October, 1919 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



637 



and then attempted to combine what seem- 

 ed to us the best points of all. For a site 

 we chose a railroad embankment at the 

 west end of our warehouse. The cellar was 

 built late in the fall. It was made 12 feet 

 wide by 60 feet long. This has a capacity of 

 from 400 to 600 colonies. The walls (A) are 

 of solid concrete ten inches thick, reinforc- 

 ed with %-incli steel bars (B) running hori- 

 zontally and vertically, forming IS-inch 

 squares. The ceiling (C) is solid concrete 

 12 inches thick in the center, sloping to 10 

 inches thick at each side, reinforced with 

 half-inch steel bars (D) running crosswise 

 every 4 inches, and %-inch bars (B) length- 

 wise every 12 inches. 



The cement floor (E), which is three 

 inches thick, is drained by means of four- 

 inch tiles (F) running lengthwise next to 

 the walls and a foot below the floor, the tile 

 being covered with coarse cinders (G) to 

 the level of the floor. 



After the roof had hardened, yellow clay 

 was scraped over the top. The clay was 

 left five feet deep in the center, and sloped 

 to three feet deep directly over the side 

 walls. We had intended thoroly packing the 

 clay over the roof, but before the work of 

 our cellar was finished a hard rain set in 

 and the clay was completely soaked. This de- 

 layed the work until almost time for putting 

 in the bees. Then the ground froze before 

 the work could be finished; and when it 

 finally thawed, and the work was completed, 

 the dirt was too wet, and, of course, it 



would not dry out as it should. It was, 

 therefore, necessary to install an electric 

 fan and start coke fires in several parts of 

 the cellar. These were kept running day 

 and night until the cellar was dry enough 

 to remove the forms and move in the bees. 

 Had the cellar been built earlier all this 

 trouble would have been avoided. 



This cellar opened into the basement room 

 of our large warehouse. In the door was an 

 electric fan and an electric heater. At the 

 other end of the cellar was an eight-inch-tile 

 chimney up thru the roof and thru the clay 

 embankment on top. The object of the elec- 

 tric fan was to force ventilation from the 

 large outer room of the warehouse where 

 the air had been tempered before it was 

 passed into the cellar. This air, forced by 

 the electric fan, would pass directly thru the 

 cellar lengthwise and escape thru the venti- 

 lating chimney at the extreme end before 

 mentioned. 



The boxing of the ventilating chimney 

 from the ceiling to the floor was an impor- 

 tant feature, as it shut out the light and 

 enabled us to draw the foul air from floor 

 or ceiling. The air from the cellar enters 

 the chimney thru two small doors opening 

 on opposite sides of the ventilator, one of 

 which (A) is shown in the illustration. A 

 vertical board (B) extending from the floor 

 to about two inches above the doors pre- 

 vents the light in the ventilator from shin- 

 ing thru the doors into the cellar. 



If it is desired to take the warm foul air 



Cross-section of Root's bee-cellar showing the two aisles and four Ions' rows of hives. Two-by-fours (H) 

 are placed on the cellar* bottom as supports for the hives. The floor, walls, and ceiling of the cellar are of 

 solid concrete, the ceiling and walls being reinforced with steel Tsars (B) and (D). The drainage-tile (P) 



is shown covered with cinders (G). 



