l'A-2 



GJ.EANlXCiS LN DKE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



lutely no increase. — I think you are a little 

 severe on red-clover queens, although I agree 

 with you that, when the seasons are favora- 

 ble, all kinds of bees, almost, work on red 

 clover. In our locality, Italians, and often- 

 times blacks also, are to be found on the red 

 clover in June, almost as much as on white 

 clover — sometimes more, although there are 

 seasons wlien the bees work strongly on the 

 white clover, and almost not at all on the red 

 clover, t think I liave often stated, that, in 

 my opinion at least, most of our clover honey 

 in Medina Co. comes from red clover. It is 

 true, however, that when the white clover 

 ceases to yield honey, the red clover ceases 

 also, and occasionally we have a season when 

 bees get houey enough in September from 

 the seed crop ot" red clover to till section boxes, 

 although this latter does not happen, perhaps, 

 oftener than once in live years, on an aver- 

 age. There are strains of Italians that seem 

 to gather more honey in September than 

 other strains, and we suppose, from the col- 

 or and taste, that it comes from the seed 

 crop of the red clover. The effort, however, 

 to perpetuate a strain of bees that will gath- 

 er honey from red clover at times when other 

 strains do not, has never been very fully 

 realized, so far as I can learn. Most of the 

 bees from an imported queen, direct from 

 Italy, usually gather moi-e or less stores 

 while the seed crop of red clover is in bloom. 

 I did not know that good honey was ever 

 sold as low as o cts. for extracted and 10 cts. 

 for comb. If any one has any good honey to 

 be sold at those hgures, I should be glad to 

 take it off his liands, no matter how much 

 there is of it; and if it is not too remote, I 

 Avill pay freight l)esi des. A pretty large crop 

 of honey can be sold at retail so as to get 10 

 cts. for extracted and 15 cts. for comb honey 

 in almost any locality, by taking a little pains; 

 and I think it will pay almost any bee-keep- 

 er to develop his home market, avij way. 



CELLAR WINTERING. 



ITIMVAIili VENTIIiATIIIN. I.OWK.U VENTI I, ATK )N, 8UH- 

 EAKTH VENTILATION, KTC. 



rj^ ItO. KUOT:— IM sivo sevfMitt'en c-oiits if .vdu 

 1^ wintered your boes in llio t^llar. It may lie 

 JP^ host for you to winter on summer stands; 

 ■*"^ but for many of ns it seems best to winter 

 in cellars; and if yuu did so, I am confident 

 you would help settle a g-ood many questions that 

 would tend to make cellaring- less uncertain. I 

 should very much like to have your help on the 

 ventilation (jucstion. Opinions contliet as to the 

 necessity for any kind of ventilation, some seeming 

 to consider it as the important factor, others tliink- 

 iufr no ventilation whatever necessary. When we 

 consider in what .•ilmost absolute inactivity l)ees 

 may be kept, it would h.irdly seem necessary for 

 them to use much air; and instances are on record, 

 if I mistake not. where bees hermetically sealed, or 

 apparently so, have remiiincd in good health. Con- 

 ditions vary so much that 1 am far from layinjr 

 down as a fixed rule for others what may seem best 

 for myself; but so far as my own bees and cellars 

 arc concerned, in spite of my theory as to their 

 neerliqg little or no ajr, observation leads strongly 



in the direction of their needing- a change, and a 

 pretty rapid change, of air. 



UPWARD VENTILATION. 



P'ormerly the absolute necessity of upwai-d ven- 

 tilation was strongly urged by many, and I think a 

 great majority believed in it, although a few com- 

 bated it. Of late, very little has been said about it. 

 Three or four years ago I tried some hives without 

 upward ventilation, and could not see that it made 

 any difference; and for the past two j'cars I have 

 given no upward ventilation, mainly because it was 

 more convenient to leave the hives covered up 

 tight. I supposed I was somewhat heretical in my 

 views, until surprised to find in the Canadian Bee 

 Jimrnal of Jan. 20, 1886, that a radical change of sen" 

 timent had been quietly going on in bee-keepers' 

 minds; for in reply to a question on the subject- 

 not one of the fifteen who replied considered up- 

 ward ventilation essential. The impressicm i)re- 

 vailed, that it made little difference where the air 

 entered the hive, just so the bees could have it. My 

 own hives are taken into the cellar with the cloths 

 glued on tight, just as they were on the summer 

 stands; but I have enlai'ged the entrances, so that, 

 instead of ^s. they are Vz inch in height, and the 

 whole width of the hive. But it fhere is no good 

 air in the cellar it is impossible to have it in the 

 hive, so that hive ventilation is not so important to 

 considsr as 



CELLAR VENTILATION, 



About which comparatively little has been said. I 

 may here mention some of the things that lead me 

 to think cellar ventilation important. Please re- 

 member that I have now in mind cellars well filled 

 with hives, piled five high. (When I had only eight 

 or ten hives in the cellar there was no trouble about 

 ventilation.) When I found the bees quite uneasy 

 in former winters, I thought it was because they 

 were too cold, and I was in the habit of building a 

 fii-e in the evening. In the morning- I found the 

 l)ees nice and (pjiet, but was puzzled to find the 

 thermometer no higher than it had been before 1 

 made the fire, which, being a wt)od fire, had died 

 out in the night. If cold had made them uneasy in 

 the first place, why were they not now uneasy with 

 the same degree of cold'/ I came to the conclusion 

 that the fire had hastened the ventilation of the 

 cellar, and thus quieted the bees. Still, there may 

 have some changes taken place, such as getting at 

 their stores while the cellar was heated, leaving 

 them quiet afterward, without any reference to the 

 ventilation. 



Toward spring, when the weather became warm 

 and the bees uneasy, 1 opened the cellar doors and 

 windows at night, causing great uproar among the 

 bees when first opened; but by morning all were 

 <iuiet, no change having taken place in the temper- 

 atur(?. What, t)esides the change of air, quieted 

 them in this case? Again, 1 noticed the bees were 

 invariably (piiet after a windy time, whether cold 

 or Warm; and a still, damp time was just as sure to 

 make them uneasy. The shop cellar is without sub- 

 vontilatiou; and when the weather moderates, it is 

 necessai-y to open the ti-apdoor or window; but in 

 zero weather no such necessity exists, although the 

 thermometer in the cellar may stand just as high as 

 in the warmer weather. The reason is, that, in the 

 zero vveather, the temperature is so much higher 

 inside that the heavy, cold air outside forced its 

 way through every crack and crevice, thus ventilat- 

 ing the cellar without any large opening. Now, 



