1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



945 



been a gravitation toward ventilation at the bottom, 

 and larger entrances tlian formerly. I suspect 

 convenience has much to do with the matter. I 

 have some doubt whether it matters in a cellar 

 whether the bottom be all open with the top sealed 

 tight, or the top all open with the bottom sealed 

 tig-ht, or wliether both top and bottom be open with 

 the air passing througrh. Only in the latter case 

 there must be so small a passage eitlier at bottom 

 or top that the air will not pass thruugrh faster than 

 the bees can use it. In my first cellaring', liives 

 were entirely open at top, and sealed tight at Dot- 

 tom. That js, they were box hives turned upside 

 down. That was Quinby's plan, and it was the most 

 convenient with bo.v hives. With the present hives 

 it's more convenient to have the opening: all at tiie 

 bottom. If the opening' is both at top and bottom, 

 it's difficult to adjust it to the wants of the bees. 

 Of course it would be impracticable to have hives 

 all open at the top; but at present the majority 

 think it easier to secure rig'lit ventilation by having 

 the top slightly oijen in addition to the opening at 

 the bottom. 



BEHAVIOR OF BEES°IN WINTER. 



I suspect that at least part of the battles that for- 

 merly raged over the matter of hibernation arose 

 from the fact that all did not agree upon the mean- 

 ing of the word. V^ety few, if any, will now contend 

 that a bee hibernates as do other animals to which 

 the term is applied. If any one should yet think 

 that a colony goes through an entire winter in a 

 dormant condition, a short time spent in a bee-cellar 

 will disabuse liis niind. Whether the guess given 

 in the symposium, that there is a waking-up once a 

 week, is correct. I do not know. I suspect that 24 

 hours might come nearer the truth Mr. Pettit 

 takes the ultra ground that not the slightest noise 

 of humming should be heard in perfect wintering. 

 I don't know about that. I do know that I have had 

 bees winter in such contiition as I think would sat- 

 isfy almost any one, and yet 1 never went into the 

 cellar without hearing what is often called a "con- 

 tented hum." And yet I must confess that, by 

 looking into a single "hive, I could jrenerally see no 

 movement. 



[fire in cellars. 



3Two in the symposium keep fire in the cellar. I 

 suspect that's alarger proportion than will be found 

 generally among those who cellar their bees. Of 

 those who have tried It and abandoned it. it might 

 not be out of place to inquire whether there njay 

 not have been a wrong use of a right thing. Mr. 

 Boardman says it grows in favor with him. I'm not 

 sure whether it does with me, but I'm sure the con- 

 viction grows that it is all right. If a cellar stands 

 too near tne freezing-point, you can bring the tem- 

 perature up by making the cellar closer; but you'll 

 ha've better ventilation and air by bringing up the 

 temperature with a tire. We make fire for folks in 

 winter, and no harm comes of it. Why not for the 

 bees ? The fire is put in an adjoining room, not in 

 the same room with the bees. Just why, I don't 

 know. Perhaps the lire is made with wood, in which 

 case there might be too sudden a change of tempei-- 

 ature, and the light from the burning wood might 

 be mischievous. For my own use I would no more 

 think of putting the Are in an adjoining room than 

 I would a stove for heating a sitting-room. But I 

 use anthracite coal altogether. A small cylinder 

 stove keeps a stead.v low Are, and the door of the 

 stove is left wide open all the time. That helps 

 ventilation. I think some ■fear that bees would fly 

 into the open door, but I never knew a single bee to 

 do so. The Are is kept going day and night all win- 

 ter long, unless a spell of weather comes that makes 

 the cellar too warm. I may mention that those 

 colonies that stand nearest the stove winter as well 

 as any. 



TAKING BEES OUT OF THE CELLAR. 



The time mentioned for taking bees out of the 

 cellar is about April 1. Here miglit be made the 

 same remark that was made about putting bees in. 

 It's a matter of weather rather than one of date. 

 For some ye;irs I went by the liluoming of soft 

 maple. But that sometimes fooled me. for a cold 

 spell came after they were in bloom, mHking me 

 wish I had left the bees in tlie cellar. So now, when 

 the maples bloom, T WHit till it seems so warm and 

 pleasant there isn't much chance of more wintei' 

 weather. That may be when the Arst maple-blooms 

 show, or it may be two weeks later. And the 

 maples don't watch the almanac clitsely. 



Greiner takes his bees out at night. I prefer 

 Boardman's plan of taking them out on a warm 

 day so they can fly at once. If thej' are taken out 

 at night, the thermometer may sink before morning 

 below the freezing-point, making each day they are 

 longer conflned in the hives worse than a week in 

 the celliir. 



Greiner says. " In placinar 1hem on their stands I 

 pay no attention to their lormer location the fall 

 previous." I think some of the bees will go back to 

 their former locations, but 1 don't know that any 

 harm will come of it. Wiien they Arst come out of 

 the cellar they seem to be of one scent— at any rate 

 they unite peaceably, and Boardman takes advan- 

 tage of this to unite at once any that need uniting. 



FINALLY. 



When I commenced this symposium I thought I 

 could coiiAne to less than a page what I had to say. 

 But I didn't know. I haven't said near all I wanted 

 to, and it's more than a page. You might. Mr. Ed- 

 itor, run it as a serial through the year 1896. Some 

 people like continued stories. 



Marengo, HI., Nov. 2.5. 



[Instead of continuing this in several issues, 

 as hinted by the doctor, I thought we should 

 get a better bird's-eye view to have it all in one 

 Issue, and use a r.oaaller face of type. We can't 

 get a bird's-pye view by looking at a spot here 

 and there in the different issues of Gleanings. 

 The subject is now open for further discussion. 

 -Ed.] 



TENEMENT WINTER CASES. 



HOW AN EXTENSIVE BEE-KEEPER OF YORK 

 STATE PUTS UP HIS BEES. 



By W. L. CoggahaU. 



My bees are from 3 to 16 miles from home, 

 and are packed in winter cases with dry saw- 

 dust that I keep from year to year. The size 

 of packing-case is 6 ft. long, 2 ft. wide. 2 ft. high 

 on back, and 2 ft. 6 in. on front, and is made of 

 matched pine. Such a box will hold eight 8- 

 frarae Langstroth hives, by piling them two tiers 

 high. Slots are cut in the high side, just opposite 

 and corresponding with the entrance in the hive, 

 and a block nailed on so the bees have an 

 alighting-board. When preparing to pack I 

 move four hives out of their position in the 

 row, and then put the case in their place. I 

 now put the four colonies into the case, and 

 shove them tight to the front (my hives do 

 not have porticoes), so the entrances corres- 

 pond with ihe slot in box. I take off the enam- 

 el cloth and put on brussels carpet, or ingrain; 

 then throw on the sawdust, and pack well be- 

 tween each hive, leaving i.< in. of sawdust on 

 top of the carpet, after which I put on four 

 boards just the size of the bottom of the hive. 

 I now set in four more colonies, and apply 

 carpets and the sawdust. Over the whole I put 

 a water-tight roof. I used shingles at first, 

 but now prefer sheet iron, painted. 



After the apiary is a packed I go around 

 and put in strychnine, which is put in cookies 

 prepared at home, to kill the mice. The win- 

 ter case should be lo in. from the ground, and I 

 u'sually raise them up in October. I usually go 

 around once in the winter and clean out the 

 entrances, and ptit in more poison, and then in 

 the spring, and take out those that are dead, 



