E 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



3 



EDITORIAL 



THE SEVEEE WINTER LOSSES of 1917- 

 "18 caused the beekeepers of the Northern 

 honey - producing 



Making a New 



Bee Cellar. 



sections to look for 

 a method of win- 

 tering which would 

 insure them against a recurrence of such a 

 disaster. 



Cellar wintering was one of the methods 

 advocated, and inquiries were coming from 

 many beekeepers asking for plans and ad- 

 vice in building them. In order to give re- 

 liable information along this line E. E. Root 

 visited several of the best beekeepers of the 

 United States who had made cellar winter- 

 ing a success, and a report of this was 

 given in Gleanings for September, 1918. 

 The A. I. Root Co. decided to build a cellar 

 which would incorporate, as far as possible, 

 all of the essential features of the various 

 cellars examined, and which would enable 

 them not only to winter their own bees, 

 but to give first-hand information to the 

 readers of Gleanings. The location selected 

 was in a railroad embankment at the west 

 end of a warehouse. On Oct. 5 a contract 

 was let for its construction, the dimensions 

 to be 12 by 60 feet, and GVj feet high, inside 

 measurements, a door communicating with 

 the basement of the warehouse at the east, 

 and ventilation provided by an eight-inch 

 tile thru the cover at the west end. The 

 walls were to be of solid concrete 10 inches 

 thick, and the roof 12 inches thick, the lat- 

 ter reinforced with i^-inch steel bars run- 

 ning crosswise every 4 inches and %-inch 

 bars lengthwise every 12 inches. 



On Dec. 3 the contractors hauled the last 

 load of soft mud on to the roof. The grad- 

 ing had been stai'ted some three weeks be- 

 fore this, but was stopped on account of 

 the heavy rains. It took approximately 100 

 barrels of water to m.ix the cement. This, 

 together with the 1% inches of rainfall 

 which came the latter part of November, 

 combined to make the cellar as wet as water 

 could make it. As soon as the pouring of 

 the cement had been finished, an electric fan 

 was installed in the door opening into the 

 basement of the warehouse, and coke fires 

 were started at several places in the cel- 

 lar. These were kept running day and night 

 until Dec. 1, at which time the cellar seemed 

 to be well ilried out; so the forms were 

 taken down, the room cleaned out, and on 



the afternoon of Dec. 6 we began moving 

 the bees in. It was quite cold that morning, 

 but began to get warmer before night; and 

 by noon the following day bees were flying, 

 and we decided to leave the rest of them out 

 until it became colder. 



The weather continued mild, and bees 

 were flying every day or two until the 25th, 

 which was quite warm. We opened one of 

 the hives outside and found eggs and young 

 brood. That night it turned cold, and we 

 finished putting the bees in the cellar the 

 following day. 



During this time a decided change had 

 taken place in the cellar. The cement, 

 which seemed white and dry 20 days pre- 

 viously, was thoroly saturated with water. 

 Large drops were hanging from the ceiling 

 and trickling down the walls, and the floor 

 was becoming muddy in places. The hy- 

 drometer showed about 93 per cent of hu- 

 midity. This per cent gradually increased. 

 About, Jan. 21 a warm drizzling rain set in 

 with heavy fog, and the humidity of the 

 cellar reached 100 per cent. The tempera- 

 ture had go)ie down to 46, which we con- 

 sidered too low for so damp an atmosphere, 

 so we installed an electric radiator to be 

 used in connection with the fan. This 

 brought the temperature up to 48 in five 

 hours. We have not found it necessary to 

 use the radiator since that time, as the first 

 days of February have been clear and mild. 

 The fan was kept running, and conditions in 

 the cellar improved. The humidity averaged 

 about 85 per cent. We opened a few hives 

 and found considerable moisture, but no in- 

 dication of mold, and the bees appeared to 

 be in the best condition. 



Sudden changes in temperature have very 

 little effect on the cellar. About Jan. 9 the 

 mercury outside dropped nearly 50 degrees 

 in 24 hours, the only cold weather to date, 

 Feb. 10. This did not change the tempera- 

 ture of the cellar one degree. Readings are 

 taken from the recording thermometer 

 every day. Only once has the temperature 

 gone above 49, and then only one degree; 

 44 is the lowest mark registered, and this 

 only three times. The fresh air is taken 

 from the basement of the warehouse. This 

 is warmed with exhaust steam during the 

 day, but becomes quite cool at night; and 

 at times when the doors are open in loading 

 cars there is often a variation of 15 degrees 



