June, 1911. 



American Hee Journal 



stone rock, very little soil showing at 

 any place. In digging the cellars, or 

 "caves," as my friend calls them, he 

 simply quarried out the limestone 

 about 18 inches deep and piled the 

 pieces of rock along the outsides. 

 Pieces of split cedar were stood on 

 end all around the enclosure, and the 

 same material was used to form the 

 gables of the roof. Along the ridge of 

 the roof a full-length piece of cedar 

 about 10 inches thick was supported 

 from the center of the floor by posts 

 of the same material. Now over all 

 the roof and against the sides earth 

 was put to the depth of 18 inches over 

 the roof, and probably 3 feet against 

 the sides and ends. 



In the one end of course a door 

 frame was placed, and in this frame the 

 inside door opened to cellar, while the 

 storm door, about 2 feet farther out, 

 opens outward. For ventilation, wood- 

 en pipes about 4 inches square go up 

 through the roof, and have an elbow at 

 the top to prevent rain going in. If I 

 remember correctly there were two in 

 each end of the larger cave. This cave 

 is 10 feet wide and 20 long, about 6 feet 

 high at the sides, and 6 feet at the ridge 

 of the roof. Two others are of smaller 

 dimensions, but built exactly as the 

 larger one described. So much for the 

 simple construction, and now for re- 

 sults. 



Bees have been wintered in these 

 caves for 2.j years, and always success- 

 fully with the exception of 4 years ago 

 when so many bees perished with 

 honey-dew in the hives. The past win- 

 ter 160 colonies were wintered in the 

 larger cave, and 80 in each of the other 

 two. They had no flight after the last 

 week in October, and were put into the 

 cellar about Nov. Lith. At the date of 

 my visit (April 18) all but 40 colonies 

 had been carried out, and all alive but 

 3 colonies that had been queenless in 

 the fall, and had combs full of honey. 

 The hives were all so very heavy that 

 unless some of it is taken away the 

 queens will be cramped for room^in 

 fact, after lifting dozens of colonies I 

 came to the conclusion that they would 

 average 40 pounds of honey at present 

 — hives being Langstroth length, 8- 

 frame width, and but 2 inches deeper 

 than the Langstroth frame. This is 

 stated to show the extremely small 

 quantity of stores consumed in the 

 long winter's confinement. 



The hives are placed in the cellar 

 with the bottom-boards removed. On 

 top of a row 2-inch strips are laid, and 

 about that thickness of leaves are 

 above the quilts to absorb dampness, 

 the owner told me. On top of these 

 strips another row is placed in the 

 same manner. The hives were 3 deep 

 at the sides of the cave, and 4 deep in 

 the center rows. 



I have stated that 40 colonies were 

 still in the cellar at the time of my 

 visit, and my friend told me to come in 

 and see how they were placed. After 

 stepping inside I went to close the door 

 behind us at once, as at the late date I 

 expected the bees would be uneasy, es- 

 pecially so because only the day before 

 some 40 colonies had been carried out 

 of the place. The door faced the west, 

 and as it was about 2 o'clock in the 

 afternoon, the bright sun shone directly 

 into the cave, the entrance to the same 



being practically on the level. My 

 friend seemed surprised at my ideas 

 as to the bees being uneasy, and left 

 the door wide open. We went inside 

 and sat down, and listened, but not a 

 sound could we hear, even if the owner 

 of the bees did sit contentedly on top 

 of one of the rows of hives, thus jar- 

 ring them some, and even if the tem- 

 perature outside was about 60, with 

 thousands of bees flying around, and 

 many of them coming in the open door. 



I lifted up the quilts of several of the 

 colonies, and down below the honey 

 could be seen the clusters. On looking 

 under the hives they were more plainly 

 seen, but not a single bee offered to fiy 

 out, although we stayed in the cellar 

 for at least In minutes. 



Later on I went into the cellar again, 

 and closed the door to see if they had 

 awakened any more, but not a sound 

 could I hear. This is without doubt 



successful wintering in the strictest 

 sense of the word; and, as to tempera- 

 ture, my friend said he had never taken 

 a thermometer in the cellar. "What's 

 the use," he said, "as long as they win- 

 ter well ?" 



