THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



67 



standard, I endeavored so to regu- 

 late the cellar that the temperature 

 would not Call below 4o° Faiireu- 

 heit, hut signally failed to exclude 

 frost, and it was well for me in a (i- 

 nancial point of view, and certainly 

 better lor the bees, that I did fdil. 

 Duiing- the winter of '80 and the 

 following winter the thermometer 

 in my cellar, after the cold weather 

 set in (say al)out half of the win- 

 ter), registered 30°, occasionally 

 dropping down to 28°, and strange 

 ( ?) to say, the bees without an ex- 

 ception wintered perfecthj. 



Last winter the ai)arttncnt was 

 made much warmer than ever be- 

 fore, the mercur}' indicating 45° 

 (sometimes higher), according to 

 Hoyle among beekeepers, but the 

 loss of bees was much greater than 

 that of the preceding winters. Was 

 this phenomenal or the legitimate 

 result of cause and effect? 



November 22 (this year) our 

 bees were put into the cellar, I hav- 

 ing previousl}' provided tight out- 

 side and inner doors, stopi)ing all 

 crevices besides making ample 

 provisions for ventilation. The 

 weather has been with one excep- 

 tion unusually warm, and in conse- 

 quence the thermometer in the 

 cellar has uniformly marked 50°, 

 until night before last I succeeded 

 (by opening wide all outside doors 

 and raising the curtains used for 

 darkening the apartment) in lower- 

 ing the temperature to 42° and last 

 night to 32°. 



Up to this time the stronger col- 

 onies have been very restless, ne- 

 cessitating the use of wire-cloth to 

 confine tliem to their respective 

 hives. Night and da}' it was dis- 

 tressing to hear them "roar," so 

 different from the low, gentle hum 

 of contentment. There is no mis- 

 taking the cause or sound. 



Although there were no symp- 

 toms of dysentery, the death rate 

 was fearful, and would soon have 

 depleted the colonies had it not 



been checked. When the mercury 

 di'opped to 42" the change inside 

 the hives was a[)parent at once ; but 

 when it reached 32° the bees went 

 into the hives and remained per- 

 fectly quiet and contented. 



Whenever the tenqjcrature rises 

 above 42° Fahrenheit in my cellai', 

 the bees become restive and trail 

 out of their hives as if in the act 

 of attacking marauders. Hence I 

 say that from 32° to 38° is the 

 proper temperature of a bee-cellar 

 or cave ; and I do not fear for the 

 safety of my bees if it drops occa- 

 sionally to 28°. 



If I could regulate the tempera- 

 ture at all times, I would not allow 

 it to rise above 40°, for 1 am satis- 

 fied that heat is more injurious to 

 bees in confinement than cold, pro- 

 vided the cellar is dry and well- 

 ventilated. How many, if any, of 

 the beekeepers who have written on 

 the subject, have noted the condi- 

 tion of a strong colony, as to bodily 

 heat generated ? Uoiv do they Jaiow 

 that 45° to 50° is "about right ?" that 

 if the tem[)erature falls below these 

 figures that the bees become rest- 

 less, exercise violently to keep 

 ivarm, consume more honey than is 

 necessary to sustain life, and tlys- 

 entery is the result? Do their 

 assumptions comport with scientific 

 investigations? That hypothesis is 

 fallacious, and has no foundation 

 in fact so far as ray observation has 

 extended, for we have occupied a 

 room above the bee cellar for four 

 seasons and cannot subscribe to 

 that theory. By re'pe(tted trials, I 

 have satisHed myself in regard to 

 degrees of heat generated by a 

 2)01)1110X1,8 colon}^ and give the fig- 

 ures for the same. When the tem- 

 perature of the cellar (three feet 

 from the hive) is 32° inside (not 

 among the cluster) a thermometer 

 laid lengthwise on top of the brood- 

 frames registers 78° — a difference 

 of 46° — with hive raised from 

 bottom-board, a bee space, and bur- 



