24 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



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Selected Articles. 



AND EDITORIAL COMMENTS 



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WINTER BE.L KEEPING. 



Some of the Things it is Well to Know 



and Heed When the Bees are 



in the Cellar. 



For the giving of important and timely 

 advice in a few words, I think that the 

 following, clipped from Gleanings, is 

 entitled to the palm. 



From the correspondence that is com- 

 ing into this office, it is evident that a 

 good many do not understand some of 

 the basic principles governing success- 

 ful wintering in winter repositories. In 

 order to clear up the problem, perhaps 

 it would be well to advance a few tenta- 

 tive propositions, and here they are: 



1. Too low a temperature (below 40 

 Fahr. if long continued) in a bee cellar 

 will kill bees. 



2. An excess of dampness in a cellar 

 does no harm, necessarily, providing that 

 the temperature is high enough, not lower 

 than 45 or 50. 



3. A low temperature, lower than 40 

 Fahr. and an excess of dampness, is a 

 very bad combination, and will kill bees 

 almost invariably. A high temperature, 

 above 45, but little or no ventilation, will 

 cause the bees to be uneasy. If the 

 temperature is above 45 there should 

 always be some ventilation. It should 

 be continuous rather than intermittent at 

 night, but better intermittent than no 

 ventilation. 



4. Bees can be wintered in a cellar 

 without much ventilation, providing the 

 temperature is held uniformly between 

 43 and 45, but they will winter much 

 better if there is some air. 



5. A cellar may be too dry, for bees 

 in a cellar require a little moisture, 

 possibly a wet sponge should be put in 

 front of the entrances of some colonies. 



Ideal conditions are, a nearly uniform 

 temperature of 45 Fahr., a slight amount 

 of moisture, continuous ventilation, and 

 absolute darkness. 



7. A very bad combination is a con- 

 stantly varying temperature that goes 

 down nearly to the freezing point and 



then rises sometimes to 50 and 60 

 degrees Such a variation is almost sure 

 to cause disastrous losses before spring. 



8. A high temperature, between 60 

 and ZO, requires a great deal more venti- 

 lation than a temperature of 45. Tne 

 higher the thermometer the more fresh 

 air there should be. Too much can not 

 be given when the thermometer shows 

 65 degrees. 



9. The statement has gone out that 

 bees do not need ventilation in a bee 

 cellar. Fair results are sometimes se- 

 cured when the mercury can be main- 

 tained at 45 degrees, within two or three 

 degrees, but far better results are ob- 

 tained when there are continuous infusions 

 of fresh air, air having been warmed 

 somewhat by going under ground, and 

 the foul air passing out through the top 

 of the cellar. 



10. Occasional disturbance from the 

 bee keeper entering the cellar does no 

 harm. 



11. Where the conditions in a cellar 

 are such that there will be anywhere 

 from three to four and even six inches of 

 dead bees on the cellar bottom in the 

 spring we should say that the owner of 

 that cellar ought to investigate and 

 ascertain the trouble. No matter if he 

 does bring his colonies through alive, it 

 could hardly be said that he was winter- 

 ing his bees successfully. An ideal cellar 

 is one that will bring the colonies through 

 the v/inter in practically the same 

 strength as when they went into winter 

 quarters. We have seen a good many 

 cellars where all the dead bees that 

 would fly out on to the cellar bottom 

 would not make a coalhodful to the 

 hundred colonies in the spring. We have 

 wintered bees at Medina time and time 

 again in one of our cellars so successfully 

 that one could walk across from one end 

 of the cellar floor to the other in the 

 spring and scarcely step on a dead bee. 

 Do not let any bee keeper get it into his 

 head that those old bees are superan- 

 nuated and would die anyway. In any 

 cellar where the conditions are such that 

 there will be two or three inches of dead 

 bees on the cellar bottom in the spring, 

 there is something wrong. 



