March i5, is is 



•227 



GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE 



CELLAR VERSUS WINTER CASES 



Packing in Long Rows vs. Packing Four in a Winter Case 



BY JOSEPH J. ANDERSON 



Looking over the editor's comments on 

 my article in the Dec. 15th issue I am led 

 to make a few further observations. 



As to cellaring, the Root cellai-s, as I 

 remember them, are merely rooms parti- 

 tioned off in the very large basements of 

 their manufacturing plant and warehouse. 

 The one in the manufacturing plant I re- 

 member as having a window above ground, 

 heavily curtained to keep out the light. 

 These rooms would be materially affected 

 by the temperature and other conditions 

 prevailing in the very large basements of 

 which they are only part, particularly as 

 these basements are only partially under 

 ground. It seems to me the conditions 

 would be considerably different from those 

 prevailing in the cellar of the average bee- 

 keeper, even if large enough to hold several 

 hundred colonies. 



My cellar is 16 x 18. It is a log structure 

 set in an excavation in the hillside, with a 

 vestibule or entrance in front, and entirely 

 covered over with dirt. It is provided, of 

 course, with ventilators. The earth floor is 

 sandy. In the winter of 1913 I wintered 

 only 64 colonies in this repository, with 

 bottoms and covers on, and they did not 

 winter nearly as well as those with bottoms 

 removed last winter, when I had 158 colo- 

 nies in the cellar. It is my opinion that in 

 tliis cellar better wintering will result by 

 removing bottoms, whether the number of 

 colonies be 15 or 150. 



The editor's deductions as to heeling in 

 agree with my own — at any rate, as before 

 indicated, I feel that my experience with 

 that method of wintering has been quite 

 sufficient. The colonies in long rows, straw- 

 packed, wintered nearly as well as did those 

 in winter cases. An objection is mention- 

 ed, that bees in long rows drift. This is 

 true, and the objection is not an unimpor- 

 tant one either. It is my experience that, 

 with colonies packed in long rows, drifting 

 will invariably occur. 



Another rather serious objection is the 

 danger of fire. A blaze kindled in the 

 straw, either by accident or malice, would 

 spread with almost lightning rapidity, leav- 

 ing no hope of saving any of the bees in 

 the row. At least two members of our 

 association have had this experience. 



The big quadruple winter cases make 

 good fire insurance. Even should one of 

 these take fire, which is very unlikely, there 

 would be very little danger of the confla- 

 gration spreading to others. 



On page 96, Feb. 15, our good friend 

 Wesley Foster says : "One thing that would 

 be interesting to know is what the loss 

 would have been had Mr. Anderson win- 

 tered one hundred of his colonies on their 

 summer stands with no protection." 



Now, that is a point on which I have no 

 ambition to shed any light by my own ex- 

 perimenting. 



Sometimes bees come thru well in this 

 section without protection — that is, with 

 light losses. Other seasons results are dis- 

 astrous. 



A neighbor of mine went into winter in 

 1914 with over 130 'colonies unprotected. 

 When I inspected his bees last spring he 

 had less than 80, many of them very weak, 

 and quite a number died after I saw them. 

 Some three or four years ago another 

 neighbor lost 22 out of 30, and still another, 

 two years ago, had about 25 left out of 70. 



No first-hand experience along this line 

 for me. I'm quite willing to profit by the 

 other fellow's experience, Brother Wesley. 



But, say, didn't the printer slip a cog? 

 Your article makes it appear that with 

 young and vigorous queens, plenty of bees, 

 and ample stores not to exceed a five-per- 

 cent loss will result in Colorado without 

 winter protection. Possibly tliis might be 

 true for the southeastern section. What 

 effect would protection have on the 3 to 15 

 per cent winter less in the south'? 



Yes, Idaho, as a whole has a damper 

 climate than either Utah or Colorado. Ari- 

 zona and Nevada may be omitted in the 

 comparison, because they are exceptionally 

 dry states. But there is a vast difference 

 between different sections of Idaho. This 

 particular section, the upper part of the 

 Upper Snake River Valley, is blessed with 

 more precipitation than any other section 

 of the state except the Panhandle. 



The bees packed in straw with open fronts 

 should winter well, other conditions being 

 favorable, provided they are not taken out 

 of packing too early. I am wondering in 

 what section these 900 colonies are located. 



