OCTOBKR, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE C U li T U R E 



791 



HEADS OF GRAI N TORJ l ffl DI F FERE NT FIELDS 



Furnace-Heated T should like to have 



Cellar For Winter- Dr. Miller give a de- 

 ing Bees tailed description of 



the wintering of his 

 l)ees in his furnace - heated cellar, with 

 special reference to area of ventilation of 

 hives, temperature of cellar, amount of 

 stores consumed, and ventilation of cellar. 

 Are his bees as quiet now as before he put 

 in his furnace? How much more stores do 

 they consume than they did before? I have 

 read his "Forty Years among the Bees," in 

 which he stated he was having trouble with 

 bees starving, but have noticed in Stray 

 Straws that he has referred quite often to 

 his success with furnace wintering. 



We are wintering 60 colonies in the cellar 

 under our home, and expect to put in a 

 furnace next year and enlarge the cellar so 

 as to keep more bees. We always wait un- 

 til first snow or freezing weather before put- 

 ting in the bees, as they become very much 

 excited if put in while it is still warm. We 

 have regular ten-frame L. frames, and the 

 winter entrance is the width of the hive by 

 1% inches high. When there is snow on 

 ground we use a sled to draw the bees from 

 the yard to the cellar, about 50 yards. If 

 they fly out from jarring, we throw loose 

 snow over the entrance to close it up. When 

 in the cellar it soon melts out. We run for 

 both comb and extracted. This year is the 

 best we ever had. Our average surplus is 

 104 lbs. per colony. F. M. Babcock. 



Fredonia, N. Y. 



Eeplying to these inquiries, I may say that 

 further experience only confirms my liking 

 for a -furnace in the cellar. It is true that 

 the problem now is to keep the cellar cool 

 enough, whereas formerly, without the fur- 

 nace, it was hard to keep it warm enough. 

 But by opening doors and window there is 

 little trouble in cooling off, with the very 

 important advantage that the cellar is con- 

 stantly filled with pure air — a matter that 

 is of very great importance. Sometimes the 

 thermometer goes up to 60°, and sometimes 

 it may go below 40, but usually it is not 

 far from 50°. By giving closer attention I 

 could avoid such wide variation, but I 'm not 

 sure it would be worth "the trouble. The 

 point is that the air in the cellar is so much 

 warmer than the outdoor air that the cooler 

 and purer air is always crowding in, and I 

 think purity of air is more important than 

 temperature. The winter of 1916-7 was so 

 very cold that most of the time the cellar 

 was kept closed, and I paid very little at 

 tention to it, hardly looking at the ther- 

 mometer once in two weeks. 



Of course there is trouble when a warm 

 spell comes toward spring, and the air in the 

 cellar and outdoors is of the same tem- 

 perature. The air outside and inside being 

 balanced, there is nothing to make ventila- 

 tion; the air in the cellar becomes foul, and 



the bees become uneasy. But that same 

 thing happens in warm spells, furnace or no 

 furnace. The only thing to be done then 

 is to open up to the widesti at night, so as 

 to change the air in spite of the stillness. 



As I have already said, more stores must 

 be given since the furnace is in the cellar. 

 I'm not sure that there is such a great dif- 

 ference between the total amount of stores 

 used now and formerly; but for some rea- 

 son there will be a colony here and there 

 that will consume much more than the av- 

 erage, and to make sure that these have 

 enough the whole must be more heavily fed. 

 Each colony should have at least 30 pounds 

 of honey, and more does no hurt. 



Give pure food and pure air, and I suspect 

 temperature is a secondary affair. Only the 

 nearer to somewhere about 50 degrees, the 

 less consumption of stores. C. C. Miller. 



Unwise to Let The great bane of 



Honey Candy in the extraeted-honey 



Large Tank man is too little hon- 



ey in the brood-nest. 

 I have been testing a few colonies leaving 

 them for the winter with a half-depth super 

 of extracting-frames. So far it has worked 

 well. This winter all are like this. It is a 

 very easy way of wintering, and does away 

 with all feeding, either in fall or spring. If 

 the colony is protected properly, and very 

 strong, it seems all right. 



Now I have another kink that would have 

 been worth money to me had I known it 

 years ago. I used to let my honey candy 

 in almost anything. My honey-tank holds 

 1600 lbs., and I have had it full of candied 

 honey several times. It'* almost all it is 

 worth to get the honey out. This winter I 

 had several thousand pounds I knew would 

 candy; but I have put it in common lard- 

 cans which hold about 65 lbs. I have a boil- 

 er just right for two, on the back of the 

 range, and it costs me nothing to remelt it 

 in 24 hours. ' I know honey-cans will do, but 

 they are short-lived. I have cans that have 

 been used for eight years. The bottoms 

 are painted, and the inside is wiped with a 

 greasy cloth when putting away. 



My bees averaged about 400 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey per colony the past year. 

 Most of the crop I have disposed of at home. 

 The rest was sent to distant customers. 



Marceline, Mo. Irving E. Long. 



30^C«= 



Successfully Winter- Last fall I had a 

 ed in ('ellar Above small out-apiary of 17 

 Ground swarms three and a 



half miles from home. 

 Dreading the trouble of moving them, I de- 

 cided to winter them in the cellar of the 

 house where I did my extracting. This cel- 

 lar was above ground, but double-walled 



