1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



565 



ters, extends down to the cellar, and the usual sized hole for 

 stove-pipe is left in the cellar also. The draft is so strong 

 that I often close this hole, in order to have the kitchen stove 

 draw better. The heat from the kitchen stove creates a 

 tremendous draft, and the air in the cellar to-day is seemingly 

 as pure as the outside atmosphere, though there are perhaps 

 two gallons of dead bees on the floor. Before setting bees in 

 the cellar, we always close both ventilators as tightly as pos- 

 sible, also the window is well filled in with hay on the outside, 

 to exclude every particle of light ; in fact, when the door is 

 closed there is darkness, sure enough. 



We have at this writing (Jan. 9) 60 colonies in the cellar. 

 They were put in on Nov. 28, and we expect them to remain 

 there until the latter part of March, or perhaps until the first 

 days of April. The thermometer stands almost steadily at 

 45°, and varies but very little ; If necessary we open the out- 

 side door during cool nights to keep the bees from getting too 

 warm. I removed dead bees from the cellar floor six times 

 during the winter. 



WHEN TO PUT BEES OUT OF THE CELLAR. 



■ One year I set my bees out of the cellar the first warm 

 spell that came. They then had patches of brood-larv3e and 

 eggs. Extremely bad weather set in and I again put them into 

 the cellar. When good weather came again, I put them on the 

 summer stands, and found upon examination that all brood- 

 larvae and eggs had been destroyed, not even the sign of a 

 queen. 



I therefore decided that had they been left in the cellar 

 until settled warm weather these young bees would have been 

 well cared for, and the hive filled with more brood, etc. I 

 have since waited until I thought the weather was fairly set- 

 tled, and when outside bees were gathering pollen, then some 

 warm morning when the thermometer was at 65° or 70'^ I 

 go quietly into the cellar and, with smoker, drive the bees 

 into their hives and close the entrances ; then we can let in 

 the light and open the door and proceed to place them on the 

 summer stands, paying no attention to how they were the pre- 

 vious fall. After all are put out we open the entrances, and 

 they have a grand, glorious flight. Then I call ray wife out 

 and ask her to listen to that "heavenly music." Her reply 

 usually is : " You better enjoy it as well as you can, as that is 

 perhaps as near heaven as you will ever get." — Ohio Parmer. 



Defiance Co., Ohio. 



Notes from Virgil — Something Historical. 



BY EMERSON T. ABBOTT. 

 (Continued from page 550.) 

 The following suggests some strong superstitions in con- 

 nection with bees : 



" From these examples some there are maintain, 

 Thiit Bees derive from a Celestial strain. 

 And Heavenly Race;" 



" Upon this Pythagorean opinion, thus Servius : 'This 

 place (saith he) the Poet more fully prosecutes in the sixt 

 Book of the Aeneids, which he here briefly touoheth at, to 

 prove that Bees also have some part of the Divinity. For that 

 creatures consist of the four Elements, and the Divine Spirit 

 is manifest. This high conceit is confirmed by their Propheti- 

 cal presages of extraordinary events, especially of Learning 

 and Eloquence, as in Plato, Pindar, Lucas, and St. Ambrose, 

 in whose mouths, when they were infants, they are said to 

 have made honey.' " 



The annotator's note shows that Virgil had learned to 

 recognize some at least of the enemies of bees. He says : 



"Virgil speaks of the enemies of bees. According to 

 Aristotle, Pliny and Butler, the enemies of bees are, the 

 Mouse, Woodpecker, Sparrow, Titmouse, Swallow, Hornet, 

 wasp. Moth, Snail, Emmet, Spider, Toad and Prog." 



'• How much by Fortune they exhausted are." 



" Aristotle likewise affirms that if too much Honey be left 

 in the Hive, it makes the Bees idle ; and on the contrary, if 

 they have little, they will be the more diligent." 



It seems that they had not had very much experience with 

 bee-diseases, and they mistook some of the natural workings 

 of the hive for disease. 



■•Their bodies languish In a sad Disease." 



"Bees, by reason of their temperance, are never subject 

 to sickness, the causes of their death being only Hunger and 

 Cold ; the Prognosticks of whose general decay and death are 

 three : 1. their hollow hanging down, one at another's heels. 

 2. Their continual keeping in. 3. A general extraordinary 

 and continued noyse." — Butler. 



One more note on the method of increase and the produc- 

 tion of bees by a mechanical process, and I will close : 



" Th* Arcadian's rare invention we must here 

 Kemember. who with the Blood of a slain Steer 

 Oft Bees restored." 



" Aristaeus, who, as Justine alfirms, reigned in Arcadia, 

 and first found out the use of Bees, Honey, Milk and Cheese. 

 Hear Geopon upon this subject: ' Build a House ten Cubits 

 high, and ten broad, with the other sides equal to one another; 

 let there be one Dore, four Windows, on each side one. Bring 

 an Oxe into it thirty months old, fleshy and fat. Set young 

 fellows to kill him with Clubs, and break the bones in pieces ; 

 but let them be sure they make him not anywhere bloody, for 

 a Bee is not bred of Blood ; and let them not strike too hard 

 at first. Let his Eyes, Ears, Nostrils, Mouth, and the other 

 passages for evacuation, be presently stopped with clean, fine 

 Linnen dipped in Pitch. Lay him on his Back over a great 

 quantity of Thyme, and let the Dores and Windows be stopped 

 with Clay, that the House be not perspirable with Wind or 

 Air. Three weeks after open the Windows on every side, but 

 that whereon the Wind blows. When it is sufficiently aired, 

 close it up as before. Eleven dales after, when you open it, 

 you shall find it full of Bees and Clusters, and nothing left of 

 the Oxe except Horns, Bones and Hair. The Kings are bred 

 (they say) of the Brains, the others of the flesh ; and those 

 that are of the Brain are fairest and strongest." 



This is surely materialistic enough to satisfy the materi- 

 alist of the rankest type. St. Joseph, Mo. 



CONDUCTED BY 



DK. O. O. MJLLER. MAJtMNGO, ILL. 



IQuestlons may he mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct.] 



Wliy Did the Swarin§ Leave? 



:^s 



Why did my bees abscond ? I have lost several swarms. 

 They swarmed under the natural impulse, were hived in clean, 

 new hives, and would stay a day or two, and even longer, 

 then come out and simply go. They were Italian bees. 



Essexville, Mich. M. P. 



Answer. — It's hard to account for all the vagaries of 

 bees, for sometimes they do things without any reason ap- 

 parent, but without any more particulars of the case the 

 safest guess is to say they left on account of the heat. 

 That's the cause of desertions, probably, in the very great 

 majority of cases. Heat that a settled colony doesn't seem to 

 pay much attention to, will promptly drive out a new swarm. 

 The old colony says, " We've got all our worldly possessions 

 right here, and we can't afford to leave them ; we've just got 



