228 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



such wintering places are not the thing. A 

 properly constructed wintering place for hees 

 may be large enough to winter five hundred 

 stocks in a semi-dormant state; yet a single 

 stock would winter equally well in the same 

 place. Such a place is nothing more nor less 

 than an underground cellar of proper dimen- 

 sions. Do you laugh ? Laugh on, then. But 

 if you construct such a cellar as I arn about to 

 describe, you may, next fall, as soon as the 

 earth is mantled in snow, step out some morn- 

 ing and carry your bees into it; never mind your 

 wire screens, corncobs, or Kidder-mats; never 

 mind whether you have upward or downward 

 ventilation, or ventilation at all ; if sufficient 

 air gets into the hive for breathing purposes, 

 close up the entrances and hustle them in — close 

 the door, lock it, and go about your business; 

 and, if every stock has sufficient honey when 

 put in, every stock will come out laughing in 

 the spring. Then you Avill have something 

 worth laughing at. 



Now for the cellar. First, build large 

 enough. You cannot spoil it by building it too 

 large; but you can spoil it by building it too 

 small. Second, wall it up with a hollow brick 

 wall. Third, cover the bottom with water- 

 lime as you would a cistern; it will become as 

 hard as stone. Fourth, let it be a least eight or 

 ten feet in depth. 



In such a cellar, if large enough, you may 

 winter five hundred or a thousand stocks ; and 

 if you have only one stock, it will winter these 

 equally well. A cellar twenty feet by thirty is 

 a good size, and will winter from one to two 

 hundred stocks, without ventilating ; and if 

 ventilated, will winter five hundred stocks, and 

 perhaps more. In such a cellar, a thermometer 

 will range at from 35° to 40° F. above zero, 

 when there are no bees in it. It will take a 

 large number of bees, in a cellar of the above 

 size, to materially affect the temperature. In 

 such a cellar the bees are not affected by the 

 changes of the weather; even a thermometer 

 will not vary more than four or five degrees 

 during the winter. 



But, says one, I really think the hives should 

 have upward ventilation. It is like the doctor's 

 bread pills, it will do them no harm in such a 

 cellar, if it does them no good. Very strong 

 stocks in a very tight hive might be the better 

 of upward ventilation; but stocks are rare in- 

 deed that require more ventilation than would 

 be given by empty honey-boxes remaining in 

 the hive right side up. If, however, you have 

 time to attend to it and choose to ventilate, you 

 can do so in any way that pleases you best; for 

 in such a cellar you may remove the honey 

 boxes, leaving the passages open, and the bees 

 will hardly come out. Mr. Gallup is quite 

 right in that. But if you choose to put on wire 

 cloth to quiet your fears, and set the thing at 

 rest, be it so; and do not be afraid that some hot 

 blooded bee will gallop up to the wire, and find- 

 iug himself fast, set up such a horrid yell as to 

 arouse all his sleeping companions; for such 

 will not prove to be the rule. And if Mr. Gal- 

 lup will pass around and quietly lay his piece of 

 wire-cloth over his bees, he will find what I say 

 to be true — provided they are now in a semi- 



dormant state. But says another, I am not able 

 to build such a cellai. That does not do away 

 with the fact that bees can be wintered in such 

 a cellar successfully, and with less trouble than 

 we now winter our horses. Often a stable for 

 two horses costs as much as would a cellar of 

 the above dimensions. Then we require to feed 

 and tend our horses, after having provided them 

 with comfortable quarters, while the bees feed 

 and tend themselves. Surely they are entitled 

 to good quarters. 



I shall lay out more money for feed for my 

 poney this winter than his head is worth; and 

 the profit derived will simply be the luxury of 

 ridiug. Every ten stocks of Italians I winter will, 

 in the spring, be worth more than the poney, 

 and require no outlay for feed or tending; and 

 the luxury in the form of surplus honey, taken 

 from them last fall, is fully equal to the luxury 

 of riding, and quite as profitable. Therefore I 

 say — "keep bees! keep bees!" and provide 

 good winter quarters for them. If unable to 

 provide as good winter quarters as described, 

 approach as near to it as possible. 



J. H. Thomas. 



Buooklin, Ontario. 



[For tho American Bee Journal.] 



Wintering Bees on Their Summer 

 Stands. 



To-day, February 13, 1869, my bees are mak- 

 ing their first general issue, and although tho 

 thermometer only reached 47° at three o'clock 

 this afternoon, yet the atmosphere is dry, soft, 

 and mild; and, with one or two slight excep- 

 tions of a few minutes, the sun shone out 

 brightly all d<jy. Though the thermometer did, 

 on several days during the winter, reach about 

 the same figures, yet other causes, such as high 

 or damp winds, prevented a general flight. But 

 this morning the bees seemed bent on having a 

 general frolic; and before the thermometer 

 reached 36°, they began to sally out in great 

 numbers. Those of them that were lucky 

 enough to keep themselves in the sunshine were 

 all right; but a few seconds out of it chilled 

 them beyond the power of flight, and falling on 

 the snow (which is about a foot deep on a level) 

 they perished. In fact a few minutes in the 

 shade, at any time during the day, was suffi- 

 cient to chill many beyond the ability of flying, 

 and a good many were thus lost. 



The winter so far has been very favorable in 

 this section for wintering bees on their summer 

 stands. We had comparatively little wind, or 

 cold or warm weather — the cold not continuing 

 long enough at a time to prevent the bees from 

 supplying themselves with honey (if it was in 

 the hive), by either moving to it, or moving it 

 to themselves. Neither was the warm weather 

 sufficient to cause many bees to sally out and 

 be lost. We have not had more than half a 

 dozen zero nights this winter. On the morn- 

 ing of February 8 the mercury was 6° below, 

 which was the coldest of the season by three 

 degress. Unless we yet have something worse 

 than we have had, out-door wintering will be a 



