1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



17 



answered that he should very much, but said, 

 " I suppose you do not go into the cellar from 

 the time the bees are put in till you take them 

 out, as I see it advised in some of my papers 

 that it is not best to do so." I told him that 

 I went into the bee cellar whenever I wished 

 so to do, and I did not consider that any harm 

 resulted therefrom ; and I am now sure, after 

 more than a score of years of cellar wintering, 

 that no really scientific wintering of bees can 

 be done where no observations are ever taken. 

 As we were going into the cellar a conversa- 

 tion about like this took place, which I will 

 give, as that will help the questioner to under- 

 stand that which he wished to know better 

 than I could do it in any other way. 



' ' What ! have you four doors to go through 

 to get in ? " 



" Yes, these four doors inclose three dead- 

 air spaces, so that the cellar is kept at a more 

 «ven temperature than could possibly be ob- 

 tained in any other way, and the temperature 

 is the main thing to be looked after in cellar 

 wintering, after the bees are put in. Now, be- 

 fore we open the last door I wish to say that 

 "we must be careful not to jar any of the hives 

 or breathe on the bees, for we should be as 

 careful not to disturb them as possible." 



" What is that low murmuring noise I 

 hear? " 



"That is the contented hum of the bees in 

 their winter repose, and you can always know 

 that they are wintering well when 60 to 75 col- 

 onies make no louder noise than you now 

 hear." 



" But I supposed from what I had read that 

 bees, when wintering well, gave no sign of 

 life, not even any noise." 



" In this you are mistaken, for I have never 

 seen bees in such a dormant state but that they 

 could stir to a certain extent — enough to give 

 off a loud buzz when the hive is suddenly 

 struck, or to thrust out the sting if tb.e}' are 

 breathed upon." 



" Hark ! there is a bee flying. Do they fly 

 out here in the dark ? ' ' 



" Yes ; that is only a bee ready to die of old 

 age ; and as instinct prompts the old bees to 

 leave the hive to die, when the temperature 

 will permit it, this bee is only obeying n iture's 

 law in flying out. See ! here are quite a few 

 on the floor, but not nearly as many as is the 

 average in most winters, t often come in here 

 in the dark, and listen for these old bees ; and 

 many times before, in previous winters, from 

 two to five would fly out while I was slowly 

 counting 100 ; but this winter scarcely more 

 than one comes out while I am counting from 

 four to six hundred." 



"What have you on the floor here — saw- 

 dust ? " 



" Yes, every two or three weeks 1 bring in a 

 bushel or so of fine dry sawdust, such as I 

 make when running my saws in the shop, and 

 scatter it on the floor. This sawdust will ab- 

 sorb almost its bulk in moisture, so I leave it 

 here to keep all as dry, sweet, and nice as 

 possible. Before I used this the dead bees on 

 the floor would mold and smell badly ; but 

 now all smells sweet and nice, very little mold 

 ever appearing." 



" Here is your thermometer. I see it marks 

 45°. What are the extremes of temperature 

 in here ? ' ' 



" From 43 to 47° above zero after the first 

 few days when the bees are put in. The arous- 

 ing of the bees in putting in, causes them to 

 maintain a slightly higher temperature for a 

 few days, up to 48 to 52°, but it soon subsides 

 to where you see it now." 



" What ! doesn't a warm spell in winter, or 

 a long cold spell, have any effect on the tem- 

 perature in here ? " 



" No ; and a cellar that allows the outside 

 temperature to affect to any considerable ex- 

 tent the inside I have always considered as 

 faulty. You will notice that there is a roof of 

 stone over here. On top of these stone there 

 is three feet of dry earth, and a board roof 

 over the whole, which, with the four doors, is 

 conducive to an even temperature. Now step 

 up and look at those yellow fellows as the 

 cluster hangs below the bottom of the frames 

 nearly a fourth as large as the crown of your 

 hat. And, again, look at them as I roll back 

 the quilt at the top. See ! they go from the 

 bottom to the top of the hive." 

 " Why, Doolittle, they are dead." 

 " No, I guess not." 

 " But they don't stir." 

 " Let us breathe on them the least bit." 

 " They are alive, that is a fact. Do they al- 

 ways keep thus quiet? " 



" I have never seen them more uneasy this 

 winter ; but some winters the light seems to 

 arouse them, when I let it shine on them from 

 below, and they will stir around considerably 

 at the top when the quilt is lifted." 



" Where are your ventilators ? The piece I 

 read said it was necessary that the cellar be 

 rightly ventilated at all times." 



"When I built this cellar I had a sub-earth 

 venlilator 100 feet long, and an upper ventilat- 

 or to match, but I gradually began closing 

 them till I finally kept ihem shut all of the 

 time, and I could not see but the bees did 

 equally well without them ; so when I remod- 

 eled the cellar they were left out of the plan 

 altogether. Enough air seems to come through 

 the earth and mason work, together with the 

 doors, to supply all their needs." 



" Well, I .'■hould not have believed that the 

 air would keep so pure if I had not come in 

 here and tried it for myself." 



"We will go now ; but first notice that the 

 bees are nearly, if not quite, as quiet now as 

 they were when we first entered, a quarter of 

 an hour ago. If our entering does not disturb 

 them more than this, why should I not have 

 the privilege of coming in here as often as I 

 think I can benefit them by so doing? " 



In the above I have tried to make all plain 

 to the questioner. If I have not done so, if 

 he will tell me wherein I will try again. 



[Doolittle's bee-cellar is illustrated in the 

 A B C of Bee Culture, under the head of Win- 

 tering. It is a repository entirelv independ- 

 ent of any other building above. The trouble 

 with the average house cellar is that the walls 

 above ground are too thin, and as a result out- 

 side temperature does have quite a decided 

 effect on that inside. — Ed.] 



