THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



307 



of your room, and into th« back-side of 

 your stove pipe, so that your stove will 

 iuaice a constant draft upon the damp 

 vitiated air of the cellar. And then open a 

 small hole in some part of your sitting- 

 room, or kitciien Hour, so that while the 

 heated air in the stove pipe is drawing up 

 the cold and vitiated air from the bottom of 

 tlu' cellar, the partially warmed air of your 

 sitting-room may descend to supply the 

 draft. 



It will be seen at a glance that there can 

 no stagnant air remain in this collar, but it 

 will be constantly changing, and be conse- 

 quently kept as pure and wliolesome as the 

 air which is breathed by the family. Be- 

 sides this advantage, the air will be kept 10 

 or 15deg. above the freezing point, all the 

 winter, at its lowest. A colony of bees in a 

 cellar with the temperature at the freezing 

 point all winter will be worse off than out 

 upon its sunuuer stand; for the honey in 

 all parts of the hive, except within and 

 above tlu; cluster, will be freezing cold, and 

 of course, any bee which ventures to go 

 among these ice-cold combs, would become 

 chilled and perish. Moisture would accu- 

 mulate and run down upon the bottom board, 

 mouldy combs would ensue, and these 

 together with a constant chilliness of the 

 outside bees of the cluster, and consequent 

 uneasiness, would cause dysentery and 

 death. 



When your cellar is thus prepared, choose 

 a warm dry day, after the bees have had a 

 good Hy, and after they are all in, just 

 before night-fall, stop the entrance with a 

 piece of paper, ana set them one after 

 another into your cellar, without jarring, 

 and disturbing a,s little as possible other- 

 wise. Slip a four-penny nail under each 

 corner of the honey board, thus raising it 

 about one-eighth of an inch for ventilation. 

 Set the first upon a scantling, thus raising 

 it slightly from the bottom of tlie cellar. 

 The colonies can then be set one upon 

 another, until all are in their places, mouth 

 outward from the wall; then open a half- 

 inch orifice at the entrance of every hive, 

 and then close up the cellar, shutting out all 

 the light, and your work is done. If this 

 work is done, say by the middle of Novem- 

 ber, in latitude 40 dcg.. they need but little 

 more attention until the middle of February, 

 when if they show any signs of uneasi- 

 ness, they may be set out upon their sum- 

 mer stands, provided a still, warm, sunny 

 day occurs, but by no means set them out 

 on any day when it is cool, cloudy or 

 windy. If their lirst flight is upon such a 

 day, thousands will be lost, and the colonies 

 very much weakened. Let the themometer 

 stand as high as 'A) deg., and the day still, 

 warm, and sunshiny, and they will have 

 a perfect gala-day. Return them to the 

 cellar in the evening again as before, and 

 they should then remain until the trees and 

 shrubs begin to yield pollen, when they 

 should be set out for the summer, if possible, 

 exactly where they stood the previous year, 

 and upon a still. 'warm, briglit day. Such 

 a winter receptacle, and such an airing in 

 February, has in all cases in my hands 

 <"Ounteracted all tendency to dysentery, 

 even with such vitiated food as named 

 above. But th.e directicms must be followed 

 specifically, especially in the following 

 points: 



1. They must be put into the cellar when 

 the combs are dry, and before hard freezing 



weather occurs, strong in numbers and with 

 not less than 15 lt)s. of good honey in the 

 liive, not counting grape juice, sorghum 

 juice, or cider, if they have gathered any. It 

 would be better to throw it out with the 

 extractor, if you can without exciting 

 otiiers to rob. 



2. The cellar must be dry, well ventilated 

 from the bottom, as directed above or other- 

 wise, and kei)t at a temperature above 42 

 deg., but not much above 50. 



'i. (live them an airing the first warm, 

 still, sunshiny day which occurs after the 

 middle of February. 



4. Return and keep them within the 

 cellar till pollen can be gathered, the last 

 of March, or the first of April, then set out 

 upon their stands for the season, as before 

 directed. 



Ninety-nine out of every hundred colonies 

 thus treated, with a store of good vegetable 

 honey, or syrups, will come out of their 

 winter quarters strong in numbers, and 

 healthy in condition ; and will not have 

 consumed more than 10 H)S of honey, leaving 

 enough to carry them on until the time oi 

 apple blossoms. 



But supposing their food is so vitiated 

 that they begin to die before time for winter 

 quarters; or very shortly after they are put 

 in, can they then be saved? Yes. But it 

 will be at some trouble, and expense. Either 

 warm up your cellar by a stove or take your 

 bees, a few at a time, to a dark room that 

 can be warmed up to seventy or more, and 

 then if possible extract all the unsealed 

 honey in their combs, and if you suspect 

 that any of the vitiated honey is sealed up, 

 uncap and extract so as to leave a brood 

 nest not less than nine or ten inches in di- 

 ameter. But if all their honey is vitiated, 

 then feed moderately thick syrup, made of 

 good white sugar, putting as much food to 

 each hive, as will make two lbs. per month 

 during the time they are to be confined, 

 either all at once, or part at first and the 

 rest when you give them their airing in Feb- 

 ruary. At any time after they begin to show 

 signs of disease, if you cannot do as above 

 directed, remove the honey board and cover 

 the frames with a piece of an old q^uilt, but 

 invert a glass tumbler filled with good 

 syrup, as directed for general feeding, di- 

 rectly over the cluster and upon the frames 

 only raised up a little, by three or four small 

 blocks from a fourth to a half inch in thick- 

 ness. If they take in this syrup, which 

 they will do if the cellar is warmed up a 

 little, the disease will most probably abate. 

 This process should be repeated, giving them 

 a pound per colony every two weeks, as long 

 and as often as any signs of the disease 

 appear. Of course keep the quilt closely 

 tucked around the tumbler to keep the bees 

 from becoming chilled. The honey or 

 syrup ought to be about blood heat when 

 fed to thein. 



But the question will be natuarally asked: 



WILL, THIS DISEASE BE LIKELY TO KECXJB 

 OFTEN IN THIS COUNTRY? 



The bees will be likely to be affected more 

 or less in locations where a drouth occurs 

 as long as they have access to grape juice 

 or sorghum juice, or the juice of the apple. 

 But no matter how dry the weather, the oees 

 can never reach the juice of the grape or 

 or apple unless ijuiu'tured by other insects 

 or birds, or else Imrst open by hot and wet 

 weather, following immediately after the 

 drouth. For a bee never yet, of itself, 



