■34 



CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



January, 1920 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



tents a pound profit in a wholesale way is 

 miore than dealers always make, if I have 

 heen credibly informed. There appears 

 to be little honey left in Ontario altho there 

 Wiay be more than I have an idea of. The 

 bulk of the surplus still on hand, no doubt, 

 is in Quebec where the crop was above the 

 average, I believe. But with sugar liable to 

 go much higher, as wholesale grocers predict, 

 maple syrup quoted at $4.00 a gallon, and 

 like advances in other products, cheaper 

 honey does not look much like a possibility 

 just at present — much as I dislike to con- 

 fess, for I have earnestly hoped that not 

 only honey but all other necessities of life 

 ' would get much cheaper. 



Speaking of high prices, I have just been 

 looking over market quotations of clover 

 seed, a subject that always seems to be in 

 line with beekeeping to a certain extent, 

 as we depend upon clover so much in our 

 business. Today (Dec. 9) red clover is 

 quoted at $31.00," alsike at $27.00, and sweet 

 clover at $14.00 to $15.75. These high prices 

 are in each case for No. 1 seed per bushel. 

 Naturally with such high prices for seed, 

 there is sure to be much clover seeded an- 

 other spring. 



Having need of some more cellar room foi' 

 vegetables, etc., this summer we built a cel- 

 lar at one place much on the line of the one 

 illustrated and described by the folks at Me- 

 dina. It is 10 by 24, inside measure, and 

 6 feet high, walls all under ground with re- 

 inforced cement top over all. At the south- 

 west corner there is a hall leading out, four 

 feet long and the same in width, with ce- 

 ment roof over it as with the cellar proper. 

 There is a door at each end of hall and then 

 there are steps leading up, with portico 

 covered with roof. The cement top on the 

 cellar has earth five feet deep in center, 

 sloping to two feet at sides, and all sodded 

 over. Having 60 colonies of bees, with no 

 winter cases made to shelter them, we de- 

 cided to put these bees in the cellar at one 

 end, and so we partitioned off the east end 

 of the cellar, leaving a space 10 by 12 for 

 the 60 colonies. They have been in the 

 cellar two weeks, and while it is too early 

 to pass judgment on their wintering, I 

 wouldn't be surprised before spring if we 

 wish that we had them outside. Briefly I 

 might say that the cellar is too damp as now 

 ventilated, or shall I say not ventilated, as 

 that may be the cause of drops of. water 

 hanging from the roof since the bees were 

 put inside. But I started to write about the 

 cellar because of my experience in getting 

 reliable thermometers, and I have come to 

 the conclusion that often unreliable instru- 

 ments are used and different results are re- 

 ported when perhaps all the difference is 

 due to the thermometers. T first bought on',- 

 from a druggist who was sure it was all 

 right. Hanging among the bees, two feet 

 from the roof, it said "47" and I thought 



everything was all serene. But I was not 

 sure about the mattery so I bought another 

 from a druggist in another town, which was 

 supposed to be all right too; but im.agine my 

 feelings when I found it said " 41 " when 

 hung right beside the other instrument. I 

 took it back and exchanged it for another 

 one, which had been used for some years 

 and which my friend felt sure was reliable. 

 When hung up beside my "47" original, 

 the thermometer last brought home said 

 "43." I determined to buy a tested instru- 

 ment the first time I went to Toronto, but 

 I happened to meet the principal of our high 

 school, and he asked me to take Up one of 

 their laboratory thermometers which was 

 tested; so I gladly availed myself of the of- 

 fer and placed it in the cellar. It said 

 "44." My friend of the high school said 

 I might test them myself by placing the 

 thermometers in a mixture of snow and 

 water, for if correct they should register 

 "32" the freezing point. I tested all three 

 in that way and found the laboratory in- 

 strument to say " 33 ; " the one that regis- 

 tered "43" in the cellar stopped right at 

 "32" exactly; while the one that said 

 "47" in the cellar was up to "36" in the 

 snow and water mixture. So regretfully I 

 had to concede that the cellar was too cold, 

 and that the thermometer registering 43 is 

 correct. I suppose there are not enough bees 

 to overcome the normal temperature of the 

 earth and so the air is too cool and damp. 

 As I see no way to remedy the condition I 

 guess we will just have to wait and see 

 what will happen with the thermometer 

 standing steadily at "43," never varying 

 half a degree — no matter what the weather 

 is like outside, be it zero or above the 

 freezing point. Bees are nicely clustered 

 but have quite a loud hum all the time, and 

 in a few cases I have noticed small drops of 

 moisture at entrance hanging from the in- 

 side of the hive. But the moral about ther- 

 mometers is that they are apt to say almost 

 any figure — at least the kind sold here in 

 Ontario seem to be that way. A tested in- 

 strument is the only safe guide to go by. 

 Markham, Out. ' J. L. Byer. 



Scene at a really big beekeeping plant in California. 



