46 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUIIE. 



Jan. 



ventilation, concluded that his contributors agreed 

 in that view, although I did not suppose my own 

 contribution could be counted on that side. Tf a 

 beginner, however, were to ask me about it, I 

 should say that, although many were successful 

 who paid no attention to ventilation whatever, yet 

 the fact remained that ventilation must be consid- 

 ered a matter of vital importance. Very few 

 would dispute this in practice, even if they should 

 in theory; for many of those who pay no attention 

 to the ventilation of cellars are very particular as 

 to the ventilation of hives in the cellar. It re- 

 quires very little reasoning to show that it is use- 

 less to ventilate a hive if the cellar be not ventilat- 

 ed. The only question is, Does your cellar take 

 care of its own ventilation without any effort on 

 your part? I suspect there is great difference in 

 this respect. A cellar whose walls are full of 

 cracks, or which are made of porous material, may 

 receive through such walls enough fresh air to 

 need no care from its owner. Even in that case it 

 is possible that a sub-ventilator might pay well by 

 way of keeping up temperature. If, with no special 

 care, the temperature keeps up to 40 or 45° in the 

 cellar, and the air is at all times fresh and sweet— 

 and there may be many such cellars— then I should 

 hardly consider a sub-ventilator advisable. But 

 suppose the thermometer outdoors has the sportive 

 habit of coquetting around among the twenties 

 and thirties below zero, making the air in the cel- 

 lar go down to freezing, then, although the air may 

 be pure enough it is not warm enough, and it may 

 cost a good deal less to warm the air by having it 

 come through a sub-ventilator than to warm it in 

 any other way. 



Cellaring bees is practiced only where it is cold, 

 and probably there is no reason for it, other than 

 the greater warmth in the cellar. Where the win- 

 ters never send the mercury below the freezing- 

 point, no one thinks of cellaring. Even where the 

 thermometer sometimes goes 20 to 40° below what 

 is considered the best temperature for the cellar, 

 outdoor wintering is preferred. Now, why? The 

 answer probably will be, that the bees in such a 

 climate will have a chance to fly at times, if out- 

 doors, and in the cellar the confinement will be 

 longer; and, besides, the bees will get too warm, 

 and be uneasy in the cellar if the temperature gets 

 above 50°. Yes, but it doesn't do the bees any 

 hurt, nor make them uneasy, to have the ther- 

 mometer go up to 55 or 60° outdoors, even if it is in 

 the night, and they can't fly, and we can even up 

 the other part by carrying out the bees for a fly 

 every time the bees outdoors have a fly. No, the 

 warmest advocates of cellaring, and those who in- 

 sist that no ventilation is needed, would, I think, 

 insist that, in a mild climate, even if you give the 

 bees the same fly, and never allow the cellar to be- 

 come too warm, they will winter better out. Now, 

 if there is any other reason than because the air is 

 better outdoors, will some one please tell me what 

 it is? The fact is, there is a density of ignorance 

 regarding the value of fresh air for man, beast, 

 and insect; and I advise each one to experiment a 

 little for himself and see if his cellar is one of the 

 kind that lets in enough air when every thing is 

 tight shut. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111., Jan., 1889. 



Friend M., in G. M. Doolittle's article in 

 this present issue you will notice that he 

 discusses cellars versus bee-caves. Well, his 



bee-cave has an advantage over most cellars 

 in having from three to four feet of dry dirt 

 over the most exposed portion. This dry 

 dirt is covered with a roof, so it is al- 

 ways dry ; and there is enough of it so that 

 no frost ever gets through to the bee-cellar. 

 Now, I am inclined to think that this dry 

 dirt overhead affords all the ventilation 

 needed, and it may be the very best ventila- 

 tion, therefore no sub-earth ventilator is 

 used. In ordinary cellars, however, and 

 perhaps in many bee-caves, the frost would 

 get through enough so that a sub-earth 

 ventilator might be of very great use in 

 keeping down the temperature, as you ex- 

 press it. 



In regard to your last point, as to why 

 bees are better off outdoors than they are 

 in the cellar, I should answer, For the 

 simple reason that anybody or any thing 

 having life is better off outdoors than in a 

 cellar; yes, better off outdoors than in a 

 house. Remember what I said about the 

 health of the negroes in the South. Out- 

 doors we have the kind of ventilation that 

 God made ; but in a cellar or in a bee-house, 

 we have such as man provides. For a few 

 weeks back, I have been having a great 

 deal of enjoyment in manipulating the im- 

 mense ventilators of our new greenhouse. 

 Whenever the thermometer is above 40 

 outdoors, the large ventilators are swung 

 wide open by the aid of the proper machine- 

 ry. The consequence is, that my plants 

 have had almost as good ventilation as if 

 they were entirely outdoors all the while, 

 and at the same time they have been pro- 

 tected entirely from the frost, clear up to 

 the present time, Jan. 10. The plants have 

 now an excellent color, and they are hardy 

 and robust, but they do not grow nearly as 

 rapidly as if I kept them warmer. The quali- 

 ty of my plants in the spring will certainly 

 be superior ; but our lettuce grows so slowly 

 that we shall not have any fit to cut before 

 February. I presume that, if the ventila- 

 tion of the cellar were just as good as it is 

 outdoors, the bees would stay in their hives, 

 and behave themselves just as well as they 

 do outdoors ; and I think I have wintered a 

 hive or two in the cellar when they were 

 just as quiet, and stayed in their hives just 

 as well as those out of doors did; but 

 when I had a large number in the cellar, 

 especially when some of them were rousing 

 strong colonies, they crawled out of their 

 hives and smelled bad, and acted fearfully ; 

 in fact, the only way I could keep them in 

 their hives was to make the cellar so cold as 

 to freeze them back when they came out at 

 the entrance ; and a good many times they 

 would come out, even with the temperature 

 below 40°. They acted just as if they came 

 out and died, solely to be contrary. 1 don't 

 believe that I ever want any more bees in 

 the cellar, here in our locality. By the way, 

 Ernest has one colony of bees in a Heddon 

 hive ins his cellar, during this unusually 

 warm winter. The Heddon hive is so shal- 

 low he did not like to risk it outdoors with 

 the^rest. l Well,M;hey are wintering nicely 

 so far, and they behave themselves nicely, 

 and as well as the bees do outdoors. Of 

 cotirse, he keeps the cellar dark. 



