718 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1918 



Fig. 4. — Another view of the honey-processing room 



of Adams & Myers, showing the power plan and 



extractor. 



they say they are not worth saving. I doubt 

 it. 



I introduce Adams & Myers at this time 

 because there are many beekeepers ' ' on the 

 fence " as to the style and size of hive they 

 should use. During the winter months bee- 

 keepers will need to be making their plans 

 as to what they are going to do. If they 

 want to know my opinion I would say that 

 if they are in some other line of business, 

 such as farming or fruit-growing, they will 

 not go far wrong if they adopt a 12- or 13- 

 frame hive; and I have yet to meet a practi- 

 cal honey-producer who will deny that such 

 a hive is an advantage. If it did not ' ' cost 



so like fury," many of them would change 

 over. Then there is a large class who fear 

 that they could not lift such big hives. If 

 you could see Adams & Myers at work, you 

 would discover that it is more a matter of 

 brains than of muscle. The right use of a 

 wheelbarrow at the right time and place, 

 suitable runways to and from the honey- 

 house, and a knowledge of how to "get the 

 advantage of a burden," will overcome to a 

 great extent the problem of lifting. 



Fig. 5. — ■Tlie point of interest in this picture is the 

 little three-frame nucleus next to a screened win- 

 dow, at the upper right-hand corner of Adams & 

 Myers' extracting-house. The bees, as they are 

 brought into the extracting-house, gradually ac- 

 cumulate at the top of the window. A little nucleus 

 containing three frames of brood is placed near this 

 bunch of bees. They gradually work down into 

 this nucleus, after which it is put out into the yard 

 and given a queen-cell or a queen. 



WITHIN THE BEE CELLAR 



WII EN we 

 built our 

 new bee- 

 cellar, we e X - 

 pected to realize 

 some of our 

 dreams of p e r - 

 feet wintering, 

 for this cellar 

 was built so 



deep into the ground and protected above 

 so well that its temperature was affected but 

 little by the fluctuations of the temperature 

 outside. In addition to this, a mammoth 

 ventilator of the Bingham type was in- 

 stalled and equipped with a regulating de- 

 vice, by means of which it was not difficult 

 to hold the temperature at 45 degrees, 

 which at that time was considered the 

 proper temperature for bee-cellars thruout 

 the winter. 



The bees did winter well in this cellar, if 

 we use the ordinary definition of good win- 

 tering. The colonies that were given granu- 

 lated sugar syrup for winter stores showed 



No Hard and Fast Rules Concern- 

 ing Temperature and Ventilation. 

 Vary According to Behavior of Bees 



By Belva M. Demuth 



about as near 

 perfect winter- 

 ing as we have 

 ever seen; but, 

 as a means of 

 wintering colo- 

 nies on natural 

 stores as they 

 average year 

 after year with 

 us, this elaborate and expensive cellar was a 

 disappointment. To go into the cellar during 

 December or January and note the feeling of 

 warmth on entering and then observe the 

 masses of motionless and apparently content- 

 ed bees hanging comfortably below the 

 combs, was enough to make one regret hav- 

 ing left half of the colonies outside to wea- 

 ther the blizzards of the cruel northern win- 

 ter. To go in again, the latter part of Feb- 

 ruary and March, and note the greatly in- 

 creased death rate, as testified to by the 

 number of dead bees to be swept up, and 

 the restlessness of many of the colonies win- 



