298 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



perature of 60 to 80 degrees? It would; 

 but most bee-men confine the evapo- 

 rated moisture in the hive, and instead 

 of ripening-, the honey absorbs more 

 moisture; and what isn't absorbed, 

 condenses on the top-board, and falls 

 back on bees and honey; or else, if the 

 bees are strong and will consume four 

 pounds of honey per month, with a 

 cellar at 40 degrees, the moisture is 

 driven to the cold corners and sides, 

 where it condenses and runs down and 

 out; that is, what doesn't soak into the 

 wood, dead bees, and form in mould 

 on the combs. 



One of the oldest bee-men in the 

 State, who has spent a life-time in- 

 venting things for bee-men, has finally 

 got an underground cellar so tig-ht 

 that not an ounce of water can enter, 

 yet he makes absolutely no provision, 

 that I know of, for ridding the hives of 

 a ton of water, except as I have indi- 

 cated, and what passes off throug-h 

 three big ventilators. H. R. Board- 

 man (Sept. Review, 1903) winters his 

 bees in a big cellar above ground with- 

 out ventilators, but with absorbing 

 sawdust walls and artificial heat. Ira 

 Barber (Feb. and May Review, 1993,) 

 winters bees in a manner satisfactory^ 

 to him in an ordinary house-cellar, 

 maintaining a high temperature by 

 crowding; while Doolittle can winter 

 his bees in a cellar on four pounds of 

 honey. All these men have trouble 

 towards spring, unless it is Doolittle, 

 whose hives are unpainted and so old 

 that they are like a sponge, so that the 

 moisture readily passes through. I 

 get the same results in painted hives 

 with the covers off. If Mr. Barber 

 would leave the covers off, his bees 

 would not get uneasy and roar. Mr. 

 Bingham could winter his colonies on 

 four pounds each, instead of twenty, 

 if he would 



LEAVE THE COVERS OF^F. 



In hives without covers, the moisture 

 not only all passes off, but the bees 

 have perfect control of the heat; and 



we can permit a very much greater 

 variation of cellar temperatures; in 

 fact, I don't hesitate to say that a 

 strong colon}'^ would winter perfectly, 

 clustered on the outside of a two-bush- 

 el bag, with ten pounds of honey or 

 syrup in it, in a dark cellar where the 

 temperature ranged anywhere from 40 

 to 100 degrees. 



Build your cellar just large enough 

 to hold the bees — say 8 x 10 inside for 

 125 colonies. If their feed is in a nor- 

 mal condition, place one or two thick- 

 nesses of burlap under each top-board 

 in October; in a week or two they will 

 lie close to the frames, when the top- 

 board is removed. Put them in earl}', 

 say November 1, (and I honestly be- 

 lieve I ought to say October 1, for 

 good reasons) leaving every cover out. 

 If there is much uncapped honey, I 

 would cut up old blankets for addition- 

 al covering, depending on how warm 

 the repository is kept, and, if it drop- 

 ped to 30 degrees very often I'd put a 

 coal stove in it. A low flat car cover- 

 ed with straw could be used for run- 

 ning the bees in from the outside, on 

 which they could be left. In that case 

 3'ou would want a plank track and a 

 4 X 6-6 door. Leave entrances open 

 and set hives five or six inches apart, 

 tiered up. Flatten the small end of a 

 broom handle, fasten on a thermometer 

 and shove it through the gas-pipe. 

 Frequent flights are a damage, unless 

 the bees become diseased, and I would 

 not move them out then until half of 

 them began to daub the entrances, and 

 would move them back in a day or 

 two. 



My mention of feeding with a spoon 

 was hardly intended to be the very 

 best way, only to show what can be 

 done in an extremity, or on a bet. 



Where honey is cheap, the best way 

 to feed is to slip in a frame of sealed 

 honey in October. I fed some last fall 

 in division-board-feeders, and think it 

 could be done all winter; but in case 

 you get a few in the cellar that are 



