12 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



1 have tried it and with many others 

 have concluded that such ventilation 

 is not needed. I have found that up- 

 ward ventilation will keep the air pure 

 and also regulate the temperature. 

 The part of the cellar where the stairs 

 enter is pardoned off so that no light 

 can get to the bees when the trap 

 door is open. In cold weather I heat 

 the room above to regulate tempera- 

 ture in the cellar. I try to keep the 

 tenlpe rat ure about 40°. If the cellar 

 is damp the temperature should not 

 go below 50°, and 60° would do no 

 harm. With a dry cellar, however, 

 this temperature would be rather high, 

 unless the bees' winter stores consist 

 of honey which will keep liquid all 

 winter and contains the right propor- 

 tion of water. If, however, the honey 

 is very thick, or, what is worse, granu- 

 lated, the bees should have water in 

 some way or they will suffer. This is 

 the reason why I do not like cement- 

 ed floors for a bee cellar. I want a 

 cellar that has a warm, humid atmos- 

 phere so that the honey, by absorbing 

 moisture from the air, will keep in a 

 natural condition. There is no trouble 

 about the honey getting sour in such 

 a cellar as long as strong colonies are 

 wintered or no more combs ate left 

 them than they can weli cover. These 

 directions for wintering, it should be 

 remembered, are for sections where 

 the winters are not warmer than 

 Central New York. 



Readers, as a class, are wide-awake, 

 and while tiny enjoy the reading 

 columns, do not overlook the ad- 

 vertising announcements. They feel 

 that the manufacturer, breeder, 

 producer and dealer who has the 



enterprise to properly set forth the 

 excellencies of his goods must also 

 have the ability to furnish the very 

 best in his line. Careful study and 

 enterprise are constantly improving 

 methods and broadening ideas. The 

 advertisements in a journal, particu- 

 larly when only those are admitted 

 that will bear the most careful scruti- 

 ny, are as interesting to the average 

 reader as any other portion of the 

 paper or magazine. It is well there- 

 fore to read and study the advertise- 

 ments and get catalogues and circulars 

 of those that interest you. By look- 

 ing over the advertisements one finds 

 just where to yet what he wants at the 

 lowest prices. — Ex. 



For sucessfully wintering bees we 

 prefer a dry cellar, the temperature of 

 which will not fall below 45 degrees. 

 In no case should the hives be put low- 

 er than one foot from the cellar bottom. 

 The entrance should also be left open. 

 When an old bee leaves the cluster to 

 die, it gets to the entrance if possible 

 and drops to the cellar bottom. If the 

 entrance is closed, it sets up a buzzing 

 and the whole colony become restless, 

 finding their place of exit closed, and 

 we have known the whole colony to 

 smother from the resulting heat and 

 excitement. A perfect cellar will win- 

 ter quite a huge number of colonies 

 and but few dead bees will be found 

 upon the cellar bottom, but in a damp 

 cellar and with improper ventilaiion I 

 have known several bushels of dead 

 bees to be swept up in the Spring. — Ex, 



