Vol. XV. 



JUNE 1, 1887. 



No. 11 



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FBIEND POPPLETON'S REVIE^?^/■. 



THE "EXPLANATION AND DEFENSE." 



^5% EFORE me lies a copy of the Bee -Keeper's 

 Kji Guide for April, 1886. According to the ta- 

 ^^ bles published in this number, its editor had 

 ■*^ been wintering bees in the cellar only three 

 winters; and the saving in stores by cellar 

 wintering was, upon an average, two pounds and 

 nearly one ounce per colony. I presume some of 

 my readers are ready to exclaim, " I guess you were 

 a little wild I Two pounds and one ounce of honey 

 will not pay four times over the expense of cellar 

 wintering." Not so fast, my friends. Have .you 

 any idea what it costs to winter bees in a cellar? 

 You, Mr. Editor, put it at 2.5 cents per colony, when 

 you were reporting the Michigan State Convention, 

 held in Lansing two or three years ago. Well, I'll 

 tell you, my friends, the conclusion 1 arrived at, 

 and I reached it in neither a wild nor a careless 

 manner, but by careful inquiry, by correspondence 

 and otherwise, and it is this: Bees can be wintered 

 in a cellar at a cost of three cents per colony! Count- 

 ing a man's time at one shilling per hour, they can 

 be carried in and out of a cellar for Z cents per colo- 

 ny, and the interest upon a cellar or repository will 

 vary from half a cent' per colony to one and a half 

 cents. My cellar under my house will hold 100 colo- 

 nies, and it cost not far from $10.00. The soil is hard 

 clay, the walls are given a slant, and no stone walls 

 are needed. Mr. R. L. Taylor has a new cellar un- 

 der his honey=house. The walls are stoned uj). 

 The cellar cost #50, (K), antl will hold 2,50 colonies. Mr. 

 J. H. Robertson has an outdoor cellar made of 

 boards, and the walls are filled with sawdust. I 

 think it cost him about $40.00, and I at one time saw 

 350 colonies inside of it. 

 After having made the aseertion in regard to tlje 



saving of stores by cellar wintering, I then said: 

 " But, of far greater importance, it is only by the 

 cellar method that the wintering of bees can ever 

 be reduced to a perfect system." 



With all the care that I took in writing my book, 

 to have it so worded that readers would be compelled 

 to understand it, I now see that the above is liable 

 to be misconstrued. If I understand Mr. Poppleton 

 he has, I think, misunderstood me upon this point. 

 By a "perfect system" I mean one that secures 

 uniform results. Prof. Cook, in his article in the 

 May 1st issue, covers this point so completely, and 

 in so few words, that I will quote them. He says; 

 "Now, why I prefer a cellar is this: If the cellar 

 is right, we are always safe, providing we look out 

 for food. With chafl' hives, we are not safe; at 

 least, it so seems to me, even in the latitude of 

 Central Ohio. Occasional Ij- a long, severe, unin- 

 terrupted winter comes, and the bees are swept 

 away, when those in the cellar are as safe as ever." 



Friend Poppleton says: "I do not think that 

 yourself, or any one else who practices your generT 

 al system of management, will, as a rule, be suc- 

 cessful in outdoor wintering." No reasotis are 

 given for this belief (I wish there had been), and 

 I have puzzled over it quite a little without being 

 able to so much as arrive at a guess. 1 have always 

 worked a tow colonics upon the old plan (the same 

 as almost everybody works them), and have winter- 

 ed part of them upon the summer stands and part 

 in the cellar, and also wintered, upon their summer 

 stands, part of the colonies worked in the new 

 way, and I have failed to see that the latter winter- 

 ed one whit behind the others, whether In the cel- 

 lar or out of doors; while those worked upon the 

 " Hutchinson plan " have alwa^^ yiejtjed a greater 

 profit. Mr, Donane lives 3H miles from here. He 

 ^oes not believe in "contraction" nor "starters 



