Vol. XV11. 



JANUARY 15, 1889. 



No. 2. 



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BEE-CAVES VS. HOUSE-CELLARS 

 WINTERING BEES. 



FOR 



SOME THOUGHTS ON QUERIES NO. 94, 95, AND 9b\ 



^ ELLAK wintering of bees has come to be quite 

 |£ an absorbing thought in the minds of all api- 

 RJJ arists living north of latitude 40°, and, in my 

 ^^ opinion, whoever lives in the year 2000 will 

 see nearly if not all colonies of bees then ex- 

 isting north of this degree of latitude, wintered in 

 an underground repository. If this is to be so, it is 

 of some moment that the ideas which are now as- 

 suming form on this subject be turned into the 

 right channel. Why I make the prophesy as above 

 is, that, with each succeeding year, the timber land 

 of our country is growing less and less; so that, 

 when the year 2000 comes, very few if any of the 

 forests which now exist here at the North will be 

 allowed to stand. In these forests have been our 

 protection from the extreme cold which now is be- 

 ginning to be experienced in many localities where 

 the timber is already becoming scarce. This timber 

 is of a twofold protection against cold: Fir-t, it 

 holds the water in the ground so that many springs 

 exist which otherwise would not; and these 

 springs, where they abound, modify the air to a 

 much larger extent than many suppose; and, sec- 

 ond, the force of the wind is broken, so that, when 

 a warm day appears, the bees in a sunny nook out 

 of the wind jan get a nice flight, while those in an 

 exposed situation can do no such thing. Thirty- 

 five years ago there was scarcely a winter when 

 bees could not fly as often as once in six weeks; 

 and our mill on the stream which runs, or used to 

 run, about 50 rods from where I live, was run by 



water nearly every day in the year. Now we often 

 have from four to five months in which the bees 

 can not fly. and the mill is run nearly if not quite 

 half of the time with steam, on account of lack of 

 water. I used to leave two-thirds of my bees on 

 their summer stands, putting the other third in the 

 cellar; now I put two-thirds of them in the cellar, 

 leaving the other third out, packing them for win- 

 ter in the best possible manner; yet, with all of my 

 care, the cellar seems to be winning favor with 

 each succeeding year. 



Now, aside from the causes given above, there is 

 another reason why the cellar is gaining in favor. 

 When I first began to winter bees in the cellar I 

 used one under the house, while now I use one en- 

 tirely away from any building; and this latter is 

 so much superior to the former that it is winning 

 my affections altogether. In what is it superior to 

 the former? Chiefly in the temperature being en- 

 tirely controlled without any interference of mine 

 during the whole time that the bees are in their 

 winter quarters. In answering query 94, Dr. Miller 

 and Mrs. Harrison are favorable to a warm room 

 overhead, presumably to keep the cellar warm; 

 while in Query 95, both are compelled to lower the 

 temperature by carrying in ice or otherwise. Now, 

 this is just where a cellar under a superstructure 

 fails. Just in so far as a warm room is of advan- 

 tage in extreme cold weather.it is of positive disad- 

 vantage in a warm spell in winter. Who wants to 

 be obliged to keep a tire in or over a cellar all win- 

 ter, every time the mercury sinks to zero, or open 

 all doors and windows which the cellar contains, 

 carry in ice and what not, every time the mercury 

 rises to 50° or 60° above zero? And even after we 



