m 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



could in the least annoy or disturb the bees, was re- 

 moved. In short, he took the best care of his pets 

 that he knew how. A. A. Fradenburg. 



Port Washing-ton, 0.,May 17, 1880. 



I«vvarmly approve your idea, friend F., 

 for I well know that the regular bee journals 

 do not reach a great portion of the people. 

 Neither is it possible for the bee journals to 

 contain all that is to be said pro and con, in 

 regard to our now rapidly developing and 

 favorite industry. In regard to giving freely 

 of all the information we possess, to those 

 around us, I will quote from an old and 

 trusty authority : 



Give, and it shall be given unto you; good mea- 

 sure, pressed down, and shaken together, and run- 

 ning over, shall men give into your bosom. For 

 with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall 

 be measured to you again. Luke vi. 28. 



1VINTERIN« IN CELLARS. 



fn the Feb. No. of Gleanings, lam asked if I have 

 kept my bees in the cellar all through the warm 

 weather in January without trouble. I might 

 answer "Yes," and stop at that; but, if you will al- 

 low me, I would like to have my say in full, having 

 been 20 years learning something about cellar win- 

 tering. I think quite likely, for a large number of 

 persons and places, chaff hives outdoors are best; 

 and, if I were commencing de novo, I would certain- 

 ly give them a thorough trial. But so long as the 

 success of the past few winters attends me, I shall 

 hardly change. When I had only a few hives, there 

 seemed to be no trouble; but with increase of num- 

 bers the matter became more difficult, until, one 

 winter, I lost 48 out of 50, largely due, however, to 

 being put in the cellar in bad condition. 



I then had a room in the cellar, made warm, with 

 cement bottom, but it was not a great success. Ad- 

 am Grimm showed me a cellar built purposely, with 

 cement bottom, ventilated at each of the four cor- 

 ners, with which he was sanguine of success; but I 

 afterward learned that it failed. I then occupied 

 the room in the cellar that I have now used for sev- 

 eral years. This room is 18^ by 17 feet, and 7 ft. 3 in. 

 high, with lathed and plastered walls and ceilingand 

 clay bottom, capable of holding more than 300 hives. 

 Two chimneys run from the cellar bottom up through 

 the house, making the entire height of the chimneys 

 from the cellar bottom over 40 feet. Into one of 

 these, a stovepipe was put for ventilation. In the 

 winter of '76-7, a stove took its place in the cellar, 

 and when very cold or damp, a slow lire was kindled, 

 and close watch kept that the thermometer might 

 stand as near 40° as possible. The 99 colonies put in 

 came out in good condition, without the loss of a 

 single colony, having been confined 145 days. 



The next winter, 124 colonies were wintered with 

 the same result. The next fall, Nov. 26, 1878, I put 

 in 160 colonies, and lost 6 or nearly 4 per cent. The 

 warm days in winter gave me some trouble, the bees 

 getting quite uneasy. I opened, at night, the door 

 and window, letting them remain so all night, thus 

 thoroughly changing the air and lowering tempera- 

 ture. Upon opening up the cellar at night the bees 

 would become very noisy, but by morning all would 

 be quiet, even with the full blaze of the sun pour- 

 ing into the window. The next fall, or last fall, my 

 wife insisted that bees needed more ventilation; so 

 I had a hole knocked in the other chimney, and put 

 in a stovepipe running to within 8 inches of the cel- 



lar bottom. The two chimneys seemed to give 

 abundant ventilation, and partly because of sickness 

 and partly because I wanted to see what they would 

 do without attention, there was literally and posi- 

 tively nothing done for them to the 20th of March. 

 If the house had been locked up and I had been in 

 Europe, tnere would have been just as much done 

 for them. So I think I may answer your question 

 in Feb. Gleanings, by saying that I kept my bees 

 in the cellar through the warm Jan. weather, with- 

 out trouble. 



March 20th, I opened the cellar at night, and Mar. 

 27th, I commenced taking out the bees, finding 9 

 colonies, or nearly 4 per cent, dead ; and I am asham- 

 ed to say, some of those had starved to death. 



Now I wish I could say just why I have succeeded 

 so well as I have, but I will try, in as few words us 

 possible, to say just what I am conscious of doing 

 that may have a bearing on the subject. First of all, 

 the cellar must be thoroughly ventilated. With this 

 point gained, I am not so sure what the best tem- 

 perature is. Last winter it kept from 40 J to 50°, and 

 seemed to be all right. The number obliges me to 

 pile them up like so many bricks. Each pile is inde- 

 pendent of every other pile, so that jarring a hive 

 can only jar the other 4 or 5 hives in the same pile. 

 At the bottom of the pile, I put a hive cover, rais- 

 ing it an inch from the ground by means of blocks 

 under the corners. On this cover a hive is placed, 

 the entrance being left open, and the quilt, if water 

 tight, turned forward at the back end so as to leave 

 an opening of about a quarter of an inch. On this 

 hive I put two pieces of inch board about 18 inches 

 long and 2 inches wide, for the next hive to rest on, 

 and thus finish the pile, making it 4, 5, or 6 hives 

 high. I try to get them into the cellar as early as 

 they will allow, without boiling out of the hive. 

 This is sometime in the month of Nov., never earlier 

 than the 10th. I like to get the hives in perfectly 

 dry, with no frost in them ; and I handle them care- 

 fully so as not to disturb the bees. Then they are 

 left without any winter flight until the soft maples 

 are in bloom, and I like to see them at work on the 

 maples or willows the day they are carried out. 



WIRE SEPARATORS. 



I am glad to see in May Gleanings, Prof. Turner's 

 suggestions; but the bees (my bees, at least) will be 

 sure to put propolis on the wire cloth. No matter 

 how large the openings in the cloth, at least the an- 

 gles will be glued. Now is there any necessity for 

 wire running in two directions'? I am going to try 

 some made in this way: On the uprights of the 

 wide frames, at the places where tin separators are 

 usually nailed on, I will put a row of small wire nails, 

 perhaps J4 inch apart, driving them nearly in; then 

 I will weave tine wire back and forth on these nails, 

 driving the nails down tight afterward. Perhups 

 the wires will not keep sufficiently taut to work. 



C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, Mc Henry Co.,111., May 11, 1880. 



The above seems to sum up pretty thor- 

 oughly the matter of cellar wintering. If ev- 

 er in the future I find chaff hives unsatis- 

 factory, I shall adopt just about the direc- 

 tions given above. — The single wires for 

 separators, I fear, will be bent apart too eas- 

 ily; and,, when they are to be taken from the 

 hives, the propolis will stick them to the 

 next frame, so they will be stretched and 

 bent out of place. 



