THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVliu\-y 



shown by their greatly strengthened dispo- 

 sition to remain quiet. 



Across the west end of the cellar is a cis- 

 tern live feet wide in the clear and generally 

 containing a greater or less quantity of 

 water. This no doubt serves in some meas- 

 ure to preserve evenness of temperature, but 

 whether it is of any further advantage I am 

 notable to determine. Ventilation, so far as 

 the exit of air is concerned, is well provided 

 for by a chimney built from the bottom of 

 the cellar with two openings into the cellar, 

 one near the bottom and the other near the 

 ceiling. There is also a drain which serves 

 both to carry off the overflow of the cistern 

 as well as for sub-earth ventilation when it 

 is not closed by snow and ice at the lower 

 end, which owing to my lack of faith in the 

 virtue of ventilation is sometimes the case. 



By many the condition of a cellar intended 

 for bees as to moisture is considered a mat- 

 ter of the greatest importance. I have 

 therefore taken considerable pains to deter- 

 mine the condition of the one under consid- 

 eration in this respect. None of the earth 

 composing the bottom of the cellar which is 

 in its natural state is ever in that condition 

 which would ordinarily be called dry ; beads 

 of water have stood continually, or nearly 

 so, upon the stone wall and often upon the 

 door and upon the lower edges of some of 

 the tightly covered hives although the bot- 

 toms of the hives are entirely removed ; the 

 door is considerably swollen and the ceiling 

 is always firmly closed up. An open vessel 

 of water standing in the cellar shows very 

 little if any indication of evaporation. 

 These items will serve as aids in making 

 comparisons with other cellars where no 

 more scientific means are at hand, but I 

 have in addition made use of a Mason 

 hygrometer by which a high degree of satura- 

 tion is shown, generally somewhat more 

 than ninety per cent. 



Such was the cellar. Into it were placed 

 on the 22nd and 2:Jrd of. November, 1894, 

 about one hundred and fifty colonies of bees 

 in hives of which a small portion were eight- 

 frame Langstroth and the others the double 

 story Heddon. All the colonies had an 

 abundance of food for winter and were of 

 fair numerical strength. 



As to the best time of fall for placing the 

 bees in the cellar, it may be said that it can- 

 not with certainty be affirmed that any part 

 of the month of November is better than any 

 other part of it, yet the inclination is rather 



to the earlier part of the month. The char 

 acter of the weather to be chosen for moving 

 the bees into the cellar is of some impor- 

 tance. Contrary to what might be expected, 

 a cold, sharp, freezing day, is not desirable. 

 At such a time the touching of the hive is 

 much more effective in arousing the bees 

 than when it is mild and they are conse- 

 quently excitable and quick to take wing. 

 Select if possible a cloudy day when the air 

 is quite moist and at a temperature of about 

 45°. With such conditions and reasonable 

 care from only an occasional hive will a bee 

 take wing, even if carried in with the bottom 

 boards left off. Now and then there will be 

 a hive in which the cluster of bees extends 

 down so as to touch the bottom board to a 

 greater or less extent, and in such case if the 

 bottom board is to be removed, one end of 

 the hive may be raised from where it stands 

 in the yard sufficiently so that in reforming 

 the cluster the bees will draw away entirely 

 from it. The hive can then be moved with- 

 out further difficulty. 



The course I prefer to pursue in putting 

 the bees into the cellar for the winter is as 

 follows : First place an empty hive or its 

 equivalent on the cellar bottom where it is 

 desired to place the colonies to be first car- 

 ried in and place two sticks about an inch 

 square across it to receive the first hive con- 

 taining bees, then go to the apiary and, see- 

 ing first that the hive is loose from its bot- 

 tom board, lift it carefully (leaving the bot- 

 tom board ) until the back of the hive rests 

 against the abdomen, then walk smartly 

 without jarring, to the cellar and put it upon 

 the place already prepared for it. Then put 

 two sticks across the top of this hive and an- 

 other colony on them and repeat as often as 

 desired or until the ceiling forbids. 1 select 

 the strongest colonies to put at the bottom 

 as this is the most trying position, and put 

 five colonies in a column. By pursuing the 

 course indicated each column of hives is 

 quite independent of all the others so that if 

 a hive is disturbed by accident or otherwise, 

 only the bees in the same column are dis 

 turbed, whereas if the hives are piled up on 

 long stringers or otherwise in long piles, the 

 disturbance of one is the disturbance of the 

 whole pile. This point is of much impor- 

 tance if it is desired either to carry the bees 

 in or out with little commotion among them. 



In addition to the general experiment al- 

 ready indicated several others were made. 

 And first a very careful effort was made to 



