342 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 28, 



November, at the time the rest of my bees were placed in the 

 cellar, for the sake of makiog a comparison of the amount of 

 stores consumed by bees wintered out-of-doors with that con- 

 sumed by those in the cellar. They were weighed again the 

 14th of April, when those taken from the cellar were re- 

 weighed. The bees left in the hives in which the colonies had 

 perished, were not removed before weighing, and the extra 

 amount of bees lost from them outside the hives was consid- 

 ered to compensate for the deficiency in the amount of stores 

 consumed. The following figures show the result of the 

 weighing and the amount of stores consumed : 



Wt. Nov. 26, Apr. 14. Loss in wt. 



L. fr's, died in March. 

 L. fr's, died in March. 

 Hed. h'v, died in April. 

 Hed. h'v, alive in April. 

 Hed. h'v, alive in April. 



Total consumption 90K 

 Average 18 1/20 



Of the colonies weighed when they were put into the cel- 

 lar Nov. 26, six were selected for this comparison as being 

 fairly equal in strength and prosperity to the five already con- 

 sidered. Their weights and consumption of stores were as 

 follows : 



which show a consumption of less than one-half by those win- 

 tered in the cellar as compared with those wintered outside, 

 effecting a saving of more than 9 pounds per colony, the ex- 

 act amount saved being 9.175 on each colony. This with the 

 much greater security afforded would seem a sufficiently 

 strong incentive for the housing of bees during winter. 



Six other colonies wintered in the cellar were weighed in 

 like manner, but are not used for comparison because they 

 were below the average in strength, having been treated for 

 foul brood rather late last season, but as they wintered excel- 

 lently, I give the results here to show how small an amount of 

 honey colonies may require during the winter if well housed. 

 The first two were in two-story Heddon hives, and the others 

 were each in a single story. 



Wt. Nov. 26, Apr. 14. Loss in wt. 



37 Ji 

 35% 

 30M 

 26K 



29 Ji 



30 Ji 



29 J^ 



80 



24 



20 M 



25 



23K 



7% 

 5% 

 6M 

 6Ji 



6% 



Total consumption 37j^ 



Average 6M 



The bees in my cellar wintered exceptionally well — better, 

 I think, than they ever did before except when they had sugar 

 stores. Out of about 120 I lost three, apparently from dysen- 

 tery, all the rest except one or two being in excellent heart. 

 They were unusually quiet during the winter, as well as 

 while they were being carried out. I cannot be certain of the 

 exact cause of this, but I surmise that it was the manner in 

 which they were treated. 



Contrary to what had been the case before, during the 

 past winter the cistern in the cellar was allowed to contain 

 no water, but the hygrometer kept in the cellar indicated the 

 same degree of moisture as during the preceding winter — 

 about 25 per cent, almost complete saturation, but I do not 

 think now any of these conditions had anything at all to do 

 with the well-being of the bees. This raises the question of 

 the agency of moisture in causing dysentery, but when bees 

 winter almost perfectly in an atmosphere well-nigh sur- 

 charged with moisture, it furnishes very satisfactory evidence 

 to me that moisture in itself is not the cause of ill-wintering. 



Another point in which the bees received somewhat dif- 

 ferent treatment, was in the amount of disturbance they were 

 subject to from frequent visits with a light. Previously they 

 had been visited freely without any compunctions, and dis- 

 turbed by lifting covers, etc., while during the past winter 

 visits were as infrequent and as brief as the requirements of 



my experiments permitted. I have always been persuaded 

 that such visits and consequent disturbances were not spe- 

 cially harmful, and I am not as yet disturbed in that opinion 

 by this last experience. 



Still another point is that in former winters I had clung 

 to a habit which took its rise when my cellar was overcharged 

 with bees, which had a tendency to cause the temperature to 

 raise to a higher point than was to my liking, on account of 

 which I fell into the practice at such times of opening a door 

 or window of a night to let the temperature of the cellar run 

 down, and as this seemed to have a quieting effect, I naturally 

 thought it was a good one, but on considering the debilitated 

 state in which many of the weaker colonies came out of win- 

 ter quart&fSi I began to question it, and during the past winter 

 no outside door or window was opened from the time the last 

 of the bees were put into the cellar till the day the first were 

 taken out, and the inner door only when it was absolutely 

 necessary for the purposes already suggested. It was the re- 

 sult of this, as I am now inclined to think, that the weaker 

 colonies — and a few were decidedly weak — wintered as well as 

 the stronger ones. 



Of course it must not be forgotten that, in an effort to at- 

 tain success in the wintering of bees in a cellar, scarcely less 

 important than sound stores is the temperature of the cellar, 

 and the weaker the colonies, and the raoister the atmosphere, 

 the higher is the temperature required to be to insure success. 

 During the last winter, in my cellar, the temperature was 

 maintained almost uniformly at 45-, running down a degree 

 or two during the coldest periods. For a cellar so damp as 

 that, I now think 45^ best. For a very dry one, 400 might 

 do very well. R. L. Taylor. 



L. A. Aspinwall — Isn't it possible that the exhalations 

 from the bees, when there were so many, had something to do 

 with the wintering of the bees ? Too many cellars are simply 

 " holes in the ground," from which there is no exit for the 

 carbonic acid gas. 



Mr. Taylor — The bottom of my cellar is but little below 

 the general level. If the door should be opened, the gas 

 could run out. 



W. Z. Hutchinson — How about the law of the diffusion of 

 gases ? 



Mr. Aspinwall — Carbonic acid gas is heavy, and will sink 

 to the bottom of a cellar and lie there as water lies at the bot- 

 tom of a depression in the ground. If there is some opening 

 where it can run out, and the winds drive it about, it becomes 

 mixed with the air, and in that way there is a diffusion. 



W. Z. Hutchinson — I have often noticed that the bees near 

 the cellar bottom did not winter so well as those that were 

 near the top of the cellar, but I supposed that it was the mat- 

 ter of temperature rather than that of an accumulation of 

 gas. Those at the top are warmer. 



Mr. Taylor — I am done with out-door wintering, except as 

 a matter of experiment. I have better success in out-door 

 wintering with hives of thin walls than I have with chaff 

 hives. The latter become damp. 



W. Z. Hutchinson — I have seen bees wintered out-of-doors 

 with the most perfect success. There are two ladies up near 

 Farwell, of whom I have several times bought bees, and they 

 winter their bees out-of-doors with the most perfect success. 

 They pack the hives thickly in chaff, and on top, over the 

 brood-nest, is an opening several inches square, cut through 

 the cover of the packing box, and covered with wire-cloth to 

 keep out mice. Over all is a roof to keep out the storms. 

 They are particular to keep the entrances from becoming 

 blocked up with snow. It seems more pleasant to winter bees 

 out-of-doors. There are some disagreeable features connected 

 with in-door wintering, but, like Mr. Taylor, I have been 

 more successful in wintering bees in the cellar than I have 

 out-of-doors. 



Mr. Taylor — To what unpleasant features do you refer ? 



W. Z. Hutchinson — Well, it isn't very pleasant work car- 

 rying them into the cellar and out again. 



Mr. Taylor — I think I have gotten rid of most of the un- 

 pleasant features. 



W. Z. Hutchinson — Please tell us about it. 



