1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



169 



by diagrams the Langstroth frame with the 

 Quinby, open and closed end; Adair; Amer- 

 ican; Gallup, and Abbott's Standard. 



Being, as it were, forced for the time into 

 the supply trade, as well as running a bee- 

 farm, I made none but the ten-frame hive; 

 and in after years, when I was asked by new 

 arrivals from England to supply them with 

 the British standard hive, I always suggest- 

 ed such a prohibitive price that they were 

 forced to accept the only hive then made, 

 and in mostcases they afterward acknowledg- 

 ed they were pleased. I was frequently ask- 

 ed to make the Heddon (which I had tried 

 myself) ; the Danzenbaker when it was 

 boomed, and other hives of different dimen- 

 sions; but I always asked too big a price. 

 My friend Mr. Brickell, at Dunedin, also 

 acted similarly, so that to-day I do not per- 

 sonally know of one single hive in use in 

 New Zealand other than the Langstroth, 

 and, with one exception, they are all of ten 

 frames. In the case of this one exception, 

 the owner told me that, were he starting 

 again, with the knowledge he has gained, 

 he would give up the twelve-frame hive for 

 the ten. 



I believe that New Zealand is the only 

 country in the bee-keeping world in which 

 the one frame and the one hive are used 

 throughout; but I can assure you, Mr. Edi- 

 tor, it took some fighting through the press 

 to keep this condition of things, and there 

 is no fear now but that it will remain so. 



Manufacturers need keep only one kind of 

 hive and frame in stock, with extractors and 

 other appliances suitable for it, therefore 

 they can be sold cheaper on that account. 

 Knowing from experience how great are the 

 advantages, I can only hope that you will 

 awaken such interest in the matter as to 

 bring about, sooner or later, the adoption of 

 a standard hive. 



Auckland, New Zealand. 



TEMPERATURE OF BEE-CELLARS. 



Weak Colonies Successfully Wintered in a Cel- 

 lar where the Thermometer at Times Stood 

 at 33° F. 



BY F. li. POLLOCK. 



It has been frequently stated that a tem- 

 perature in a bee-cellar averaging lower than 

 40 is almost sure to result in the loss or 

 weakening of colonies. With regard to 

 this, an experience of my own in the winter 

 of 1909 may prove interesting. 



My cellar is about 16x20 feet, under my 

 house. It is floored with brick, and the 

 walls are merely boarded against a heavy 

 clay soil. It has two windows, both bank- 

 ed with earth in the winter, and it is enter- 

 ed by a short flight of steps from a board 

 woodshed where the temperature stands 

 about the same as out of doors. 



Nov. 2 I placed nine colonies in this cel- 

 lar. All these were weak, none having bees 

 enough to cover moie than four combs, and 



all were short of stores. The hives were 

 blocked up an inch from the bottom-boards, 

 front and rear, and were placed on stands 

 about two feet high. The brood-chambers 

 were not contracted. Each colony was giv- 

 en a cake of hard candy weighing three or 

 four pounds. This was laid flat on the top 

 of the frames, and warmly packed with pa- 

 per and cloths, and a telescope cover placed 

 on top of all. Fruit and vegetables were 

 kept in the cellar, so that some one entered 

 it several times every day with a light, let- 

 ting in a rush of cold air, for the door open- 

 ed practically out of doors. During Novem- 

 ber the thermometer averaged about 40. In 

 December it sank to an average of 38, and 

 remained so during January. February 

 was a cold month, with outside tempera- 

 tures falling frequently below zero, and sev- 

 eral times as low as 10 below. 



In the cellar the mercury hovered about 

 36, and two or three mornings I found it 

 down to 33. I tried placing a very large 

 lamp on the cellar floor, which brought the 

 temperature up two degrees; but I decided 

 that this was useless, since not only did the 

 light disturb the bees, but as soon as the 

 lamp was removed the temperature crept 

 back to where it was before. 



I had very little hope of bringing my 

 weak colonies through. March, however, 

 turned out unusually mild, and the cellar 

 rose gradually to 40° again. All the col- 

 onies were still alive; but I felt sure that 

 they must have dysentery or something, 

 though I could see no sign of it, and I set 

 them outdoors as early as I dared, April 3. 



Now, every one of those nine colonies 

 seemed as strong as when I put them in the 

 cellar. The worst sufferer had not more 

 than half a pint of dead bees on the bottom- 

 board, and most of them had merely a hand- 

 ful. They had consumed almost all their 

 candy, but not much ot their honey stores, 

 showing, I think, that the cluster had been 

 unable to move freely, and had fed upon 

 what they could most easily get at. No 

 queens were lost, and there was no trace of 

 dysentery. 



I can attribute this successful wintering 

 to only two things: First, the candy stores; 

 second, the fact that the cellar door was 

 opened so frequently that there was a plen- 

 tiful supply of fresh air. The conclusion 

 would seem to be that proper stores and 

 ventilation are more important than tem- 

 perature — at least, within certain degrees. 



It appears that cellar-winterers in Canada 

 do not demand as high a temperature as 

 seems to be required in Ohio. One of our 

 most successful Dee-keepers considers a tem- 

 perature of 36 to be about right, claiming 

 that the bees remain more dormant, using 

 le<;s vitality, and coming out better in the 

 spring. 



This winter I have 22 colonies in the cel- 

 lar, all of them stronger than the ones I 

 have mentioned, and with their combs full 

 of sugar-syrup stores. I battened up doors 

 and windows, and went south to spend the 

 winter. The temperature will be higher, 



