304 



THE BEE-KEEFERS' REVIEW. 



more attractive, that is, it looks bigger, and 

 this helps retailers in making sales. As an 

 offset, the sections and foundation cost 

 more. A correspondent of Gleanings re- 

 ports to that journal how this matter was 

 looked at by some of the members of the 

 Iowa State Bee-Keepers' Association. Here 

 is the report : 



" This question came up twice at our State 

 convention, but no discussion on the subject 

 was made. Eugene Secor thought that wide 

 sections are not capped over as soon when 

 nearly two inches thick — a thing of consider- 

 able importance — while W. C. Frazier felt 

 quite sure that eight to the foot would be the 

 nearest right. D. Benton, my neighbor, uses 

 seven to the foot, and I feel sure that his 

 sections are capped sooner than mine, which 

 are l>g inch, and do not stand so much in 

 need of separators as do mine ; and if sec- 

 tions were eight to the foot would they not 

 be built much straighter, and be ripe and 

 capped nearly as soon as built ? To be sure, 

 if full sheets of foundation were used this 

 would be one point against these very nar- 

 row sections. I think that quite good combs 

 might be built in them by using starters 

 only ; but I presume that the uutasty drone 

 comb would, with the latter plan, be built. 

 The grocers here will pay only ten cents 

 apiece for sections of comb honey ; and if 

 they were built eight to the foot then we 

 could sell our honey at home at a fair profit 

 —about as good as 1.5 cts. per lb. I know it 

 has been claimed that it would not be an 

 honest pound : neither are l^g sections an 

 honest pound ; and I can see no dishonest 

 act about selling sections by the piece. I 

 have spent much thought on this matter, 

 and I hardly know which would be the best 

 for us. Fbank Covekdale. 



Welton, la., Oct. 11. 

 The editor comments as follows : 

 I We can't discover that there is any cheat- 

 ing when honey is sold by tlie section. If 

 you can get more money for narrow sections, 

 use them.]" 



How to Decide Upon and Sflcure the Right 

 Degree of Heat in the Bee Cellar. 



Dr. Miller gives some most excellent ad- 

 vice upon these points in an article contrib- 

 uted to the American Bee-Keeper. His hints 

 are timely and I reproduce them with pleas- 

 ure: 



"Last winter was milder than u-urI. It 

 seemed warm enough dmiuir the fore part of 

 the winter without any fire in my cellar--, 

 and I thought that I'd see how the bees 

 would come out not 'o have any fire all win- 

 ter. I doubt if I'll ever try the expevim^-nt 

 again. From pretty well toward 300 I came 

 down to 128. To be sure they didn't m11 die 

 in the cellar— indeed the larger part of them 

 died after they came out of the cellar, but I 

 suspect they were weakened by being some- 



what chilled in the cellar, and consequently 

 couldn't stand the remarkably severe spring 

 and early summer as well as they otherwise 

 would have done. 



Now I don't pretend to say that every one 

 should have fire in the cellar. I have some 

 faint hope that some day I'll have a cellar 

 so warm that I'll not need to have fire. But 

 I do believe that by some means the cellar, 

 if a cellar is used, should be kept from get- 

 ting down below 40° or 45". 



And it will not do for me to go entirely by 

 what some one else finds the right tempera- 

 ture. For one thing, thermometers vary — 

 sometimes five or ten degrees. So if I have 

 a thermometer that registers five degrees too 

 high and yours registers five degrees too 

 low, and you try to keep your cellar at the 

 same temperature as mine, there will be an 

 actual difference of ten degrees. Then again, 

 cellars differ. I'm not certain that I fully 

 know just why, but there's a difference. A 

 dry cellar doesn't need to be kept so warm 

 as a damp one. Don't you know that on a 

 morning in early spring, when the surface 

 of the ground is frozen up, you feel quite 

 comfortable, and as it begins to thaw you 

 feel more chilly ? The damp air is a better 

 conductor than that which is dry. 



Start with the theory that some where 

 about \'r is the best temperature for a cel- 

 lar, but don't stick too close to that theory. 

 Watch closely, and find out whether your 

 bees seem more quiet and comfortable when 

 the thermometer goes above or below that 

 point. 



If you can get along without fire in your 

 cellar do so. Some come down severely on 

 anything of the kind, saying it isn't natural, 

 and it's injurious to the bees. Well, bees 

 are just like other people. They're better 

 without fire if they don't need it, but it's a 

 good deal better to have fire than to be chill- 

 ed to death. I have used an oil stove in the 

 cellar, but I shall never do so again. Of 

 course an oil stove would be all right if there 

 were a chimney to carry off the smoke and 

 foul gases. [That's the way I shall use 

 mine this winter if I need to use it. I shall 

 run the pipe up throiLch the floor and con- 

 nect it with the pipe of my coal stove. — Ed. 

 Review.] The heat from an oil stove is all 

 riarht, but they are eenerally supposed to be 

 used without any kind of a chimney, and 

 that's what makes the mischief. 



The stoves I use are small cylinder stoves, 

 and with anthracite coal a low, steady fire 

 can be kept up all winter. It is quite easy 

 to re'zulate the matter by means of cleaning 

 out the a^hes more or less closeh, as also by 

 limiting the amouut of coal put in each 

 time. Attention to the fire each morning 

 and evening is all that is necessary. 



Bat your cellar may he of that sort that 

 only occasioudiv be-^omes too cold, and it is 

 not worth while to keeo a stove in it. In 

 that case you mw c nry down heated stone* 

 or jues of hot water. B-^ •sure your water juss 

 are tishtly corked, for steam escaping from 

 them is very undenrable. Wherever the cli- 

 mate is cold enouffh, every family ought to 

 have a rubber water has, or one or more 

 soapstones. These will do good service in 

 helping to warm the cellar. Of course bank- 



