1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



cells, and thPii.cut them downrto about >4 Inch 

 in depth, after which- 1 attach them to thelbar 

 with melted wax. A little royal jelly [is then 

 placed in each cell nicely, at the bottom. Next 

 I obtain a frame containing newly hatched.'lar- 

 v;o from one of my choice ;breedors, and;;then, 

 seating; myself in a chair^in front of a strong 

 light, I place a sheet of paper on my knees,'and 

 on this lay the frame of brood, and .transfer the 

 larv;o as per Fig. :.'. The center bar beinglsecur- 

 ed by one nail only at each end,; is grasped, as 

 shown, and can be moved to any angle so as to 

 strike the light. The little stick used for trans- 

 ferring the larvivj is simply a piecejof section 

 stuff about 2^2 inches long, one end being about 

 }^ inch wide, and the other about ^, and as fine 

 as can be sharpened, with the point bent just a 

 little so as to slip under a larva. The larger 

 end of the stick is used for placing the royal 

 jelly in the cells, and occasionally for bruising 

 down a cell so as to get conveniently at the lar- 

 va. Fig. 2 shows the act of placing a larva in a 

 cell; and the supporting-bar, being wider than 

 the cells, acts as a rest to steady the hand, so 

 that the larva can be placed in the bottom of 

 the cell very gently. I can't, for the life of me, 

 imagine how you can raise more queens by the 

 old-fashioned method. 

 Goodna. Queensland, Australia. 



[The proof of the pudding is in the eating. 

 The proof of your statements is shown in the 

 half-tone plates herewith reproduced, and I 

 am very glad to take back all I have said that 

 could be in any way construed as reflecting on 

 the new way of queen-rearing. If the results 

 shown in Fig. 1 are what you secure on the av- 

 erage (and I have no reason to question it), 

 then any queen-breeder who does not use your 

 method, or one equally good— for instance the 

 Doolittle. is not looking to the interest of his 

 pocketbook. It was G. M. Doolittle who first 

 made a success of having cells built In regular 

 "rows on a stick." A good many have since 

 made a success of his plan, although some of us 

 did not succeed to our satisfaction. It was 

 J. D. Fooshe, I believe, who first made a prac- 

 tical success of raising queen-cells from drone- 

 cells. As I judge, you have simply followed 

 out or elaborated his plan. One thing is cer- 

 tain, friend Jones: If you and Fooshe and 

 Doolittl'^ can get such results as these, then we 

 old fogies who have not made a like success 

 had better work and plan until success is 

 achieved. You may be su-e the plan outlined 

 above will be fairly tested in our apiary; and 

 if we do not succeed we shall keep on fussing 

 until we do.— Ed. J 



BEE-CELLAE EXPEKIENCE. 



HOW TO COX.STRUCT A BKE-CELI.AR. 



By G. C. Oreiner. 



The severity of our winters in this mountain- 

 ous section of Western New York makes win- 

 tering of bees on their summer stand in single- 

 walled hives an uncertain aflair. I find that a 

 proper bee-cellar is a necessity if we expect to 



be successful in the pursuit of bee-keeping. The 

 cellar of which we give an illustration is the re- 

 sult of one complete rebuilding and several 

 thorough overhaulings, caused by faulty con- 

 struction and mistakes at the beginning. We 

 all make the common mistake of reporting our 

 successes— are too apt to give the bright side of 

 the picture, while we are very reticent about 

 saying any thing regarding our failures. It 

 would have a tendency to keep others from 

 making the same mistakes if we would be a lit- 

 tle more frank in reporting ours. For this rea- 

 son I will mention a few points that made ray 

 bee-cellar the source of a great deal of work, 

 and caused the loss of many colonies. 



The cellar is dug lengthwise into a bank of 

 such elevation that the 2:3 feet of length makes 

 the front just level with the outside, and the 

 back wall 7 feet high. The bank is perfectly 

 dry ground. After the top soil is removed, per- 

 haps 1)^ or 2 feet, the soil is what we call hard- 

 pan— bluish clay mixed with gravel, and so 

 hard that it requires an extra effort to pene- 

 trate it with any kind of tool. After the exca- 

 vation had been completed there was no sign of 

 any moisture, nor any indication that there 

 ever would be any, and, in consequence there- 

 of, the first and most serious mistake was made 

 by not providing proper drainage in case it 

 might be needed. 



Inside of this excavation, about 1.5 in. from 

 the bank walls, a frame of 3x4- inch scantling 

 was erected, using the same for sills and plates, 

 and setting the studding every 2 ft. all around. 

 The inside was ceiled up with matched chest- 

 nut lumber; and as fast as this advanced, a 

 loose stone wall was laid between this and the 

 bank. The covering was twofold — 2x6 joist, 

 with the same ceiling on the under side for the 

 lower one, and rafters with a tight layer of 

 roof-boards, and about 1.5 Inches of dirt on top 

 of them for the upper one. The whole, when 

 finished, had the appearance, very much, of one 

 of our common potato pits. The front was 

 ceiled on both sides of the 2x4 studding, leaving 

 a dead-air space of 4 inches between. An air- 

 tight partition, 4 feet from the front, divided 

 the cellar into two apartments — an entry, or 

 hall, and the cellar proper. 



At the proper time, in the fall of 1886. I put 

 90 colonies into this cellar, and what was the 

 result? All went well the fore part of winter. 

 The temperature in the cellar remained about 

 46 degrees, and the bees seemed to be doing 

 nicely. About the middle of January the wea- 

 ther changed; winter seemed to be broken, and 

 a warm springlike spell took its place. This 

 did not affect the cellar at first; but after the 

 ground thawed out more and more, the bottom 

 began to show signs of moisture, which increas- 

 ed from day to day at such a rate that, in a 

 short time, the cellar bottom was flooded. The 

 only way out of this dilemma was to dig a ditch 



