1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1181 



HOAV TO BOLD A BEE-CELLAR. 



How to AVinter Bees in a Cellar. 



BY X. I). M'EST. 



[This is the first of a series of articles on how to 

 build a bee-cellar. The writer, Mr. West, is one of 

 the extensive as well as the successful bee-keepers of 

 his State. As he is well posted on this particular 

 subject his suggestions will be found to be valuable. 

 He prefers to adopt the Doolittle conversational style, 

 as will be seen.— Ed.] 



•'Good morniug. Mr. West. I came (jver 

 to have a little bee chat with you for my 

 benefit. " 



"All right, Mr. Jones. What is it".'"' 

 "The fact is. Mr. West. I want to bnikl a 

 bee-cellar. I have not been so successful in 

 wintering my bees as you have been: ami. 

 knowing that you have had the experience 

 for many years of wintering your hees in 

 live or more different cellars, I think you 

 will lie able to tell me how to build a good 

 bee-cellar, and to explain some of the re- 

 quirements necessary to the successful win- 

 tering of bees indoors. How would you 

 l)uikl a bee-cellar?"' 



A-- 



FiG. 1.- 



-PLAN OF X. D. WEST S BEE-CELLAK L >U£.K HIS 

 DWELLIXG-HOUSE. 



"Mr. Jones, that depends very much on 

 circumstances. I have made several cellars 

 for wintering bees, but all of them have been 

 made under a dwelling-house. Three times 

 I have Ijiiilt a v>ing on a dwelling-house for 

 the purpose of getting more cellar room for 

 the bees. and. at the same time, add conven- 

 ience to the house as well. I will now give 

 you a sketch of my cellar on the farm where 

 I have lived and wintered bees for thirty 

 years. However, my son David is living 

 there now, but we winter bees there just the 

 same. 



"C is that part of the main cellar under 

 the kitchen where bees are wintered. 

 " D is the place under the kitchen stove. 

 "E is a special cellar made on purpose for 

 bees, and is under the sitting-room, 15X16, 

 which does not often have tire in it, and 

 winters bees finely. 



"F shows the place where the rows of 

 hives are piled up in the cellar. 



"H is the ground under the porch in front 

 of the sitting-room. 



"The space shown at K is tilled in with 

 dirt to form a level yard between the alley I 

 and the cellar L. 



"The northwest end wall of L has five feet 

 of wall exposed above the ground, which 

 makes it too cold and damp. I could not 

 control the temperature, and do not winter 

 in this part of the cellar any more. 



"M is a board partition between the veg- 

 etable-room and the bee-room. 



"O. The doorway between these rooms 

 is closed when necessary by hanging up a 

 piece of carpet: but it is better left open 

 most of the time." 



■ ' Mr. West, why is it better to leave the 

 door open most of the time between the veg- 

 etable-room and the bee-room? " 

 "Because it gives better ven- 

 tilation, and no draft in the bee- 

 apartment. " 



"Do you give any outside 

 ventilation?" 



" Yes. I do; but in as large a 

 cellar as this you will not have 

 much trouble about that. At the 

 window N I have a small ven- 

 tilator which is made of boards 

 about 8 inches wide and 3| feet 

 long. It is so made that it forms 

 an elbow; one part goes level 

 into the cellar window, and has 

 a trap-door for a dumper, while 

 the other end stands up perpen- 

 dicularly outside and close to 

 the house. I make a cap to cov- 

 er the ventilator to keep out 

 the rain and snow. 



' ■ Fig. 2. A, is a picture of the 

 ventilator that is used in the 

 window. 



••Fig. 4, A, shows where the 

 ventilator is placed in the win- 

 dow." 



• • Mr. West, how do you make 

 the window dark where the ven- 

 tilator is in place? " 



••Well, you see my window- 

 sash is hung with hinges from the upper 

 side; so I open the window, and with a hook 

 fasten it open from the inside of the cellar. 

 I then make a lioard just large enough to 

 fill the window hole, and cut out a hole 8X8 

 for the ventilator. Fig. 4, A. When all is in 

 place I bank the window with sawdust as 

 high as the sills to the house, to keep all 

 dark and warm." 



"How do vou place your bees in the cel- 

 lar? " 



"Well. Mr. Jones, I will now show you 

 this picture. Fig. 3. You see how the plat- 



