210 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apr. 1 



S. D. HOUSE IN HIS BEE- YARD, WITH CELLAR AND WORK-SHOP IN 

 BACKGROUND. 



and often nearly ferment. Thin stores 

 consumed by the bees soon cause the intes- 

 tines to become distressfully gorged; and, as 

 a result, the whole organism is out of gear. 

 Soon the bees commence to discharge their 

 feces, usuallyoutsideof the hive first. AVhen 

 they have reached this stage I would advise 

 a cleansing flight the first sunshiny day 

 when the temperature is above 50 degrees in 

 the shade. During the time the bees are 

 out, the cellar should be cleaned thorough- 

 ly, and arrangements made for more venti- 

 lation. Even though the temperature goes 

 down as low as 34, no harm will come if it 

 is caused by cool fresh air; otherwise a low 

 temperature in a damp unventilated cellar 

 is very disastrous to bees. 



Again, a cellar with too high a tempera- 

 ture, say above 52 degrees, will cause too 

 much activity on the part of the bees, there- 

 by using up their energy and vitality. They 

 may not show this to a casual observer; but 

 by putting side by side two colonies of equal 

 numbers, one being wintered at a tempera- 

 ture between 38 and 40, the other at a tem- 

 perature of 50 to 52, one will find that the 

 one wintered at the low temperature will 

 not dwindle nor die as soon as the one win- 

 tered at the higher temperature. 



What I consider an ideal cellar for winter- 

 ing bees is one 24X14X8 feet, built in a side 

 hill if possible, with a dirt floor. The wall 

 should be built of concrete, 15 inches thick, 

 and the trench underneath should be at 

 least one foot deep at one of the back cor- 

 ners, and graded so as to carry the water 

 each way to the lowest point in the front 

 corners. This trench, if filled with loose 

 stones, will insure a dry cellar. In front of 



my cellar I have a 

 room 8X24 feet 

 which is heated by 

 steam, and used as 

 a workroom in win- 

 ter and a storeroom 

 for extracted honey 

 in summer. Three 

 sides of the cellar 

 are under ground, 

 and the front wall 

 is protected by the 

 workroom. 



There are two 

 systems of venti- 

 lation. Fresh air 

 is admitted be- 

 tween two floor 

 joists, and enters 

 the workroom at 

 the further end. 

 This room is lathed 

 and plastered, and 

 an opening near 

 each end leads into 

 the cellar. 



The other venti- 

 lator takes the air 

 from the outside 

 directly, and enters 

 between two over- 

 head joists, the 

 draft being broken by means of boards 

 nailed crosswise, the first one being nailed 

 close to the bottom of the joist, and extend- 

 ing to within two inches of the top, and 

 the next one close to the top with a two- 

 inch opening at the bottom, and so on. 

 These break the direct draft and give the 

 air time to warm somewhat before it 

 reaches the cellar. 



Upon the front cellar wall, and extending 

 down into the cellar, is built a brick chimney 

 into which a stovepipe enters. I use a six- 

 inch pipe which extends to within 18 inches 

 of the cellar bottom. The chimney extends 

 upward 24 feet, giving a good draft. It 

 should be remembered that an outward ven- 

 tilator will not take out any more air than 

 the intake ventilator passes in. 



These different ventilators are always 

 open, and the air in the cellar is free from 

 all odor, while the bees are very quiet. I 

 have often spent fifteen minutes in the cel- 

 lar with a lighted candle, and have not heard 

 one bee leave the hive. Why? Because 

 the bees are in a normal condition. It's the 

 abnormal condition of the atmosphere in 

 the cellar that makes bees active and un- 

 easy. Spasmodic ventilation is very bad, 

 as it causes greater activity, which demands 

 more food, thus filling the intestinal canal 

 and causing disaster. 



There is a honey-house over all, 24X24 ft. 

 with an attic above for storeroom. Between 

 the cellar joists, J^-inch strips one foot apart 

 are nailed to the floor of the room above, 

 and to these strips lath and plaster are ap- 

 plied, thus giving a dead-air space between 

 the cellar and room above. The tempera- 

 ture of the bee-room is quite uniform at 42. 