Needless to say, I regard this visit as 

 an educational one, and no doubt many 

 bee-keepers situated where an orthodox 

 cellar is an impossibility, could well 

 profit by the e.xperience of my friend. I 

 am told that there are quite a few bee- 

 keepers who winter bees in the same 

 way in the section I have been speaking 

 of, but here in central Ontarto I have 

 never met with a repository for bees 

 constructed on the principle described. 

 If called upon to construct any place 

 for inside wintering of bees, certainly, 

 after what I have seen so recently, it 

 would go a long way in helping me to 

 decide on the type of cellar I would 

 construct. 



Southern 



Beedom- 



Conducted by Lovis H. Scholl. New Braunfels. Tex. 



A Minimum of Swarming 



While many bee-keepers have experi- 

 enced a great deal of swarming this 

 spring, on account of most favorable 

 conditions conducive to the real, old- 

 time swarming fever, I did not have 

 this trouble to any great extent. There 

 is a reason for this, in niT mind at 

 least. My swarming for the last 10 

 years has been cut down to practically 

 2 percent, on the average. During sev- 

 eral years I have not had any, or very 

 few, swarms in most of the yards, and 

 comparatively few during even the 

 more favorable seasons. This year I 

 have had a most favorable spring for 

 swarming, but by watching the strong- 

 est colonies every week or 10 days, and 

 by carrying out certain manipulations 

 that I have practiced and modified 

 from time to time for the last 10 years 

 or more, I have cut down the number 

 of swarms even this year to a low per- 

 cent. 



I may attribute my success to the 

 fact that I manipulate my colonies in 

 such a way as to keep the bees in as 

 comfortable a condition as possible at 

 all times, especially in the spring of the 

 year, and most especially during that 

 period of time before the colonies get 

 into the swarming desire at all. First 

 of all, I think a large 10-frame is the 

 most essential factor toward prevent- 

 ing swarming, and for this reason I 

 long ago adopted not only the 10-frame 

 hive that could be enlarged at will, and 

 to the needs of the colonies at all 

 times. Although I have had the best 

 results by the use of the shallow or 

 divisible brood-chamber hives, I also 

 have succeeded very well by using the 

 regular 10-frame Langstroth hives in 

 connection with as many e.xtra shal- 

 low hive-bodies and supers as becomes 

 necessary at any time. Thus I still 

 have the principle of the divisible 

 brood-chamber hive, however, wherein 

 lies the secret of most of my success in 



at least decreasing the number of 

 swarms, if not preventing them alto- 

 gether. 



Giving sufficient extra storage-room 

 above the brood-nest very early in the 

 spring, into which the colony can 

 spread as needed, and thus never be- 

 coming crowded in the brood-chamber, 

 is the one first step that I look after in 

 the question of swarm - prevention. 

 Next to this comes the important mat- 

 ter of manipulating the brood-mst in 

 such a matter that there will never at 

 any time during the entire swarming 

 season be a congested condition of the 

 brood-nest itself. Prevent this in addi- 

 tion to giving sufficient room as stated, 

 and half of the battle is won. All that 

 is necessary from now on is to keep 

 one's eye, as it were, on the question of 

 having enough room for the colony so 

 the bees feel comfortable and not 

 crowded, and that there is no conges- 

 tion of the brood-nest, thus keeping 

 the queen and the rest of the colony 

 comfortably busy. 



Where large numbers of colonies are 

 kept, and these in many apiaries, some 

 short-cut methods must be applied as 

 a natural result, by which the above 

 work can be done in a wholesale way. 

 While it becomes necessary to handle 

 and re-arrange combs in the Lang- 

 stoth-size hive-bodies when these are in 

 use, we gain over these by handling 

 whole shallow stories with the divisible 

 brood-chamber hives. My manipula- 

 tions consist chiefly in " swapping " or 

 interchanging the shallow stories of 

 the brood-chamber proper. This latter 

 consists in the spring of 3 of the shal- 

 low 10-frame 5*4 -inch stories. At first 

 the brood may be only in the two lower 

 ones, but later the queen also uses the 

 third or upper story. Thus I get lots 

 of brood and rousing colonies for the 

 honey-flow, and it is only another rea- 

 son why I encourage the queen to go 

 above. 



Thus all 3 stories become more or 



