1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



779 



the time, was learning his A B C's in bee- 

 keeping we were learning our A B C's in 

 making pictures. Although we never met 

 him personally, a very pleasant correspon- 

 dence sprang up, during which we agreed to 

 instruct him in bees if he would a"t as our 

 Gamaliel in the art of photography. We 

 read a number of his articles in the Photo 

 Beacon, and were immediately struck by 

 the simplicity and clearness of his style. 



While our friend has never been an exten- 

 sive bee-keeper, he has been one of a large 

 class of professional men who take up bees 

 for the pleasure of it as well as the profit. 

 We call them " back-lotters " sometimes be- 

 cause they will run fifty or one hundred col- 

 onies in a back lot. Possibly 90 per cent of 

 our readers belong to this class; that is to 

 say, they have some other busin<^ss or pro- 

 fession which they run in connection with 

 their bees. 



After Mr. Todd went west he took up his 

 favorite pastime of bee-keeping in connec- 

 tion with his other professional work; and 

 remembering his cltar and simple style of 

 writing it occurred to us he would be the 

 man to write a series of articles for begin- 

 ners and " back-lotters." We accordingly 

 engaged him to do this work, and the first 

 article is now before you. The fact that Mr. 

 Todd knows the art of making himself clear- 

 ly understood, and the further fact that he 

 is an expert photographer, will mean Ihat he 

 will be able to furnish us some interesting 

 matter. 



A FEW TENTATIVE PROPOSITIONS ON IN- 

 DOOR WINTERING. 



From the correspondence that is coming 

 in to this office, it is evident that a good 

 many do not understand some of the basic 

 principles governing successful wintering 

 in winter repositories. In order to clear up 

 the problem, perhaps it woald be well to ad- 

 vance a few tentative 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 in- 

 variably. A high temperature, above 45, 

 hut little or no ventilation, will cause the 

 bees to be uneasy. If the temperature is 

 above 45 there should always be some ven- 

 tilation. It should be continuous rather 

 than intermittent at night, but better inter- 

 mittent than no ventilation. 



4. Bees can be wintered in a cellar with- 

 out much ventilation, providing the tem- 

 perature is held uniformly between 43 and 

 45, but they will winter much better if there 

 is some fresh air. 



5. A cellar may be too dry, for bees in a 

 cellar require a little moisture. If there is 

 no moisture, possibly a wet sponge should 



be put in front of the entrances of some 

 colonies. 



6. Ideal conditions are, a nearly uniform 

 temperature of 45 Fahr., a slight amount of 

 moisture, continuous ventilation, and abso- 

 lute darkness. 



7. A very bad combination is a constant- 

 ly varying temperature that goes down near- 

 ly to the freezing-point and then rises some- 

 times to 50 and 60 degrees. Such a varia- 

 tion is almost sure to cause disastrous losses 

 before spring. 



8. A high temperature, between 60 and 70, 

 requires a great deal more ventilation than 

 a temperature of 45. The higher the ther- 

 mometer the more fresh air there should be. 

 Too much can not be given when the ther- 

 mometer shows 65 degrees. 



9. The statement has gone out that bees 

 do not need ventilation in a bee cellar. Fair 

 results are sometimes secured when the mer- 

 cury can be maintained at 45 degrees, with- 

 in two or three degrees; but far better results 

 are obtained when there are continuous in- 

 fusions of fresh air, air having been warmed 

 somewhat by going under ground, and the 

 foul air i^assing 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 or even six inches of dead bees on 

 the cellar bottom in the spring we should 

 say that the owner of that cellar ought to in- 

 vestigate and ascertain the trouble. No 

 matter if he does bring his colonies through 

 alive, it could hardly be said that he was 

 wintering his bees successtully. An ideal 

 cellar is one that will bring the colonies 

 through the winter in practically the same 

 strength as when they went into winter quar- 

 ters. 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 single dead bee. 

 Do not let any b- e-keeper get it into his head 

 that these old bees are superannuated 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 bot- 

 tom in the spring, there is something wrong. 



12. Honey-dew, or very dark or an un- 

 palatable or poorly ripened honey may cause 

 dysentery before spring, even when all the 

 other conditions are ideal. 



13. Pollen in the combs does little or no 

 harm. The old theory that pollen was the 

 cause of much of our winter losses is now an 

 exploded myth. 



14. The size of entrances ■svill depend up- 

 on the character of the cellar. 



15. Shutting bees in the hives with wire 

 cloth is usually attended with uneasiness; 

 and, unless removed, there will be severe 

 mortality. 



