24 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



rest outside, with a two-foot wall — no 

 windows — only one large stove in the 

 front end. On top of the cellar I have 

 a one-story frame building- which I in- 

 tend to use as a store room. The ^oot 

 of this room is double matched, with a 

 six-inch space filled with chaff, and also 

 with chaff on top of the floor. 1 made 

 everything as warm as possible with two 

 sets of doors. The cellar was new when 

 I placed 140 colonies therein last fall. 

 Of this number 1 lost about 40. and part 

 of those that survived were weak, and 

 the hives seemed very wet and moldy. 

 Only two-thirds of the cellar was oc- 

 cupied. 



The trouble seemed to be that the 

 cellar was too cold most of the time — 38 

 degrees. I finally put a six-inch pipe 

 from the room overhead down into the 

 cellar. This seemed to make the bees 

 quieter, but ran the temperature down 

 lower than ever. Sometimes I had it 

 open and sometimes closed. 



I put a stove in the cellar and ran the 

 pipe out above the door. I kept a very 

 small fire in the stove every other day, 

 also through January and February. 

 This helped somewhat, but after all it 

 seemed to coax bees out so that they 

 dropped on the cellar floor. The trouble 

 seemed to be I could not make my venti- 

 lation work right. The ventilator 1 put 

 in did not chase out the damp foul air, 

 but let cold air down, as such air is the 

 heaviest. 



Now, I don't see how 1 can get this 

 cellar warm enough without artificial 

 heat. I have two plans I should like to 

 submit to you. One is to set 2 x 4"s 

 around in the cellar next to the stone 

 wall, and sheet it all up with flooring, 

 making another wall and air space (but 

 still I would have no ventilation;) and 

 the other is to build an addition on the 

 front end of the cellar, put in a stove, 

 run a pipe through the cellar next to the 

 floor and up through a larger pipe out 

 through the building. While the fire is 

 going, have the large pipe open, and at 

 other times closed. I think that this 

 would work better. 



Now, I wish you would consider my 

 plans and tell me which you think is best. 

 Do you think a ventilator is necessary 

 when the cellar is warm enough? I am 

 sure my cellar is too cold. The part of 

 it which is outside, exposed to the 

 weather, freezes through and covers over 

 with frost and ice inside in cold weather. 

 My cellar is endwise in the hillside, east 

 and west, facing east. 



Fred A. Krause. 



Ridgeland, Wis. 



In reply to the foregoing editor Root 

 writes as follows: 



It seems very clear that the trouble 

 with your cellar was due to several 

 causes — too low a temperature most of 

 the time, a very uneven one at other 

 times and a lack of proper ventilation. 

 When you applied artificial heat to warm 

 the cellar every other day. you made the 

 temperature too warm on the day when 

 the heat was aoplied. thus drawing the 

 bees out into the cellar, and on the next 

 day the temperature would drop too low. 

 The alternate warming and cooling 

 would get the bees stirred up. When it 

 was warm the cluster would expand and 

 consume largely of stores; then when it 

 turned too cold it would have a tendency 

 to induce dysentery. A lack of ventila- 

 tion on top of it all made your cellar a 

 poor place in which to winter bees. An 

 extra lining on the inside would help 

 somewhat; but in a climate like yours it 

 would be our judgment that the cellar 

 should be wholly submerged under 

 ground. If the natural temperature of it 

 runs down to 38, and stays there for 

 months at a time, it would be necessary 

 for you to employ artificial heat. The 

 stove should be a very small one, and 

 capable of dampering down so that only 

 a very moderate warmth would be given 

 off— just enough to maintain a tempera- 

 ture of about 45 degrees Fahr. Then it 

 would be advisable to have the chimney 

 pass through a larger fl.e. The stove 

 should be in the cellar, and the ventilat- 

 ing pipes should pass through the upper 

 room, and in connection it would be 

 very desirable to have a sub-earth 

 ventilator. This could be opened or 

 closed, depending upon the outside 

 temperature. 



The two prim.e requisites in cellar 

 wintering are uniform temperature, ap- 

 proximately 45. and ventilation. If the 

 temperature goes much below 40 degrees 

 and stays there, it is almost sure to 

 prove disastrous to the bees. For the 

 purpose of heating your cellar we would 

 advise you to get a very small drum 

 stove, using no larger than chestnut 

 anthracite coal. A kerosene stove would 

 give off a bad odor, and therefore could 

 not be considered. Bituminous coal 

 burns too fast, and wood is no better. 



We specified using no larger than 

 chestnut coal. Sometimes a pea coal 

 can be procured, and it will give just as 

 good results for less money. 



I agree with nearly all of Bro. 

 Root's views. It is well known that a 



