MARCH 1, lOlT) 



wcatlim' tlioy ;ui' ;it tlie holtoiii of tlie liivo 

 where tliey sliould be. 



]\ry hives aie very seldom moldy or wet in 

 winter, and only occasionally will a little 

 water trickle down inside. A telescope cover 

 fits down over all. Two gable holes one inch 

 in diameter have been bored in for ventila- 

 tion. My idea is that a slow upward venti- 

 lation to draw olT any moisture is what is 

 wanted without creating- a draft, and yet 

 something that will hold the heat of the 

 cluster. 



1 am right in the heart of Pittsburg, 

 l)ut in the residential section, where every 

 vacant lot and hillside has its quota of 

 sweet clover, aster, and goldenrod. Besides 

 there are many basswoods and linden trees. 

 Then three miles in two directions will get 

 the bees forage in the hillv counlrvside. I 



never traced any, hut imagine tiiey make 

 st)me long trips. 



From four hives last year I got 75 lbs. of 

 comb honey, and 120 lbs. in shallow frames. 

 Besides, 1 had two swarms, and started five 

 nuclei of one to three frames each, which 

 I sold. 1 have never had any disease but 

 once, and I am not sure about that. I soon 

 got rid of the hive that had it. 



1 have several friends, young and old, that 

 have bees here that they got from me. I 

 try to interest them in up-to-date beekeep- 

 ing. I even gave some to two parties be- 

 cause they were enthusiastic boys, and 

 wanted something to do. Now they can 

 handle the bees well. 



If you have as good success wintering on 

 aster as 1 have had you need not worry. 



Pittsburg;, Pa. 



A WINTER IN DR, MILLER^S BEE = CELLAR' 



BY C. C. MILLER 



An intended visit to Washington, D. C, a 

 year ago last fall, made me want to cellar 

 the bees as soon as it would do, so they 

 were taken in Xov. 8, a little snow being on 

 the hives, but no attention was paid to that. 

 In the evening I went down cellar to see 

 how quiet or noisy the bees were, and was 

 amazed to find one hive lying on its side, 

 without cover or bottom-board, and the 

 frames partly out of the hive. The whole 

 row from which it fell was like " a bowing 

 wall," several piles just ready to topple 

 over. I summoned aid, and we lifted doAvn 

 ]ierhaps 25 or 30 hives, and returned them 

 in jiroper order. Incidentally we got one of 

 the worst stingings of our lives. Evidently 

 the bit of snow melting on the covers had 

 jnade a toboggan. 



Moral. — People who use zinc covers 

 siiould sweep off the snow before taking in 

 cellar. 



The family started for Washington Nov. 

 11. leaving in the house a cousin and liis 

 daughter, thoroughly trustworthy, but in- 

 experienced with bees. The bees did prol)- 

 ably as well as if we had been at home; but 

 the weather was unprecedentedly warm, and 

 it would no doubt have been better if they 

 liad been taken in a month or more later. 



On reaching home. Dee. 19, T went down 

 cellar with some anxiety as to what I might 

 find, but found nothing alarming. The bees 

 may have had a pretty warm time of it, 

 hnl Iheji had lind (/ood air. 



The thermometer in the cellar was a rick- 

 ety old affair, and I got a new one, a Taylor. 



guaranteed. Since its installment I am sus- 

 picious that the old one bad reported the 

 cellar wanner than it really was. At any 

 rate the cellar seemed cooler with the new 

 one. Following is a record for several days 

 in the month of January, temperature being 

 taken on the morning of each day. The 

 first column gives the day of the month. 

 The outside cellar-door is a double trap- 

 door, and the second column shows how 

 many inches high the one leaf was raised. 

 Of course the '' " means that the door wa^ 

 closed. The third column gives the outdoor 

 temperature, and the fourth the temperature 

 in the cellar. 



Day 



■Tamiary 12 . . . 

 .January 13 . . . 

 January 14 . . . 

 .Tanuai-y 15 . . . 

 •Tanuary 16 . . . 

 .Tanuary 17 . . . 

 •Tanuary 22 . . . 

 ■Tanuary 29 . . . 

 •Tanuary 30. . . 



Door Temperature Temperature 



outdoors in cellar 



2 1 45 



6 12 46 



25 43 



30 29 47 



30 33 46 



27 30 47 



6 8 42 



36 31 53 



6 16 46 



Some of those figures do not appear very 

 consistent. Jan. 12, with the door open 2 

 inches, and only 1 above zero outdoors, it 

 was 45 in cellar. Jan. 14, with the temper- 

 ature outside 24 degrees warmer and the 

 door shut, one might expect it several de- 

 grees warmer in cellar; but instead of that 

 it was 2 degrees colder. To make the table 

 complete, or, rather, more nearly complete, 

 there should be another column giving the 

 velocity of the wind. Jan. 14, the closed 

 door and the warmer weather outside were 

 more than counterbalanced by a strong wind. 



