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THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



M\' cellar was made 16 feet long, 

 5 feet wide and 6 feet deep with a 

 door at one end. The gronnd was 

 frozen a foot deep and the removal 

 of this crust cost us a good deal of 

 extra labor. Two men performed 

 the work in one day and partly cov- 

 ered the excavation. Boards were 

 laid along the edge of the cellar and 

 round cedar posts laid across, two 

 feet apart. On these I threw old 

 boards, placed a 2 x 3 inch venti- 

 tor near each end and covered the 

 whole, first with the dirt we had 

 thrown out and then with coarse 

 litter from the stable. A rough 

 door frame was fastened in, a door 

 was hung and the job was done at 

 a cost of $4.50, including labor, 

 l)Osts and all. Saturday morning 

 my cave was steaming, but I had 

 no time to wait, so in went "the 

 bees. The first row rested on a 

 board on the ground and extended 

 the whole length of the cave. The 

 caps were removed, the quilts put 

 on and a long board resting on 

 sticks covered the tops of all the 

 hives in the row. Another row was 

 placed on top of these and the 

 work was done. For a few days 

 the door was left open to give the 

 cellar a chance to dry a little, but 

 the weather turned cold and the 

 doorway was packed full of hay. 

 The frost came out of the walls 

 and the vapor rose from the ven- 

 tilators in a cloud. At first the 

 thermometer, lowered through a 

 ventilator, showed 50° ; later, when 

 the weather got colder it went to 

 45°, then to 40°. When the mer- 

 cury went to 20° below zero out- 

 side it went to 38° above in the 

 cellar and then I began to be 

 alarmed. But an inspection of the 

 interior showed the bees alive, 

 quiet and well. I now closed the 

 ventilators and kept them closed 

 through all the cold weather, but 

 the temperature remained at 38° 

 foi' three months and the bees win- 

 tered well, in spite of the cold 



and dampness. Nearly all the 

 colonies had the dysentery badly, 

 but I never had bees in better 

 condition in May. My only losses 

 were from robbing late in the 

 spring. 



This winter my bees will be 

 placed in a cellar exactly like the 

 one they occupied last winter, but 

 the soil will be given ami)le time 

 to dry out and the cover will be 

 nearer frost proof. I will report 

 my degree of success next spring. 



Aucbibon, la., Oct. 11, 1887. 



For the Aviei-ican Jpiculturist. 



REPORT FROM TEXAS. 



L. Stachelhausen. 



I have had no time to read very 

 much in bee-papers this summer 

 (I take six of tliem) and so I did 

 not renew my subscription for the 

 Api. But now, having more time, 

 I see I cannot do without 3'our 

 journal and herewith renew mj' sub- 

 scription. 



In our section of Texas we had 

 the smallest crops this year of any 

 since I came to this country ; in 

 farming nearly no crops at all. My 

 130 colonies of bees gathered only 

 6,000 pounds of surplus honey ; a 

 neighbor of mine has over 100 col- 

 onies and less than 1000 pounds of 

 honey. I hope for a better year 

 and am preparing a second apiary 

 this winter. 



I sent to different German bee 

 journals articles in favor of our 

 American hives and management. 

 The German hives are generally ma- 

 nipulated from the sitle (we should 

 call it so, the}' say from behind) 

 and the frames are very high (16 

 inches about) and the hive only 8^ 

 inches wide. Some like to have two 

 stories, i. e., the frames only 8 

 inches high and the hives 8^- inches 



