AIARCH 1, 1915 



and 54 in the cellar. The bees were a little 

 noisy, and there was a slightly disagreeable 

 smell in the cellar. The cellar door was 

 kept closed; for if it had been left open the 

 bees would have flown out of the cellar. At 

 times it is all right to keep the door open, 

 oven if a few bees do fly out, for keeping 

 the door shut makes the air foul, and more 

 bees may tly out and fall on the cellar bot- 

 tom than would fly out with the door open. 

 But when it comes as warm as (50 outdoors, 

 and that toward the end of their winter's 

 confinement, opening a door which admits 

 the light is likely to invite to a general ex- 

 odus. 



I don't think the uneasiness of the bees 

 was because they were too warm, but be- 

 cause the air was foul. Bees ventilate when 

 the air is foul in the hive; but in this case 

 there was no ventilation of the cellar, and 

 so the air of the cellar outside the hives had 

 become more or less vitiated, and ventilating 

 the hive could not have its usual effect. 

 Ordinarily the air outside is colder than it is 

 in the cellar, and so heavier. The heavier 

 outside air forces itself into the cellar 

 through all cracks and openings, much as 

 water would force its way in if the cellar 

 were surrounded by water; the warmer im- 

 pure air is forced upward and outward, 

 and thus a supply of fresh air is forced into 

 the cellar. But when the air outside becomes 

 warmer and lighter than the air in the cellar, 

 the cold air quietly remains in the cellar, no 

 matter how foul it becomes. If the door 

 should be left open there would be some 

 change, in spite of the rarer air outside. It 

 would be a good thing if I had some ar- 

 rangement by wliich a large opening, or 

 large openings, could be made without ad- 

 mitting light. Still better it would be if a 

 stream of fresh air could be fanned into the 

 cellar, as occurs in some city buildings. I 

 have no -such arrangement. I can only gi'in 

 and bear it till night comes. 



With 00 degree? outdoors, there was some 

 temptation to think the bees had better be 

 taken out. But there was the possibility 

 that a cold spell might come, and then the 

 bees would be better inside. The cold spell 

 did come, and for several mornings in suc- 

 cession tlie thermometer showed 16 to 18 

 above zero. Then the thermometer began to 

 I'limb again. March 24, in the evening, I 

 op-ened the door and window wide. It blew 

 hard all niglit, and rained, and with so much 

 wind I felt easy that the cellar would be 

 well ventilated and the bees quiet. In fact, 

 I forgot all about them till S:?>0 next morn- 

 ing. Then I went down to see how nice and 



187 



quiet they were with the full light shining in 

 ui)on them. 1 was fooled. They were any 

 thing but quiet, and were having a high old 

 time sailing to the window. I hastened to 

 shut out the light, with a feeling that I 

 didn't know much about keeping bees. It 

 was 52 degrees outdoors, and 54 in the cel- 

 lar. By 10 A. M. it was 54 out and 56 in. 

 All I could do was to wait with wliat pa- 

 tience I might until dark, when I opened up 

 wide, and by morning they had settled down, 

 and after that the weatlier was cooler. 



WINTER MORTALITY. 



As already mentioned, the dead bees were 

 swept up Feb. 18. On five other dates they 

 were swept up, and also after the bees had 

 been carried out, April 13. In the following 

 table the first column shows during how 

 many days the dead bees had accumulated; 

 the second column shows how many pounds 

 had accumulated during that number of 

 days; and the third column shows the daily 

 accumulation. 



Davs Pounds Daily 



Feb. 18 102 12.59 .1234 



March 17 27 27.5 1.02 



March 24 7 6,75 .964 



March 30. 6 14.75 2.458 



April 3 4 5.5 1.375 



April 13 10 28.75 2.875 



It will be noticed that the mortality in 

 the first 102 of the 156 days was only one- 

 eighth as much per day as at any time after. 

 That is, perhaps, about the usual thing. I 

 don't know how to account for the discrep- 

 ancy in figures aftei-ward, especially March 

 30 being nearly twice as much as April 3 

 as to daily loss. 



MICE IN CELLAR. 



Some one may ask why so many mice 

 were allowed in the cellar. There were not 

 many. They were constantly trapped; and 

 yet with the cellar door open there was 

 constantly free entrance from outside. There 

 were not enough so that they did any harm 

 to the combs or bees in the hive, the dead 

 bees on the floor occupying their attention. 



BEES STRONG IN SPRING. 



Having been brought in so early, and 

 having been in cellar so long without the 

 usual care on my i)art, I was a little anxious 

 as to what the condition of the bees might 

 be in spring. But tliey came out bright and 

 strong. April 13 Philo Woodruff and War- 

 ren Smith began carrying them out in the 

 morning, with the thermometer at 32 degrees. 

 In 2y2 hours the bees were on their summer 

 stands; the mercury went up to 62; they 

 had a glorious flight, and all anxiety about 

 the winter of 1913-4 was over. 



Marengo, 111. 



