer, are not desirable 

 hives for wintering bees in the open air — 

 there must be some protection put around 

 them, and putting them in the cellar is 

 the cheapest way in which the}' can be 

 protected. 



Then the saving of stores is quite an 

 item — the saving will soon be enough to 

 pay for a cellar. 



The temperature that he recommends 

 is, I believe, about right. If the food is 

 wholesome, and the temperature right, I 

 believe, with Mr. Lathrop, that there is 

 little to fear from dampness. Dampness 

 is equivalent to a lower temperature. Mr. 

 R. L. Taylor once kept several colonies 

 in a cellar surrounded the whole winter 

 with damp cloths. He did this as an ex- 

 periment. The air was kept saturated 

 with moisture. The bees wintered well. 

 The caution about using oil stoves is 

 timely. Thej can be used if there is a 

 pipe connected with the stove to carry ofT 

 the gases of combustion. I used an oil 

 stove several winters in the cellar to keep 

 up the temperature during cold snaps. 

 I had a tin hood that set over the top of 

 the stove, and from the hood a tin pipe 

 extended up through the floor and con- 

 nected with the stove pipe in the room 

 above. When thus arranged an oil stove 

 is a most useful adjunct to a cellar that 



may need a little artificial heat during a 

 cold spell. 



If the food and temperature are what 

 they ought to be I think that noise and 

 jars will do little harm. I think it just 

 as well to avoid them, but I should not 

 worry anj- becau.se of them. Mr. Heddon 

 one winter disturbed a colony every time 

 that he went into the cellar. He kicked 

 the hive and roused up and disturbed the 

 bees every way that he could every op- 

 portunity that presented, yet this colony 

 wintered as well as any that he had. 



If the temperature and food are all 

 right, I think that the entrance of light 

 into the cellar will do no harm. If the 

 bees become uneasy toward spring, and 

 the temperature runs high, it is quite 

 likely that many bees would leave their 

 hives and seek the light. When bees are 

 uneasy towards spring, and the cellar door 

 is left open all night, they will be found 

 quiet in the morning, yet the sun may be 

 shining into the cellar and directly upon 

 the hives. 



INTRODUCING QUEENS. 



How to do it l)v the use of Tobacco Smoke. 



Perhaps some of my readers will think 

 that I am becoming a crank on the use of 

 tobacco smoke in introducing queens. 

 Possibly I am; but if it is really a sure 

 thing somebody ought to become a crank 

 on the subject long enough to turn out 

 some of the losing methods. I believe it 

 was Henry Alley who first used this meth- 

 od; and in a late issue of the .American 

 Bee Journal he describes his plan in de- 

 tail. It is as follows: — 



I have read the thousand-andone 

 methods given in the bee-papers for in- 

 troducing queens, and none of them, it 

 seems to me, are at all practical. Thej' 

 all recjuire too much work and troublp, 

 and, so far as I know, none of them are 

 reliable. 



I never have practiced but one method 

 for introducing either fertile or unfertile 

 queens, and it is always attended with 

 the best success. 



