April 3, 1902. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



215 



I usually Inavi' only oiio opi'n at a tlmn. In proparinR this 

 movable board b, provision must bo inailii a};aliist warpitiK. b> 

 rjailiuK I'lcat.s to both mills: an allowaiico of about '4 imii 

 must also bi^ made In thn width of h (as In A', FiR. 2) : oIIht- 

 wis(^ danipiii'ss lu the sprinn-liuic will so oxtnnd the width that 

 till! boards will 110 lonj^or be movable. Moanwhilo the ;,'ap 

 is dosed by a thin board f, placed under and resting In front 



IfJjljZZIu 



WWIHfJl 



Kk;. 1.— Wiiilrr lUitlvin-lioaril fur Onlihinr W'ijdiriiuj uf Ilns. 



Oil a little bldi'U d (as in Fig. 2) ; a little roll of paper closes 

 the hole wliieli reiiialns in front. 



/is a thin board used as a sort of bridge over the front of 

 the bottom-board d between the holes in the front end, to ])re- 

 vent sawdust or any other filling material from falling in J-'. 

 It is not necessary to have it nailed. (See it in position Figs. 

 2 and 3). 



' J.Z 1 



Fig. 2. — Ready for use. 



FlO. M. — Willi liine set upon it. 



k is the oblong block to reduce the width of the front en- 

 trance to suit the taste. 



Z, Z, Z, are three thin boards to cover the sides of the 

 combination boards; they must be of such width and so nailed 

 as to provide a space under the whole apparatus, as at 9. 



I {renerally slip a piece of coarse paper over the inside 

 floor /'for convenience. IJees, in cleaning the hive, when the 

 temperature allows it, drop the dead bees, etc., in h, over this 

 paper, and it is easy for th<^ bee-keeper to remove these dead 

 bees by drawing the paper out, and replacing it, if it has bi'- 

 come soiled. But late in February or March some colonies 



Fig. 4. — With Winter-Cuse. 



will have accumulated dead bees over the movable bottom- 

 board, under the cluster, to such an amount that it will be 

 well to draw this bottom-board out : clean it and replace it 

 inverted, which operation can be performed without arousing 

 the bees much. This is the principal advantage of such a 

 movable bottom-board. The others are : The entrance-holes 

 h are never plugged by ice or dead bees ; the severe winds 

 never blow directly on these holes: neither do the rays of tlie 

 sun strike on them. 



Care must be taken not to make any of the movable parts 

 {b, g, k,) too tight, for easy removing of them : for dampness 

 causes them to smell a good deal. So these blocks {g, k,) should 

 be a little less than 1 ^^ inches thick. 



^ is used partly to sustain the movable bottom-board in 

 front (inside), and is also placed near the holes // to provide a 

 sort of ladder for the bees to climb up and down. 



If robbers are tronblesonie in April or May, a Htrlp of per- 

 forated zinc can be used In the front entrani'C. 



Fig. 2 shows the whole botlom-board ready for the hive to 

 be placed upon it-. Although it iMi;.'hl be used that way a! 

 thc^ year around, I evcliangc- it fui the ordinary bottom-board 

 aometimr' in iMay, wlnn I also remove the winter-cases. 



Fig. :'. shows the hive In position. It does not lean on the 

 movable bottom-boanl, but on the three side.s of the upper 

 layer. A", A', A'. 



s is my own " Hill's device," provided with an auger-holo 

 — very handy for si)ring feeding. I generally use a chimney 

 feeder, covered with glass. 



Fig.4 shows the whole winter arrangement. 



n, «, «, are thi! sejiarate pans of the winter case ; /« Is the 



FiO. 5. — JJive-Stand (to necommodate 3 hivei) with winter-ra»e».) 



Tbis stand serves 3 purposes: 1. Convenience in handling frames 

 2. Keeping away rats and mice. 3. Protects against 



. ._^^ snow embankments. _ . __ 



zinc-board cover. The edges in each 'part of the case (also 

 in X, Fig. 1 ) are beveled so as to shed rain-water as in o. Fig. 4. 



I use sawdust as most convenient for a tilling-material ; 

 about 4 inches thick on the four sides, and as much as 7 or 8 

 inches on the top of the frames. 



Fig. 5 is the hive-stand, all the year around. 



Quebec, Canada. 



An Experience in Wintering Bees in tlie Cellar. 



BY C. DAVENPORT. 



A year ago this winter I wintered about 150 colonies of 

 bees in a basement or cellar that was only partly under 

 ground, and besides the disadvantage of being only partly 

 under ground it was so small that the hives had to be packed 

 very close together and tiered up from the floor to the 

 ceiling. There was no means of ventilation except by the 

 door and two small windows. The temperature varied 

 greatly during some severely cold weather; with 

 both windows closed it would be as low as 38 degrees, and 

 when it was mild, with both windows open at night, it 

 would rise to 60 degrees. Toward spring, when the weather 

 began to get warm, the temperature was even higher, and 

 the bees became very restless and uneasy. They were clus- 

 tered all over the front of the hives, and if the outside 

 door was left open enough so there was light enough to 

 see, the air inside would be literally thick with flying bees, 

 and the results were about as bad as though a lantern 

 was taken inside. 



It became a serious problem how to get the bees on the 

 summer stands. As soon as a hive was set out-of-doors all 

 the bees clustered on the outside would take wing, and 

 those inside would begin to pour out by the hundred as 

 soon as the light struck the hive. I tried setting the hives 

 on a large canvas, then wrapping this quickly around and 

 over the whole hive before many bees could escape, but by 

 the time the hive was carried to its stand most of the bees 

 were out of the hive and in the folds of the canvas or 

 cloth, and when this was removed there would be a cloud, 

 in fact, practically all the bees that were not crushed in 

 the fold of the doth would be in the air without taking 

 bearings or knowing where they belonged. Smoke only 

 made the matter worse, that is, trying to smoke a colony 

 after it was removed from the cellar. I came very near 

 smoking the whole number in the cellar, but hardly dared 

 to, for I was afraid if the whole air of the cellar was 

 heavily charged with smoke that it might make the matter 

 worse. 



These first attempts at putting them out was during a 

 few warm days the first part of March; the weather for a 

 short time after turned colder, but the bees were becom- 

 ing more restless and uneasy all the time, many colonies 

 beginning to spot their hives badly. I would leave the 



