374 



THE BEE-KEEPERS" REVIEW 



Cellar in Process of Construction. 



will be no better for 

 the safe wintering. 

 I would not advise 

 uilding" on damp 

 ground where it is 

 iable to keep the 

 cellar damp and the 

 bottom covered with 

 more or less water. 

 But as far as soil is 

 concerned it makes 

 NO d i ft e r e n c e. 

 (Alaybe I have got 

 my foot in it; just wait) Where I have my cellar now is very light sand, 

 and it was easy to dig and easy to cave, too, and made me lots of trou- 

 ble, but I got it at last. This was built in the fall of 1910, and before 

 the walls were thoroughly dry I had to put the bees in for the win- 

 ter. It being very soft sand, I was sure 1 had an ideal place for 

 ventilation up through the soil, and did not need any sub-earth 

 ventilator. The bees came through the winter, in fine shape and 

 not one dead. But, oh, the mess in the soft sand. The dead bees 

 were all trampled into the sand and I could not sweep them up, and 

 all summer long there was that odor that is not inviting to stay 

 with long, so I concluded to cement the bottom. I wrote to differ- 

 ent ones and they said no, don't do it ; you will kill the ventilation. 

 I said to myself I will ignore all advice and if the bees die I will 

 get some more. The outcome is I have wintered 100% this winter 

 too, and I can sweep out the floor and scrub it out with water and 

 have a good, sweet place to eat my lunch in when the heat of the 

 summer comes while working with the bees. And it is "as tight 

 as a jug," too, except the two ventilators through the floor, 20x24 

 inches square. 



It is built on a grade of 10%, and faces the south. It is 14x30 

 feet outside, with a store room on top. The wall at the north end 

 is 6 feet below the top of the ground, and the wall is 8 feet high. 

 When the wall was up G feet and 6 inches I made a jog that I could 

 put the 6x1 inch joist on for holding the shavings between the floors. 

 Then I went up two feet further and on top of this I put 2x4's 

 anchored in the wall by bolts, and a nut holds the sills to the wall. 

 Anything will do for the floor to keep the planer shavings from 

 sifting through, and after I laid thin stufit down I placed good thick 

 paper on to be more sure, and to add to the warmth, also. The 

 walls are 8 inch thick, and you will see by the interior view that 

 there are heavy pieces running up and down in the center to be sure 

 there would be no cave-in from the heavy pressure of the light sand 



