680 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUHE 



the repository was lighted as light as any ordinary 

 room, did not become more or less disturbed, and 

 fly out. I expected to see them fly out a great deal 

 more than they did ; but only here and there a bee 

 would start out from its hive, and strike for out- 

 doors. Then I said to Mr. Boardman, " You would 

 not like to leave' this compartment lighted up like 

 this all day, would you?" 



" No, sir ; but for a short time it does no particu- 

 lar harm. The few bees that fly out are old ones, 

 rather feeble, and are not of much use to the colony. 

 My colonies have been rearing brood quite heavily, 

 and there is a large force of younger bees to take 

 their place." 



Glancing down to the floor (concrete cement) I 

 noticed there were a good many dead bees. In 

 some places, perhaps they were an inch or so deep. 



" Now, it seems to me you have got a good many 

 more dead bees as the result of your indoor winter- 

 ing than we have from our chaff hives, on their 

 summer stands." 



"Yes; but," said he, "I think you will find that 

 the bees fly out from the chaff hive^ in the same 

 way. These, never returning, are lost sight of, and 

 of course do not figure very largely in the eyes of the 

 beekeeper, on the death-list." 



Wliile I admitted this, it did seem to me there 

 were more, perhaps, than we usually lose in that 

 way on summer stands. I say " seem," because I <tm 

 not sure about this. 



The dinner-hour approaching, Mr. Boardman 

 closed up the windows, darkened them, and closed all 

 openings except the door to the entry way A, shown 

 in the diagram above. As we stood before the 

 building I said to Mr. Boardman, " It is not yet 

 quite clear in my mind whether you open that door 

 to give ventilation or to lower the temperature, or to 

 do both." 



" Bottom ventilacion to the hive is all that I re- 

 gard a« important. I open the door simply to lower 

 the temperature of the repository." 



" But," I said, " don't you have a sub-earth ven- 

 tilator of some kind to the building?" 



" I do not see what need I have of one. As I 

 only want to lower the temperature, I can do it by 

 a door or window a little better, perhaps, than to 

 let the air become warmed under ground a little 

 before entering the compartment." 



As we were entering the house, I told Mr. Board- 

 man that I should like to take the noon train. 



"Oh, no!" said my host. "You had better 

 take the evening train." 



Having enjoyed my visit so far, it did not take 

 very much persuasion on his part and that of his 

 good wife to induce me to remain over a little longer. 

 Besides, as he had promised that he would take me 

 out to his out-apiaries I did not feel like resisting 

 very hard. After dinner we went out to the barn, 

 where Mr. Boardman had three horses, one of them 

 being a family horse, and the other two devoted ex- 

 clusively to the bees, in going to and from the out- 

 apiaries. Very soon we were on our way, on a 

 brisk trot, to one of his east apiaries. After going 

 about a mile and a half we came to a piece of land 

 belonging to Mr. Boardman. An old schoolhouse 

 on this plot of ground had been converted into a 

 winter repository. Like the one at home, it was an 

 up-ground structure. The walls were 14 inches 

 thick, and frost-proof. This building had only one 

 compartment, which communicated with an entry- 

 way, and the latter to the outside. My friend then 

 brought something like a dozen colonies, selected 

 at random, out to the light, for my inspection. 

 They were all in most excellent condition, and the 

 weak ones seemed to be doing about as well as the 

 strong ones. As before, I noticed dead bees on the 

 floor, but not to the extent that they seemed to be 

 in the winter repository at home. After closing tlie 

 building we started for an out-apiary some two or 



three miles further east. Of course, we talked all 

 the way. I asked him if he preferred up-ground re- 

 positories rather than a good cellar. 



" I prefer them simply as a matter of conven- 

 ience," he said, " in carrying bees in and out. I do 

 not know that the bees will winter any better in one 

 than in the other. We are now going to one of my 

 bee-cellars under a farmhouse, where I think you 

 will find the bees wintering as well as in either of the 

 other repositories." 



In a short time we arrived at the place in ques- 

 tion. 



" This cellar," said Mr. Boardman, as he opened 

 the door, " is one that I partitioned off." 



As before, Mr. Boardman and I examined the col- 

 onies at random, and found them to be in good con- 

 dition. 



" Now," said he, " here is one colony that I put 

 in by way of experiment. I do not know how they 

 will winter. It was very weak, and I thought I 

 would put it in just to see how they would winter." 



Turning the hive up we could detect no signs of 

 life. He set the hive down again and lifted up the 

 cover, and, lo ! every thing was as still as death. 

 When I came to examine the size of the colony I was 

 not very much surprised myself. There could not 

 have been very many more than 200 bees, even at the 

 outside, in the cluster; but the evidence seemed to 

 point to the fact that they had only just died. 



" Ordinarily," said my friend, " we unite such 

 weak ones; but as a general thing we can winter 

 weak colonies — that is, if not too weak — as well as 

 we can strong ones." After putting the hive back in 

 its place, he continued, " You will notice the cellar is 

 very dry. Some beekeepers claim that they could 

 winter bees in a cellar ' reeking with dampness,' if 

 only the food were right. I am not so particular 

 about the food, but I am particular about a dry 

 warm place." 



All of Mr. Boardman's bees, as he subsequenily 

 told me, were wintered on whatever stores they hap- 

 pened to have in their hives. If the food is well 

 ripened, the colony not too weak, and the cellar dry 

 and warm, he does not worry very much over prob- 

 abilities. While he can and has wintered bees on 

 honey-dew he prefers the nectar of flowers. As we 

 stepped out of the repository Mr. Boardman said, 

 " Here at this apiary I employed an inexperienced 

 boy. I should have had more money in my pocket 

 had I paid him the wages I did and had him stay at 

 home. He made enough muss and trouble to more 

 than offset all the good he did." 



Mr. Boardman prefers a man grown — one with 

 sufficient maturity of judgment to do what he is told 

 to do. 



REBELLION 



BY GRACE ALLEN 



Nay, nay ! poor bee, why do you sting me ? 



Why in fury do you fling me 



All the poison and the passion due a cruel and hated 



foe? 



I think — I think, my little bee. 

 If you could dream, if you could see 

 The kindnes.s at the heart of me. 

 You would not strike me so. 



Perhaps I too have struck out blindly 

 When a large Hand, moving kindly. 

 Has laid along my little life an aim I could not 

 know — 



Great ends that God and life had planned. 

 Too great for me to understand; 

 T wish now I had loved the Hand 

 That bent so near and low. 



