1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



177 



screen, and also sliook some bees on to the slieet 

 bajk of ilie sceen The bees inside commenced 

 humming, and marclied into the hi^e; but those 

 outside did not seem to hear the noise, though 

 there was but tlie tiiickness of paper between. 1 

 lifted the screen an inch or two, and those bees 

 immediately commenced to hum. I closed the 

 opening and they stopped This I repeated sev- 

 eral times with uniform result. I then removed 

 the screen and replaced it witii one of mosquito- 

 bar, and the bees heard (?) through that all right. 



Tlie bees did not hear the iiumming in either 

 case; they simply felt the motion of the air the 

 same as I do when a bee alights on my face and 

 hums. The above experiment is very easily 

 tried, and the ttuth of what I have said verified. 



"But did not the bees hear that thunder?" 

 No. They only felt the jar, the same as a deaf 

 person does, or as I do if I chance to have my 

 hand on ihe table. 



" If bees do not hear, of what use is the quahk- 

 ing?" I am something of a Yankee, and will 

 answer accordingly. If bees ./o l\ear, of what 

 use is the quahking? 



Lander, Wyoming. 



A HARD WINTER FOR BEES IN 

 CELLARS. 



Colonies in Winter Repositories in Dan- 

 ger^ 



BY R. F. HOLTFRMANN. 



During my twenty-six years of expeiience with 

 bee-keeping there has never been such danger for 

 the bees wintered in the cellar as there is this 

 winter. The changes of temperature have been 

 very rapid. For instance, on Jan. 4 the bees of 

 a colony that I was wintering outside had a 

 flight; on the 5th the temperature was 20 above 

 zero, and on the 6th 20 degrees below. Within 

 another 24 hours it was 26 degrees above zero. 

 With such rapid changes it is a very difficult 

 matter to keep an even temperature in a cellar, 

 and even more difficult to make a change of air 

 practical. I do not know whether it is correct; 

 but a recent statement was made in one of the 

 papers that this was the mildest winter in New 

 York and Pennsylvania within the memory of 

 roaH Under these circumstances bees wintered 

 inside, unless they have the greatest possible care, 

 will suffer materially, and I already have evi- 

 dence that this is the case. 



The editorial, page 72, Feb. 1, was very op- 

 portune, and I fully indorse it. It is now sev- 

 eral years since I stated in Gleanings that bees, 

 being animals, require air, and the longer I keep 

 bees the more I am convinced that they require 

 and use to advantage even more air than I then 

 thought. This winter, even when the tempera- 

 ture in the cellar was kept down to 43 degrees, I 

 had two twelve-inch sub-earth ducts, the intake 

 pipe running under the ground a distance of 

 about 90 feet, and entering at the middle of the 

 cellar floor. I also had four six-inch sub-earth 

 pipes, but these were much shorter, and were in 

 pairs, each pair coming through the cellar floor 

 half way between the two twelve-inch pipes and 

 the ends of the cellar. All these were to bring 

 in fresh air. A large chimney, with two eight- 



inch stovepipe holes, carried the foul air from 

 the cellar floor, and 1 had two fourteen-inch 

 shafts for the same purpose leading from the 

 ceiling. These latter were to be used during 

 warm weather only. In spiie of this I found 

 that these provisions for ventilation were entirely 

 inadequate. From the bee-yard to the bee-cellar 

 there is a stairway five feet wide, which can be 

 closed at the top and bottom by double doors 

 meeting in the center. In the fall or early win- 

 ter, after putting the bees in I began leaving 

 these doors entirely open. About a week before 

 Christmas, during decidedly cold weather the 

 doors were partially closed; but until this date 

 (Feb. 9) they have never been entirely closed. 

 We shut out the light as much as we can, and 

 we have darkened the windows of the room up- 

 stairs and kept the trap-door open more or less, 

 which leads down into the cellar. 



The bees nearest the fresh air in the entire 

 front row, which is at right angles to the outside 

 stairway, and which consists of five rows of hives 

 2.5 feet long, placed one above the other, appear 

 to be in perfect condition. 1 here are very few 

 dead bees on the ground under this row. The 

 next two rows are of the same dimensions, and 

 face each other with only room enough to walk 

 between them. The hives in these two rows 

 have very few dead bees, but still there are more 

 than in the first row, and there is a little spot- 

 ting, though not much. The hives in these two 

 rows are almost unspotted. Beyond these are 

 two more rows in the end of the cellar, the last 

 row having the backs of the hives against the 

 end wall. There are more dead bees under these 

 last two rows, and two of the colonies at this 

 date show decided signs of spotting the hives. 

 The bees are also more easily disturbed, and the 

 temperature is always several degrees higher than 

 that more toward the center of the cellar. This 

 can be accounted for only by defective circula- 

 tion. One twelve-frame (Tamiolan colony hav- 

 ing over it only a thin cloth, and a corner of that 

 folded back, had a bunch of bees the size of my 

 two hands hanging out on the front of the hive. 

 There were no distended bees, nor was there any 

 spotting. The temperature at this time was 50°. 



The other end of the cellar was much the 

 same. Some weeks ago I cut an opening about 

 14 inches square through the cellar into the room 

 above, over the center of the end row, and yes- 

 terday I cut two more holes, building a sort of 

 chimney over each opening in the floor of the 

 room above by means of half a dozen empty 

 twelve-frame supers. I find that these openings 

 are giving excellent satisfaction; and if I could 

 follow Mr. Aspinwall's advice, and make the en- 

 tire ceiling of the cellar of slats with straw on 

 top, I have no doubt I should have an ideal ar- 

 rangement. 



As long as the air is fresh, very few bees fly 

 from the entrance of the hives, even when the 

 temperature is 50 degrees; but as the temperature 

 rises the bees become more active, and they re- 

 quire more oxygen, as at such times the bees un- 

 der ordinary conditions are likely to get the least 

 ventilation, for the reason that the inside and 

 outside temperatures are more nearly. 



Those having difficulty in ventilating cellars 

 should aim to have a maximum of fresh air, even 

 at the sacrifice of uniformity of temperature; but 



