1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



SOI 



THE BARBER METHOD OF WINTERING. 



I live only 38 miles from Ira Barber, and 

 am very much interested in the perfect win- 

 tering- of bees. I am not satisfied with my 

 wintering. I have too many dead bees. I 

 think )0u are able to help verj many bee- 

 keepers, and see you realize the importance 

 of this subject; and if you could only see 

 bees wintered with no ventilation as well 

 as bees wintered with that very large venti- 

 lator you have, and Bingham's cistern cellar 

 with large ventilator, 3 ou will be able to 

 draw conclusions that may be of no small 

 value. Mr. Barber's idea of no fresh air, 

 regardless of the usual rise in temperature 

 in closed cellars in the latter part of win- 

 ter, seems to be at variance with most bee- 

 teepers; still, he may be right. It seems 

 to me there is some reasjn why his bees are 

 quiet when the temperature rises at the top 

 of his bee cellar to 56, as my cellar now is. 

 He speaks about bees coming-out of the fly- 

 hole when it gets too warm to stay it side, 

 then back again when it is cooler. Does 

 this fly-hole he puts in his hives account for 

 his success? The warmest part of the hive 

 is above the bottom, so they could get rid of 

 foul air easier through the fly-hole, per- 

 haps. If the foul air could escape so easi- 

 ly without losing- necessary heat, might not 

 the bees remain in better condition in a 

 warm cellar? There is 12 degrees' differ- 

 ence in the temperature of my bee cellar to- 



da3'. One end is 1>2 ft. lower than the oth- 

 er; and lYz ft. from the bottom of this it is 

 12 degrees lower than at the top of the oth- 

 er end. The higher end or part has many 

 more dead bees than the other, which has 

 very few. I hope you can see some bee- cel- 

 lars in Mr. Barber's neighborhood this 

 spring before the bees are set out. 



F. C. HUTCHINS. 



Massena Springs, N. Y,, Feb. 15. 



[My articles on cellar wintering in May 

 1st issue may help you to solve some of the 

 conflicting ideas. I judge Mr. Barber's 

 cellar does not go below 40. If it did he 

 would have trouble if the temperature kept 

 down for weeks at a time. — Ed.] 



NEW FUEL FOR SMOKERS. 



Some of the Cuban bee-keepers have 

 made the discovery of an excellent and 

 very cheap fuel for smokers in these cli- 

 mates; namely, the dried- up and old leaves 

 of the bannan-plant, which, when used in 

 the smoker, make a very pungent and thick 

 smoke which the bees do not like at all. and 

 it has the effect of subduing the very cross est 

 bees with a few puffs. As a good many of 

 the yards are placed here in the shade of 

 the bannans, it is a constant and never- 

 failing supply of good material, and al- 

 ways at hand. L. Maclean de Beers. 



Havana, Cuba, April 20. 



A GLIMPSE OF THE WILD RASPBERRY AS IT IS SEEN OVER THOUSANDS OF ACRES IN NORTH- 

 ERN MICHIGAN, WHERE THE PINE TIMBER HAS BEEN REMOVED AND 

 THE GROUND LEFT VACANT. 



