GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Skptember, 1918 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



wanned up it never I'eached away down into 

 the cellar. The result was very poor winter- 

 ing. The next season I put building-paper 

 over the floor. I put on some hay and tried 

 it again. But I had heavier losses than 

 ever — more each time than a good bee-cellar 

 would cost. 



In one's own cellar he can control mat- 

 ters. Last winter my son and myself, in 

 wintering in seven different places, found it 

 not so easy to control things away from 

 home. The farthest yard is 40 miles dis- 

 tant. 



The best wii^tering with least labor and 

 least expense I have ever tried, in the long 

 run, has been a cellar in a side hill. In the 

 first one I built, I left dirt sides, as the 

 ground was very hard. There was just a 

 little wall at the top where the dirt bother- 

 ed by falling down. But since then I have 

 found it best to lay a stone wall up from 

 the bottom. The last one built suits me per- 

 fectly. The bees are on a flat at the bottom 

 of a side hill, where they have fine pastur- 

 age. These are .35 miles from home. I had 

 the farmer living where these bees are lo- 

 cated pick out a spot for the .cellar where 

 the snow drifted deepest over the hill. He 

 reports that every winter now the cellar 

 is out of sight, as the snow is usually 10 

 feet deep above it. This is very important, 

 as very few temperature changes occur un- 

 der that amount of snow. This cellar goes 

 in the bank on a level with the yard. There 

 is just enough slope to the floor so that if 

 there is any water it will run out at the 

 door. On opening the first door you come 

 to a five-foot vestibule leading thru to the 

 second door. This is a very important ar- 

 rangement, as frost will not get thru the 

 second door. The cellar is nine feet deep. 

 A deep cellar will not be changeable like a 

 shallow one. It is 25 feet long and 9 feet 

 wide, laid up with loose stone — something a 

 mason would call a dry wall. Near the top 

 I used mortar on account of frost. The 

 wall is laid on a level with the ground. A 

 plank, 2 by 8 inches, is laid for a sill; then 

 the roof is put on; some boards are laid 

 across the sills and filled with straw to the 

 roof. The back end of the cellar is about 

 two feet higher than the front. This eon- 

 ducts any water away from the sides. In 

 carrying the bees, we walk on a level, set 

 four in a row, and pile five high. About 200 

 will thus winter finely. We could put in 

 225. We started in with one ventilator on 

 top of the first cellar. We now use two on 

 top, about eight inches square. We lock up 

 the door and do not see the cellar again 

 until time to set the bees out in the spring. 

 We built this cellar when we had a spare 

 day. We first dug, then laid the wall, then 

 put on the roof. Straw was to V)e liad close 

 by for the drawing. We l)ouglit lumber for 

 the roof. We usually have paid $10 a year 



for I'ellars to winter in. The cellar's rent 

 for two or three years paid the cost of 

 building it. The additional labor necessary 

 in putting the bees in and getting them out 

 of a rented cellar will soon pay for build- 

 ing one — and then there is no worry, no in- 

 surance, and better wintering. We expect 

 to build another one next summer. 



Mayfield, N. Y. G. W. Haines. 



THE HONEY -RIPENING PROBLEM 



Wherein Conditions Differ in a Hot Climate from 

 Those in Temperate Regions 



I have read on page 398, July Gleanings, 

 the article on fermented honey. It is right, 

 too. But honey is much earlier ripened in 

 this hot climate than it is in a wet country. 

 If the combs are half sealed in this country, 

 my experience is that the honey is safe and 

 will not ferment. But most beekeepers in 

 the Gila Valley extract before there is an 

 inch sealed along the top of the frame, or 

 even less; yet I have not heard any com- 

 plaints of their honey fermenting — proba- 

 bly because their honey has always been 

 sold to the biscuit and cracker manufactur- 

 ers, and has never been used for the table. 

 Such honey will sugar hard in two or three 

 months; but its grain is very much like 

 coarse bi'own sugar, and all thru it is a thin 

 watery substance. Put it on a wagon and 

 haul it a few miles and it will begin to ooze 

 out around the screw cap. Take off the cap 

 and it will emit an odor. The mesquite and 

 catclaw are much thicker and heavier than 

 the alfalfa and other honeys. Mesquite 

 weighs 121/4 pounds, well ripened, to the 

 gallon. Catclaw weighs 13 pounds to the 

 gallon. Our other honeys weigh only about 12 

 pounds to the gallon. We all have to extract 

 the mesfjuite and catclaw honey when it is 

 so thick that you can hardly uncap it; and 

 it is very hard to extract without breaking 

 the combs out of the frames. When I was 

 in the bee business in Safford, Ariz., I had 

 a galvanized tank that held 1,800 gallons, 

 and my honey was put in it direct from the 

 extractor. This tank was put where the full 

 rays of the hot sun could strike it all day; 

 and the first 10 days after it was extracted 

 there would be a white foam rise on the 

 honey. Some times it would keep rising for 

 15 days. Just as soon as this impurity would 

 stop rising I would diaw it off into the 

 five-gallon cans, and then it was ready to 

 ship. If this tank was nearly full, I have 

 known this foam to rise six inches on top 

 of the honey, and the surface of the foam 

 itself would become perfectly dry and free 

 from stickiness. In this way my honey 

 seemed to ripen in this hot country as nicely 

 as the bees could rii)en it. 



Miami, Ariz, W. D. Jefferson. 



