AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



49 



raise the temperature in a climate, 

 which, as I have said, is already too hot. 



There is nothing so successful for 

 feeding bees for a journey across the 

 United States as soft candy. The softer 

 it is the better; the only trouble is that 

 we cannot use it as soft as we would like 

 to. This is owing to the fact that when 

 too soft it is apt to run in the cage, and 

 not only daub the bees, but also the 

 mails, should any of it get outsfde the 

 cage, as it will likely do if the bees do 

 not eat it as fast as it shifts about. 

 Then, when it is soft, there may be 

 trouble by the bees that may happen to 

 die during the trip, getting stuck in the 

 soft candy, so-called. Should several 

 such dead bees get stuck at the entrance 

 to the food compartment, there may be 

 a likelihood that the remaining live bees 

 may not be able to get to the food, and 

 consequently starve to death. 



So, from all these things, I think that 

 while the Benton queen shipping-case is 

 a very good one for shipping queens sev- 

 eral hundred miles, it will have to be 

 modified somewhat for sending such in- 

 sects long distances, without making it 

 as large as the export cage, which I find 

 to be a very good cage to send bees in to 

 even this State. Though this last- 

 named cage is about the best cage I 

 have seen for getting queens alive to 

 this part of the world, it is too large for 

 shipping dollar queens in, as the breeder 

 cannot well afford to pay the extra 

 postage and cost of such cages just for 

 shipping a queen for which he only re- 

 ceives 100 cents. And yet, considering 

 the fact that if the queen is shipped in 

 one of the smaller cages, and she should 

 die before she reaches the purchaser, 

 the shipper would have to replace her, 

 it would be cheaper in the long run for 

 the breeder to have used a larger cage 

 in the first instance. But as my experi- 

 ments have been directed toward using 

 as small a cage as possible, and yet 

 secure the same results as if a large 

 cage were used, I shall confine my ob- 

 servations to such lines, as, in truth, I 

 think I have been doing. 



North Temescal, Calif. 



(Concluded next week.) 



Xlie La^dies^ Home Joitrual, of 



Philadelphia, Pa., and the Bee Journal — 

 both together for one year for only $1.65. 

 The first-named journal is the grandest 

 monthly for the home that is published in 

 the world to-day. New or old subscribers 

 to either journal can take advantage of the 

 lew rate of §1.65 for the two papers. This 

 ofter expires on Feb. 1, 1894. Send all or- 

 ders to the office of the Bee Journal. 



Wintering Bees in tlie Cellar. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY M. M. BALDRIDGE. 



On Dec. 4th the thermometers in this 

 city said it was from 12^ to 18° below 

 zero. In my bee-cellar, where I have 

 28 colonies, my thermometer said it was 

 44-0 above zero at that time, and that is 

 the lowest I have seen it to this date 

 (Dec. 11th). The highest temperature 

 since Nov. 15th (the date my bees were 

 put into the cellar), that I have noticed, 

 is 50°, but I presume it has been as high 

 as 55°, and perhaps 60-'. The range of 

 temperature anywhere between 40° and 

 60° is satisfactory to me. This will 

 make the seventh winter, I think, that I 

 have used this cellar for bees, and I do 

 not recollect that I have ever lost a col- 

 ony of bees in it. I have sometimes 

 found in the spring, after the bees have 

 been out-doors awhile, one or two 

 queenless colonies, but that I do not of 

 course attribute to any fault with their 

 winter repository. 



In placing my bees in the cellar, I pre- 

 fer to give each hive some slight venti- 

 lation at the top, by raising the cover 

 the thickness of a 6-penny wire-nail, 

 one at each corner. I leave each en- 

 trance open the entire width of the hive. 

 No cloths, summer or winter, are used 

 on or about my hives, as I have no use 

 for them. As before stated, I prefer to 

 lift up the hive-cover slightly while in 

 winter quarters ; still, I have some win- 

 ters left some of them waxed down, and 

 I did not notice in the spring but that 

 such colonies were in just as good con- 

 dition, and with combs as bright and 

 free from mold, as the others. Either 

 plan seems to be all right, according to 

 my experience, when the temperature 

 ranges from 40^^ to 60° ; but perhaps I 

 had better add that the air in my cellar 

 is about as dry and free from impuri- 

 ties as the living rooms of a house 

 should be. 



There are three windows to my cellar, 

 and these are left open the entire sum- 

 mer, and closed only just prior to the 

 date the bees are carried in. During 

 the winter I, or some other member of 

 my family, go into the cellar almost 

 every day. The part where the bees 

 are, is divided off by a board partition, 

 but the door that opens into the bee- 

 room is seldom shut, and then only dur- 

 ing an extremely cold spell.' I keep the 

 entire cellar dark, and never hesitate to 

 visit the bee-room whenever I so desire, 

 as I do not believe even frequent visits 



