12 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER, 



January 



Some bee-keepers, built on purpose, 

 cellsirs which are half below and half 

 above the surface of the soil. I have 

 never tried them, and I suppoi^e that 

 such cellars may succeed on the con- 

 dition that their walls are sufficiently 

 thick, and furnished with double doors 

 for the entrance, with straw between 

 to shield the inside against the fluct- 

 uations of the outside temperature, 



As to the cellars under inhabited 

 houses, I have tried them with success, 

 yet I prefer to winter bees on the 

 summer stands. 



As a part of the subscribers of this 

 paper live farther North than 1 do, 

 and as bees cannot endure a seclusion 

 of two or three months, I will give 

 the conditions which I think the best 

 to succeed. 



The cellar ought to be mice-proof, 

 dark, well aerated, and as dry as pos- 

 sible; yet I have seen water wetting 

 the soil under the hives without bad 

 results. 



Tiie cellar ought to be deep enough 

 under the surface of the soil to pre- 

 vent its temperature from being too 

 much influenced by the outside fluct- 

 uations of the weather. Of course its 

 ceiling, unless it is vaulted, ought to 

 be plastered, or otherwise v/ell pro- 

 tected. The space of ours, between 

 the floor above and the ceiling, is 

 filled with sawdust, and the bee-room 

 is seperated from the part of the cel- 

 lar used for the needs of the house- 

 hold, by a double wall made of 

 boards with sawdust between the 

 sides. 



A bee-cellar must be provided with 

 some ventilation from the outside. 

 Some bee-keepers ventilate their cel- 

 lars by means of pipes dug in the 

 earth. 1 did not try these pipes. 



My cellar has two windows and shut- 

 ters with a wire-gauze petween. The 

 air that slips through them seems to 

 suffice, although these windows and 

 shutters are nearly always closed; for 

 we never open them, except during 

 cold nights, when the weather has 

 been to warm in daytime. Of course 

 we keep a thermometer in the cellar; 

 but \\e could do without it, for, as 

 long as the thermometer remains be- 

 tween 42° and 46°, and the bees are 

 so quiet that it seems that they are 

 all, or nearly all, dead; while at 48°, 

 or more, the bees are uneasy, the 

 queens have begun to lay, if this 

 temperature has been maintained for 

 a few days, and the workers are im- 

 patient to fly out. On the other 

 hand, when the temperature of the 

 cellar goes down to 40° or less, the 

 workers flap their wings to raise it; 

 then they eat more, their intestines 

 are soon filled, and they get the diar- 

 rhea. So the noise of the bees is a 

 good indication in the wintering in 

 cellars. 



Some German bee-writers advise 

 bee-keepers to give water to bees win- 

 tered in cellars. I tried it long ago. 

 with bad results. 



A wise precaution, not to be for- 

 gotten, is never to put bees into a 

 cellar but after a clear, warm day, 

 during which all the bees have flown 

 outside to get rid of their feces, as 

 there is more room in their bowels to 

 keep the residues of their digestion 

 during their long captivity. 



1 consider it also necessary to mark 

 the place of every colony in the api- 

 ary, so as to return them as exactly 

 as possible on the same spot, and to 

 commence the moving of the bees by 

 those which are located the farthest. 



