54 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Sept., 



root cellars are made — bluff, or side-hill. The 

 door should be at the lowest side, for the conve- 

 nience of entrance, as it is diificult to pass up 

 and down stairs with a swarm of bees. 



The size of the room will of course be suf- 

 ficiently large to contain what bees we wish to 

 place therein. Sixteen feet by twenty, inside 

 measure, will hold one hundred and fifty swarms, 

 and leave ample alley room. The place should 

 be dry, there should be a double door, the room 

 perfectly dark, ceiling joists and a floor should 

 be laid over head, and eight or ten inches of saw- 

 dust, tan-bark, dry marsh muck, or some non- 

 conductor placed on it before putting on the roof. 

 Four pipes, chimneys or tubes, made of ten or 

 twelve inch boards, should run fi-om just below 

 the ceiling through the roof, and be of sufficient 

 length to exclude the light, say eight feet, on the 

 lower end of which there will be a simple slide 

 or valve. Place one in or near each corner of 

 the room. Thus we have the means distributed 

 for the ascent of the surplus heat, and the animal 

 heat of one hundred swarms is quite consider- 

 able, and the gi'eat difficulty, if any, will be to 

 keep our room cool enough. To jump at the 

 conclusion that a room with thin walls will ac- 

 complish it. Mill not answer ; the great difficulty 

 is to have an even temperature. As, if our walls 

 are thin, the rays of the sun and warm air will 

 make the room too warm. In February, 1860, I 

 was under the necessity of doubling the thick- 

 ness of a ten inch wall on the south side. 



We also place a pipe or tube quite around the 

 inside of the room upon the floor or ground (a 

 floor is quite unnecessary, worse than nothing, 

 for it makes a hiding place for rats and mice), 

 this tube may be made of foot boards, and inch 

 holes bored in it, once in two feet, for the equal 

 distribution of the cold and fresh air, wlien 

 needed. One end of this pipe must pass through 

 the wall, and must have a slide or valve at or 

 near the outer end 



If my room was at the bank or hill, the lower 

 side or end will of necessity be destitute of earth 

 banking, and we would make the wall at least 

 sixteen inches, filled as above with some non- 

 conducting substance, and dry marsh muck is 

 equal, if not superior, to almost any other sub- 

 stance, except fine charcoal, and is easily pro- 

 cured. 



A house built altogether upon a level surface, 

 with the walls of sufficierU tMckness, say eighteen 

 or twenty inches, will be equally good. The 

 cost of such a house as I have described cannot 

 be great. Most, if not all the labor, can be per- 

 formed by the apiarian. 



This house will be found very convenient for 

 many other purposes in the spring and summer, 

 in the various ojid'ations, to wit : in overhauling 

 and examining the bees in the spring, as a win- 

 dow sash may then be placed in the top of one of 

 the doors, and a stove placed within — thus I 

 have one arranged. 



When you suspect there may be a material 

 change in the temperature of the room, look to 

 the thermometer ; if too cold, close the valves, if 

 too warm open them more or less, as occasion 

 may require ; if that is not sufficient, open the 

 door after dark, and close it again before light, 

 and if that is not sufficient, throw in and spread 



over the floor a few bushels of snow or pounded 

 ice. 



Many swarms will be benefited by being set 

 out on their summer stands at the time of 

 the January thaw, or in February, those that 

 are besmearing their hives, that they may dis- 

 charge themselves, which will cure most cases of 

 diarrhoea, or dysentery as it is called — though 

 thei'e are real cases of diarrhoea, but not often. 



Thus we have passed over the most essential 

 points in the wintering of bees. I will now pro- 

 ceed to give some, if not all of the necessary 

 steps in their management in the spring. 



It is difficult to give the exact date at which 

 they should be removed to their summer stands, 

 but whenever it is done, it is not at all import- 

 ant that each swarm should be placed on the 

 identical stand it had the previous season, neither 

 is this precaution necessary if set out iu the 

 winter. 



In i-emoving them from the cellar, it will first 

 be necessary to close up the fly-hole and remove 

 the chip or block from under the honey board — 

 to confine the bees in the hive. 



Immediately after placing them upon their 

 summer stands, if housed in special depositories, 

 and perhaps about the same time or a trifle 

 earlier if wintered out, the bottom boards should 

 be cleaned of di'ad bees and other filth, it saves 

 the bees much labor and no doubt conduces to 

 their health. 



As soon as they have become accustomed to 

 their new location, one (5f the most important 

 operations in bee management becomes neces- 

 sary, to wit, the thorough examination of the 

 swarm, for five purposes : First, to ascertain if 

 they have sufficient honey to carry them through ; 

 of this we may judge with sufficient accuracy 

 from the appearance of the quantity. Be sure to 

 leave them enough, as the breeding season is now 

 considerably advanced. We must also regard 

 the size of the swarm, which will, of course, in- 

 clude the quantity of brood now on hand. Sec- 

 ondly, to sec if they have too much honey. This 

 reason is almost equally important with the 

 other ; it could be hardly conceived by the 

 novice how it was possible that a swarm of bees 

 could have too much honey. Well, we would 

 like to have you explain that, Mr. Lecturer, says 

 one — I think many. Well, be patient, my 

 friends, and we will make the attempt. First, 

 then, we will suppo.se the breeding chamber of the 

 hive is the proper size. This involves the question 

 as to what is the projicr size. Well, there are 

 various opinions about it ; but with some experi- 

 ence, aided by a few simple figures, we may ap- 

 proximate to it. We may assume that a vigor- 

 ous and healthy queen can and will lay three 

 thousand eggs a day ; now, each square inch of 

 comb will contain fifty eggs, and fifty will go 

 into three thousand sixty times ; it takes about 

 twenty-one days for tlie eggs to hatch ; now 

 twenty-one times sixty is one thousand two hun- 

 dred and sixty : this would be a solid mass of 

 comb, larva and pupa ; of a necessity, then, we 

 must add to the above one thousand two hundred 

 and sixty, half as much more room, six hundred 

 and thirty inches, making the inside of the hive 

 one thousand eight hundred and ninety cubic 

 inches. It will be well to add say half an inch 



