132 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



lar, for your bees get every change in the 

 weather while they are in there. 



I am not able to go around with you to 

 the different bee-cellars in this locality; 

 but Charles Halligus lives right in the 

 Junction, and will carry you to his bee-cel- 

 lar and to all the others in this section, free 

 of charge; so all it will cost you will be 

 your time and transportation. 



I am out of the bee business entirely, and 

 can not get around without crutches; but 

 you are a young man, and have a double 

 interest in the honey-bee; for if they do not 

 come out strong in the spring, bee- keepers 

 have little use for the supplies you furnish; 

 and according to my experience of 52 years 

 in wintering bees, your plan of airing bees 

 in a cellar to keep them is malpractice of 

 the first water, as I found it out more than 

 20 years ago, and I see no reason why you 

 should succeed in doing the same thing that 

 was a failure to all that practiced it here. 



You say that your bees did not come out 

 well where you had a four- inch ventilator 

 last winter, and now you have a sixteen-inch 

 ventilator in place of the four-inch. Now, 

 I want you to see if the bees do not come 

 out in still poorer condition next spring, 

 and also those in the house cellar with no 

 ventilation. If you come up to see the way 

 bees are kept in cellars here, I think you 

 can get a better pattern for a top-bar for 

 brood frames than you have, for I have 

 never seen it in any of the supply lists. 

 T. H. Barber was the first to make and use 

 it. It is strong and cheap, and holds the 

 foundation every time. Don't fail to come 

 up. Ira Barbkr. 



I)e Kalb Junction, N. Y. 



[I came very near making you a visit, 

 Mr. Berber, about a month ago while on a 

 late eastern trip; but as I had been delayed, 

 and as it was too early in the season, I final- 

 ly decided to ciefer my visit till another 

 time. In the early part of March, when 

 bees are most apt to be uneasy, I may run 

 up and see you, for this is a very important 

 matter. In the mean time I have no reason 

 to doubt your word; but what jou say is so 

 diametrically opposed to my own experience 

 and observation from an extended travel 

 that I am simply dumbfounded. List win- 

 ter we did have one cellar where the bees 

 were confined all winter without any ven- 

 tilation, or practically none. It is a won- 

 der that they came through alive. The 

 cellar bottom was literally covered with 

 dead bees to the depth of several inches. 

 This winter that same cellar, with about 

 the same number of bees, has a 16-inch- 

 square ventilator running up through the 

 roof, and the bees are in fine condition. A 

 3'ear ago at this time they were very uneasy, 

 and it looked as if they might all be dead 

 by the opening of spring. 



I can not understand why bees should be 

 in a quiescent state, with the air foul, and 

 probably warm. If the temperature were 

 too high, or the ventilation too scant, it has 

 been my experience, in all the cellars I have 



ever seen in midwinter, that the bees were 

 uneasy. I have stepped into cellar after 

 cellar of this kind, shut the door, and wait- 

 ed a few minutes in absolute darkness. If 

 there were no ventilation, or had been none, 

 I could hear the zip, zip, zip of the bees fly- 

 ing out and dropping on the cellar bottom, 

 and whirling around in the darkness among 

 their dead fellows; and the stench and odor 

 were simply awful. 



In our own experience this flying-out stops 

 immediately upon an infusion of fresh air, 

 unless it is so near spring that their abdo- 

 mens are distended from fecal matter. 

 Nothing then but a flight on a warm day 

 will bring relief. — Ed.] 



SMOKERS \ND FUEL 



An Interesting Discussion from tlie Standpoint of 

 an fcxpert. 



BY T. F. BINGHAM. 



Very often have the remarks in the vari- 

 ous journals relating to the fuel used in 

 smokers come to my attention ; but as it is 

 presumable that I am interested in partic- 

 ular smokers, and probably biased, I have 

 enjoyed the various dissertations and kept 

 quietly on. 



I greatly enj:)yed the examination of the 

 sketch and patent office explanation on page 

 1000, which seems entirely comprehensible 

 and plain. As above, it might be inferred 

 that, having been a c!o*e practical student 

 of smokers so long, yet, though biased, a 

 reasonable consideration of even a vital 

 intere^t would not be entirely out of place. 



It would seem a coincidence, at least, 

 that watchmakers should invent smokers. 

 The fact that patient anal3'sis of principles 

 nowhere finds a better illustration than in 

 practical watchmakers' everyday lives may, 

 in a certain sense, account for the smokers 

 that have been devised. 



No one will expect me to criticise any 

 smoker, be it what it may; but there is one 

 fact that will be of interest and value to 

 bee-keepers. Smoke is the result of imper- 

 fect combustion. The lid or top or chim- 

 ney, usually called a nozzle, is all there is 

 in ordinary smokers to prevent the fuel in 

 them from blazing— giving ofl^ no smoke of 

 value. This curtailing of combustion, at 

 the same time encour iging it, lies at the 

 foundation of all modern smokers. You 

 who have a doubt as to the effect of a blast 

 of air on fuel in a smoker, please see how 

 continuously and how slowly you can work 

 the bellows for a few moments. The result 

 will surprise you. As if by magic the fire 

 will start up, and a small continuous 

 stream of smoke wiil slowly issue, and the 

 fuel will soon exhaust itself. If, instead, 

 the bellows is worked frantically for the 

 same space of time, the fuel will also be 

 exhausted ; but if, on the contrary, the bel- 

 lows is allowed to rest until the nozzle and 

 body of the machine are full of smoke, and 

 then v\ ith gentle pressure of the bellows ex- 



