March, 1923 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



149 



building is left for tlio storage of supplies, 

 for his garage, etc. 



One thing that impressed itself on my 

 mind most forcibly when visiting these 

 western beekeepers is the fact that room 

 and light, plenty of both, are considered in- 

 dispensable, and I am sure that they pay 

 for themselves in the saving of labor. No 

 one can do efficient work in dark, small, 

 poorly ventilated rooms. The outdoors of 

 the West seems larger and loftier than that 

 of the East. Perhaps that is the reason why 

 buildings used by the western beekeepers 

 average larger than those used by eastern 

 beekeepers. 



In this brief article I have not attempted 

 to give floor plans. I have seen extracting 

 rooms by the score, but I have never seen 

 two arranged just alike. This is not sur- 



prising. There are possibly 700 kitchens in 

 Medina, and while some' of tliem are the 

 same in size and shape no two of them are 

 arranged alike inside. The habits and ways 

 of individuals are different, and so are the 

 conditions. Just as no uniform arrangement 

 of a kitchen would fit all conditions or suit 

 all women, so no one arrangement of an 

 extracting room will answer all require- 

 ments nor suit all extracted-honey produc- 

 ers. The floor plan, therefore, in my opinion 

 can best be arranged by the beekeeper him- 

 self, who contemplates the construction of 

 a building. In the next number, however, I 

 shall have something to say in regard to 

 the arrangement of extracting equipment. 

 I shall discuss the various forms and parts 

 of the equipment used. 



WHEN AND HOW TO SET OUT 



IN the Septem- 

 ber issue of 



Glean ings I 

 described our 

 unde r g r u n d 

 concrete bee-cel- 

 lar, showing in- 

 terior and ex- 

 terior views of 

 it. On the last 



day of November we finished putting the 

 bees in this cellar for the third time since 

 tlie cellar was built. Generally we have 

 put our bees in the cellar about the middle 

 of November; but, owing to the late fall 

 and continued warm weather, we were able 

 to leave them out much longer last fall. 

 Requires No Attention During Winter. 



We moved to our winter quarters in Al- 

 bany on December first, and I have not 

 been able to visit our cellar more than twice 

 since coming to town. At both times I 

 found the thermometer at 48 °F., the cellar 

 free from moisture and the bees quiet. Dur- 

 ing the past two winters this cellar has 

 held its temperature from 48° to 50° with 

 not more than two degrees variation and 

 with no attention whatever. 



Last winter and the winter before we ex- 

 perienced less than a two per cent loss, 

 which loss was mostly due to the poor con- 

 dition of the bees at the time of going into 

 the cellar. I believe that if we could be sure 

 that all of our bees were in perfect condi- 

 tion for Avintering when placed in the cel- 

 lar, this cellar would winter one hundred 

 per cent perfect without one moment's at- 

 tention from December till April. 



I certainly think that if some of our 

 brother beekeepers, who practice wintering 

 outside, either in packing eases or on their 

 summer stands with the wind and snow as 

 tlieir only packing, could try out, for just 

 one winter, a satisfactory cellar such as ours 



Take the ^ees from Cellar in 



March, and Do It at Night. Sort 



the Colonies in Groups 



By D. L. Woodward 



has proven to 

 be, they would 

 never return to 

 outside winter- 

 ing. Outside win- 

 tering has some 

 advantages, but 

 they are so few, 

 compared with 

 the advantages 

 of a good cellar, that they are not worth 

 mentioning. 



We are wintering, this year, 307 colonies 

 in this cellar. It took one man just one 

 day to wheel the 300 colonies into the cel- 

 lar and tier tlie hives up five high. The doors 

 are locked, there is no more worry for us, 

 and the bees are warm and comfortable. 

 When to Take Bees from Cellar. 

 If the latter part of March proves no ex- 

 ception to the past two or three years, our 

 bees will come out of the cellar about March 

 20. For a number of years we have been 

 waiting until about April 5 to -15 to take 

 them out, or until the weather becomes 

 somewhat settled. We now plan to have our 

 bees on their summer stands the first sea- 

 sonable weather after March 20. 



It is generally supposed, if bees are taken 

 from the cellar too early, or before the 

 weather is settled, that they are apt to re- 

 ceive a setback during the early part of 

 April. Our Experience for a few years past 

 has proven to us that whatever setback they 

 may receive at tliis time, they are still in 

 the lead when the honey flow starts, which 

 is about June 10 with us. 



A couple of years ago we took out 50 colo- 

 nies the latter part of March. The bees had 

 liad several good flights when we awoke one 

 morning to find a foot of snow on the 

 ground and a blizzard raging. 



The snow drifted and covered most of 

 the hives, so that we could discern where 



