48 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



WINTERING BEES IN A HOME-CELLAR HAVING 

 A FURNACE. 



Have put 114 colonies away for win- 

 ter in the east half of my cellar, under 

 the house. The other half has a furnace 

 in it, but I scarcely think that it will 

 interfere with the bees, as it has a good 

 wall between, with a door that can be 

 shut or opened as desired. The worst 

 difficulty that I see is that one has to go 

 through where the bees are every time 

 the furnace needs refilling; also the 

 apples and potatoes and all such winter 

 provisions, are in the same part as the 

 bees. Do you think by going down and 

 through there, as is required, would be 

 too much disturbance, or would it be a 

 good idea to fasten up a sheet so as to 

 screen the bees off still more by them- 

 selves? 



I use the ten-frame. Langstroth hive, 

 and I believe I have a bottom board 

 which very few have. It is made so as 

 to have a |-space under the bottom bars 

 at the back, and slants to a ^ at the 

 front, which gives me that much entrance 

 whenever desired. Of course, I have a 

 block to stop up such an entrance, and 

 this block has an entrance in it f by 5 

 inches. In the cellar, now, I have those 

 entrances wide open; and tight covers 

 on the hives. I have a cover which I 

 I would like you to see. It is a flat, 

 ventilated cover, which has a good inch 

 of space over the frames. Under this 

 cover I use, for summer, a Paroid honey 

 board, and, when cooler weather sets in, 

 1 intend to have a felt cushion to put on 

 in place of the honey board. The cover 

 has six, 1-inch holes bored through both 

 ends for ventilation in summer, and they 

 can be stopped by a slide when not 

 needed. As I am somewhat of a car- 

 penter I make all my own hives, so I can 

 have what extras I like. 



I believe the hardest thing for me now 

 is to get good queens. I have bought 

 quite a few queens, and have had very 

 poor satisfaction, taking them as a whole. 

 This last summer I tried raising my own 

 queens, and got several very good ones 



but had so much other work that I could 

 not follow it up as it should be. It is my 

 intention to have work in shape for next 

 summer so as to make the bees first, and 

 then the other work afterwards, and hope 

 thereby to have better success. I have 

 had now about twenty years experience 

 with farming and bees combined, and I 

 would put my name on record in saying 

 that a man who tries to farm and keep 

 bees don't know much about bees, and 

 probably never will. I say again, that 

 you are to have praise for daring to 

 stand out and advocate "more bees." It 

 would be a lot better for this world if 

 there were more Daniels in it. I again 

 ask your pardon, for I have written far 

 more than 1 ever dreamed 1 should when 

 I sat down. 1 wish you a merry Christ- 

 mas and a very happy New Year, and 

 that you and your good wife may both 

 live a good long while to enjoy your new 

 home. 



FoRESTviLLE, Ont, Dsc. 4, 1909. 

 [The foregoing is a private letter, and 

 is printed by permission. I often receive 

 such letters, and always feel like sitting 

 down and writing a long letter in return, 

 but lack of time usually robs me of this 

 pleasure. I wish, however, to have these 

 good friends feel that their kindness is 

 appreciated. 



The Review has published articles 

 favoring farm-bee keeping, that is farmers 

 keeping bees, and it probably will pub- 

 lish more of that type, because I believe in 

 giving both sides of a question a fair 

 hearing, but, personally, I am a thorough 

 believer in specialty; not only in bee 

 keeping, but in evervthing. I am aware 

 that there are many instances in which 

 bees may be a desirable side-issue, and 

 the bee keeper who is a specialist may 

 also find a desirable side-issue; but sup- 

 pose a farmer has 80 acres of land, and 

 wishes to add to his income by keeping 

 bees. Instead of doing this, he better do 

 more of the very things that he is already 

 doing; or else do them better. Instead 

 of putting money into bees, he better buy 

 more land, or better tools. Then think 



