AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



151 



poDdenoe witb the branch of the Qrm 

 doing business iu this country, and I 

 leftrn that the cost for furnaces and at- 

 tachments would be about $75. I shall 

 not take up time speaking of the success 

 of their system of ventilation and vvarm- 

 ing. That can be learned on inquiry. 

 For this system the house should be two 

 stories high, or one story and a base- 

 ment. The bee-room would be on the 

 second flat. Suppose the room were 

 25x40x9 feet— this would give 9,000 

 cubic feet. Such a building might have 

 a workrshop and store-rooms below, and 

 store rooms in the attic, also. The bee- 

 room would be a grand place for evapor- 

 ating honey, either extracted or in the 

 comb. It would be far ahead of any 

 curing-room yet recommended. To an 

 extensive bee-keeper the cost of such a 

 wintering house should not be an ob- 

 stacle. Farmers whose profits on the 

 capital invested are perhaps not greater, 

 are obliged to build more expensive 

 buildings in which to store iheir pro- 

 duce, and protect their stock. 



Such a wintering house would require 

 daily observation and attendance, but 

 warming and ventilation for 1,000 hives 

 cannot be made automatic, with the best 

 results, in our Northern climate. The 

 plan recommended will place both tem- 

 perature and change of air under con- 

 trol, and will insure success if anything 



will. S. COBNEIL. 



Several members mentioned that the 

 Smead system of ventilation had not 

 always been satisfactory ; that the odor 

 from the closets sometimes entered the 

 rooms. It was thought, however, that 

 this trouble might arise from a lack of 

 fires in the furnaces, and this condition 

 would not arise in the ventilation of bee- 

 cellars. 



L. A. Aspinwall — The great amount 

 of water that is found in the systems of 

 the bees in winter, comes, I think, from 

 the absorption by the honey of the 

 moisture of the atmosphere. This is 

 especially the case if the honey is un- 

 sealed. One difficulty with cellar-win- 

 tering is, that there is so much trouble 

 and attention required in keeping the 

 temperature at the proper point. 



Pres. Taylor — I think that cellar-win- 

 tering causes much less labor and 

 trouble than that of any other method. 



L. A. Aspinwall —It may be so now, 

 but we may yet have a better system of 

 out-door v/intering. 



Wm. Anderson — I think the question 

 of food has more to do with safe winter- 

 ing than has that of moisture. If we 



keep aw^y the nitrogenous food, the 

 bees will be all right. 



Prea. Taylor^There are some things 

 that make me doubt the importance of 

 moisture in the wintering problem. For 

 instance, I have had bees winter well 

 when the inside of the hives were drip- 

 ping with moisture, and the combs cov- 

 ered with mold. Then, again, my cellar 

 is well ventilated. The chimney ex- 

 tends down to th^ cellar bottom, and 

 there is an opening at the bottom of the 

 chimney. Usually the bees winter well, 

 but they have not always done so.* So 

 far as I have been able to discover, the 

 conditions of moisture and ventilation 

 have been about the same each year. I 

 do not think that the conditions in this 

 direction have been sufficient to account 

 for the difference in the wintering of 

 the bees. 



W. Z. Hutchinson — The difference in 

 the food and the difference in the 

 weather, or the temperature, of differ- 

 ent winters account in great degree for 

 the varying success in wintering bees in- 

 doors and out. Suppose the food is of 

 an excellent character, and the winter 

 severe. The bees in-doors will winter 

 in an excellent manner, while those out- 

 of-doors will suffer from the severe 

 weather. If the winter is "open," those 

 out-of-doors will have frequent lights, 

 and come through the winter in the best 

 possible condition. If the stores are 

 poor, and the winter severe, those in- 

 doors may pull through with some losses, 

 while those out-of-doors will be almost 

 entirely swept away. In a warm winter, 

 with unsuitable stores, the bees out-of- 

 doors may come through almost as well 

 as with the best of stores, the frequent 

 flights preventing the over-loading of 

 the intestines. jThese two factors — dif- 

 ference in stores and difference in the 

 temperature of winters — explain a great 

 many of the vagaries in wintering. 



Wm. Anderson — I think spring dwind- 

 ling ought to be considered. There are 

 more bees lost from this than die jn the 

 winter. 



Pres. Taylor — I think spring losses 

 are the result of imperfect wintering. 

 The bees retain their feces until they 

 are weakened thereby, and then comes 

 a chance to fly, and they are apparently 

 healthy, but soon die as the result of the 

 tax that has been placed upon their 

 vitality. This is called "spring dwind- 

 ling." 



L. A. Aspinwall — I think we over- 

 work our bees. Instead of going into 

 winter with young bees in the full vigor 

 of life, we work them until they are 



