1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



209 



HIGH BLUFFS SURROUND THE APIARY OF S D. HOUSE, CAMILLUS, N. Y. 



AN IDEAL BEE-CELLAR. 



The Advantage of a Permanent System of Ven- 

 tilation that Provides a Constant 

 Volume of Pure Air, 



BY S. D. HOUSE. 



[The tendency at the present time seems to be de- 

 cidedly toward the production of extracted rather 

 than comb honey among bee-keepers engaged in 

 the business extensively. More and more is being 

 written in regard to methods of management in 

 extracted-honey yards; plans for extracting, strain- 

 ing, rendering, etc.: but in spite of the fact that it 

 is more difficult to control swarming in comb-hon- 

 ey apiaries, comb honey as an article of commerce 

 will never go out. When more and more go into 

 extracted-honey production the price of comb hon- 

 ey will go up, and then the pendulum will swing 

 the other way again, and more of the extensive 

 men will come back into the ranks of the comb- 

 honey producers. Of course, there are still a good 

 many extensive comb-honey men who are learning 

 all the time more and more of the short cuts. In 

 this list Mr. S. D. House, of Camillus, N. Y., has 

 been called the prince of comb-honey producers. 

 He not only secures large crops, but he gets a very 

 large proportion indeed of strictly fancy honey, his 

 eflforts having been mainly in the line of prevent- 

 ing the production of any thing except the "fancy " 

 grade. His record at fairs is already well known. 



When the editor last summer visited Mr. House 

 and secured a large number of very fine photo- 

 graphs and the promise of a series of articles we 

 felt we were to be congratulated on having provid- 

 ed for our readers an illustrated history of the best 

 Ideas that Mr. House could give. It is with pleas- 

 ure, therefore, that we i^resent this first article of 

 the series. — Ed.] 



For some years, at all seasons, indoor and 

 outdoor, at high temperature and at low 

 temperature, I have given considerable at- 

 tention to the consideration of ventilation 

 and its effects upon bees. If we study the 

 anatomy of the bee we find that the aerating 

 system is very highly developed; as Cowan 

 states, page 59 of "The Honey Bee," "The 

 blood can be supplied with oxygen by nu- 

 merous tracheie diffused throughout the 

 body; and also, being oxygenated at last in 

 proximity to the dorsal vessel, enters it to 



be propelled to the brain, and from thence 

 to every other part of the body." This 

 shows that fresh air is necessary in order to 

 keep the blood of the bee in a healthy con- 

 dition. 



There are so many evils arising from lack 

 of pure air in cellars where bees are confined 

 about three fourths of their natural life that 

 I do not wonder at our being confronted 

 with the problem of spring dwindling when 

 bees with a low vitality soon succumb to 

 various sudden changes in the weather dur- 

 ing the early spring months. The only 

 wonder is that so many bees withstand the 

 treatment given them during their confine- 

 ment in cellars under such varying condi- 

 tions. 



How many times have we heard a bee- 

 keeper say that his bees wintered well, but 

 they did not do well through the spring 

 months — they were short of honey, or the 

 honey was bad, the weather unfavorable, or 

 what not, when, in reality, he was making 

 guesses without stumbling upon the cause of 

 at least part of the trouble, which, I believe, 

 was too low a vitality of the bees ! Their 

 energy had been overtaxed to maintain life 

 during confinement, and they were an easy 

 prey to adverse conditions. How many of 

 the human family confined under similar 

 conditions the same length of time would 

 have good health and energy to do a spring's 

 work? 



The question of how much ventilation to 

 give is one that must be worked out for ev- 

 ery cellar. There should be an abundance 

 of fresh air going into the cellar every hour 

 of every day, the amount being governed 

 by the area of the cellar and the number of 

 colonies confined therein. If the space is 

 well filled, the volume of air should be 

 greater than if but partly occupied. 



Dampness in bee-cellars, with poor venti- 

 lation, makes one of the worst combina- 

 tions. It causes the stores to become thin, 



