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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 1 



one large stove in the front end. On top of the cellar 

 I have a one-story frame building which I intend to 

 use as a sforeroom. The floor of this room is double- 

 matched, with a six-inch space filled with chaff, and 

 also with chaff on top of the floor. I made every thing 

 as warm as possible, with two sets of doors. The cel- 

 lar was new when I placed 140 colonies therein last 

 fall. Of this number I lost about 40, and part of those 

 that survived were weak, and the hives seemed very 

 wet and moldy. Only two-thirds of the cellar was oc- 

 cupied. 



The trouble seemed to be that the cellar was too cold 

 most of the time— 38 degrees. I finally put a six-inch 

 pipe from the room overhead down into the cellar. 

 This seemed to make the bees quieter, but ran the tem- 

 perature down lower than ever. Sometimes I had it 

 open and sometimes closed. 



I put a stove in the cellar and ran the pipe out above 

 the door. I kept a very t^mall fire in the stove every 

 other day, also through January and February. This 

 helped somewhat, but after all it seemed to coax bees 

 out so that they dropped on the cellar floor. The trou- 

 ble seemed to be I could not make my ventilation work 

 right. The ventilator I put in did not chase out the 

 damp foul air, but let cold air down, as such air is the 

 heaviest. 



Now, I don't see how I can get this cellar warm 

 enough without artificial heat. I have two plans I 

 should like to submit to you. One is to set 2x4's 

 around in the cellar next to the stone wall, and sheet 

 it all up with flooring, making another wall and air- 

 space (but still I would have no ventilation); and the 

 other is to build an addition on the front end of the 

 cellar, put in a stove, run a pipe through the cellar next 

 to the floor and up through a larger pipe out through 

 the building, something like the little diagram — 

 here shown. While the fire is going, have the o 1 

 large pipe open, aftd at other times closed. I — 1| 

 think that this would work better. 



Now, I wish you would consider my plans and tell 

 me which you think is best. Do you think a ventila- 

 tor is necessary when the cellar is warm enough? I 

 am sure my cellar is too cold. The part of it which is 

 outside, exposed to the weather, freezes through and 

 covers over with frost and ice inside in cold weather. 

 My cellar is endwise in the hillside, east and west, fac- 

 ing east. Fred A. Krause. 



Ridgeland, Wis. 



It seems very clear that the trouble with 

 your cellar was due to several causes — too 

 low a temperature most of the time, a very 

 uneven one at other times, and lack of prop- 

 er ventilation. When you applied artificial 

 heat to warm the cellar everv other day, you 

 made the temperature too high on the day 

 when the heat was applied, thus drawing the 

 bees out into the cellar, and on the next day 

 the temperature would drop too low. The 

 alternate warming and cooling would get the 

 bees stirred up. When it was warm the 

 cluster would expand and consume largely 

 of stores; then when it turned too cold it 

 would have a tendency to induce dysentery. 

 A lack of ventilation on top of it all made 

 your cellar a poor place in which to winter 

 bees. An extra lining on the inside would 

 help somewhat; but in a climate like yours 

 it would be our judgment that the cellar 

 should be wholly submerged under ground. 

 If the natural temperature of it runs down 

 to 38, and stays there for months at a time, 

 it would be necessary for you to employ ar- 

 tificial heat. The stove should be a very 

 small one, and capable of dampering down 

 so that only a very moderate warmth would 

 be given off — just enough to maintain a tem- 

 perature of about 45 degrees Fahr. Then it 

 would also be advisable to have the chimney 

 pass through a larger flue. The stove 

 should be in the cellar, and the ventilating- 

 pipes should pass through the upper room, 

 and in connection it would be very desirable 

 to have a sub-earth ventilator. This could 



be opened or closed, depending upon the 

 outside temperature. 



The two prime requisites in cellar winter- 

 ing are uniform temperature, approximately 

 45, and ventilation. If the temperature goes 

 much below 40 degrees, and stays there, it 

 is almost sure to prove disastrous to the bees. 

 For the purpose of heating your cellar we 

 would advise you to get a very small drum 

 stove, using no larger than chestnut anthra- 

 cite coal. A kerosene stove would give olf 

 a bad odor, and therefore could not be con- 

 sidered. Bituminous coal burns too fast, 

 and wood is no better. 



We specified using no larger than chest- 

 nut coal. Some+imes a pea coal can be pro- 

 cured, and it will give just as good results 

 for less money. 



AN INTERVIEW WITH ;kN EXTENSIVE HONEY- 

 PRODUCER. 



We recently had the pleasure of a call 

 from Mr. Henry Trickey, of Reno, Nevada. 

 His native State is Ohio, but for about twen- 

 ty years he has been living in that western 

 State where mountains and deserts abound. 

 There are not many bee-keepers in Nevada, 

 but there are a good many colonies of bees, 

 for in that State no one is rated as a real bee- 

 keeper unless he has over 100 colonies. 



COMB-HONEY CARRIERS MADE TOO STRONG. 



Mr. Trickey produces comb honey; and 

 when we asked him if the distance which he 

 had to ship his product to the market was 

 not quite a problem he replied, "No, sir. It 

 depends upon the amount of handling which 

 the honey receives as to how much it is 

 damaged, and not upon the distance it is 

 carried. Comb honey may be just as badly 

 broken up in ten miles as in a thousand, if 

 it is not properly packed and if it is improp- 

 erly handlea by the railroad men. A good 

 many have a wrong notion in regard to the 

 crates or carriers. Bee-keepers often come 

 to me and say that they are going to have 

 the crates made stronger and heavier so as 

 to withstand the hard usage. Now, they say 

 that because they have not given the matter 

 sufficient thought. A strong heavy carrier 

 may not be broken up, it is true; but that is 

 just the trouble. The honey in the carrier 

 may be badly damaged; but if the carrier it- 

 self has not been hurt, the railroad company 

 will do nothing about it. If we make com- 

 plaint that our'honey was injured in transit, 

 we are only reminded that we did not pack 

 it right, if the carrier itself is still in good 

 shape. I say, then, the carrier should be just 

 strong enough to carry the honey through in 

 good shape, provided it is handled properly. 

 Then if it is not handled properly, and the 

 honey is injured, the carrier will be broken 

 also, and the railroad company will have to 

 stand the damage." 



BEEWAY vs. PLAIN SECTIONS. 



When we asked him what style of sections 

 he preferred, he said that he used the only 

 one which an extensive producer could af- 

 ford to bother with — the beeway section, the 

 plain sections being all right for a man with 



