264 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



use partially filled sections. He estimates 

 the extracted honey at eight cents per pound 

 and the comb at fourteen cents per pound. 

 If the points made above are well taken, 

 then the profit from feeding cane syrup, with 

 granulated sugar at five cents per pound, 

 would be considerably increased. I do not 

 wonder that in these trying seasons Mr. 

 Hasty's mind turned in this direction. Sure- 

 ly this is a matter that may well be dis- 

 cussed. Let us not cry knavery or fraud, 

 from imagined dangers but candidly inves- 

 tigate the matter, and if this course does 

 offer a right and justifiable means to increase 

 our profits let us adopt it. If by exper- 

 ience or argumeiit we can find any valid ob- 

 jection to it, then let it, with all adulteration, 

 and with glucose honey be condemned, for- 

 bidden, and the practice of producing it 

 wholly prevented. 

 Ag'l. Col., Sept. 21, 1892. 



A Perfect Cellar for Wintering Bees— It is 



Made of Stone, Pine Leaves, Lumber 



and Sawdust 



B. TAYLOK. 



T HAVE built and 

 J. used three winter- 

 ing cellars for bees. 

 The first one was 

 constructed of logs, 

 on exactly the plan 

 of your first one, as 

 mentioned in your 

 leader in September 

 Review, with the 

 exception of the 

 roof which was of 

 boards made water 

 proof. The floor overhead was of narrow 

 boards with three inch space between them. 

 The space between this slat-roof and the 

 roof was filled nearly full of straw, and all 

 the ventilation was through this three feet 

 of straw. I used this cellar ten years. The 

 hives and combs were always free from 

 dampness and mold and the bees came out 

 bright and clean. It was consumed by fire 

 twelve years ago and I rebuilt it with pine 

 boards and put on a shingle roof. The in- 

 side arrangement was on the same plan as 

 the old one: a lath floor overhead and the 

 space between it and the roof filled with three 



feet of dry pine leaves. Pine leaves are far 

 better than straw or chaff' for this purpose as 

 they will not absorb and retain mois-ture and 

 offer less harbor for mice and rats as they 

 contain nothing in the way of food. This 

 structure I used six or eight years with good 

 results, and if the boards had been well cov- 

 ered with gas tar on both sides and the 

 studding had been treated in the same way 

 before the boards were nailed on, I think it 

 would have remained sound for fifteen or 

 twenty years, perhaps more. But, as it was, 

 it began to show signs of decay, and I re- 

 solved three years ago, to construct a new 

 one out of lasting material. 



Stone was used as the cheapest and best 

 material for the exposed parts. I will ex- 

 plain that these houses mentioned were one- 

 half below ground with the earth banked to 

 the eaves and had three doors ten inches 

 apart to keep out cold from that direction. 

 The new cellar is built in a clay bank so 

 steep that while the entrance at the front is 

 on a level with the ground, the top of the 

 wall for the 24-foot building is but six inches 

 above the ground at the rear. The size is 

 16x24 feet and the wall is 1^., feet high in the 

 clear, 20 inches thick at the bottom for 4)^ 

 feet high, then a jog of eight inches is made 

 on the idside and the wall for the upper four 

 feet is but 12 inches thick. The eight inch 

 space in the top of wall is filled with pine 

 leaves kept in place by lajing 2x0 joists in 

 mortar on top of jog and setting 2x4 stud- 

 ding even with inside wall then nailing ship- 

 lap boards on the studding. This prevents 

 the entrance of frost through the top of the 

 wall, and it has remaintd perfectly dry 

 through the three years since it was built. 



The floor over the cellar is made by first 

 putting a set of 2x4 joiats 1(> inches apart, 

 ceiling with 8-inch shiplap boards on the un- 

 der side then filling to top of joists with 

 sawdust, then laying a floor of matched 

 boards on top, covering the floor with tarred 

 paper, then putting on another set of joists 

 directly over the first ones, and on top of 

 the first floor of boards and paper, nailing 

 them firmly, then filling even willi their tops 

 with sawdust as before. Over this is laid 

 another floor of boards with paper on top. 

 On this is laid the third set of joists and the 

 space between them filled with sawdust, and 

 a final floor of good matched flooring is 

 put on top of all. This makes a floor 12 

 inches thick of alternate layers of boards 

 paper and sawdust, and no frost has yet pen- 



