328 THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



There should be no spout extending down in the cellar; the spout 

 should begin at the top of the cellar and end at the top of the 

 sawdust overhead. We regulate the temperature by partly covering 

 or uncovering this opening, and by opening or closing the inner 

 door to the hatchway. For some time I have had my doubts that 

 it was necessary to keep our bee cellars here as warm as the ''bee 

 doctors" all say we must, // all the necessary conditions for perfect 

 wintering are present, A'iz., a z'cr\ dry cellar, good stores, and plenty 

 of good healthy bees. I let the temperature of one of my cellars 

 go down the fore part of last January to 31 degrees, and it hardly 

 varied from that until the last week of March, and during all my 

 bee-keeping experiences of more than thirty years I never had bees 

 winter better, or consume less stores. I will add that out of more 

 than 200 colonies we only lost one in the cellars last winter, and 

 that died of starvation. Now, if the Editor will allow me, I will 

 tell something that may be of interest to many of his readers : Being 

 associated in the bee business here with my brother, \V. Z. H., and 

 being much together, of course I knew of much that was being done 

 and planned behind the lines in the office of the Reviev;. "When my 

 brother's health began to fail, he began to consider the matter of 

 getting someone to help him edit and publish the Review, and out 

 of all his wide acquaintance among men, and bee-keepers, he decided 

 that E. B. Tyrrell was the best man to fill the place. So you see 

 his mantle fell on the shoulders he would have chosen to wear it. 

 I also believe that he would be glad could he know that the Review 

 is now owned by and is the ofihcial organ of the X. A. B. K. A., 

 for he always had a warm place in his heart for the old association. 

 Pioneer, Mich. 



[It will be noted that by building the cellar in a side hill (providing a suit- 

 able hill having the desired slope can be had), the bottom of the cellar can be 

 on a level with the bee-yard, thus making it possible to walk right in with the 

 heavy swarms without climbing stairs, one of the most convenient arranged cellar 

 door contrivances possible. 



It will be noticed that the cellar door is preferred at the north end of the 

 cellar. The critical period in cellar wintering of bees is in the spring of the 

 year, or in other words the last few weeks that the bees are confined m the cellar. 

 The long confinement has caused the bees to become uneasy. This disturbance 

 causes a rise in the temperature in the cellar which aggravates the trouble. The 

 door in the north end of the cellar will have a tendency to keep the cellar more 

 cool during this period. Many of the bee-cellars of the out-yard bee-men of 

 Northern Michigan are built of this same cheap construction as are the Hutchinsons'. 

 These cellars will last from six to ten years, by which time the location may 

 "play out," when a new cellar is built at some more favorable location. Saw-dust 

 seems to be a favorite material for the covering of bee-cellars, while some use 

 earth, preferably sand. 



A more substantial cellar, but still cheap where stone is plenty, is the one 

 built and used by Hubbard Bros.. Boyne Falls. Mich. The side hill feature of 

 the Hutchinson cellar is retained, but instead of posts and boards for the sides, 

 they are laid up with loose stone, no mortar being used. The wall is laid some- 

 what sloping, so it will stand better — that is, the cellar when completed is a little 

 longer and wider at the top than at the bottom. 



