1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1183 



my home cellar I have a screen-door so 

 made as to give much or little ventilation. 

 However, in cellars away from home I ilo 

 not leave the outside dooi's open at any 

 time when there are no people there to see 

 to it. In Fig. 4 you will see the wing 

 end of my house, which I built on purpose 

 to get more house room, and especially to 

 cover my itleal cellar for wintering liees in, 

 which is very satisfactory. The cellar plan 

 of this is shown at E, Fig. 1. Mr. Jones, I 

 am also wintei'ing bees in fai'mers' cellai's, 

 and I hnd that almost any cellar that is good 

 to winter vegetal)les in is a good cellar to 



lloor in the cellar that people walk on when 

 going into the cellar for vegetables, etc. I 

 want the cellar warm enough not to freeze 

 during the winter, and then I should prefer 

 the end furthest from the outside cellar-door 

 for the bees, so that this door can be used to 

 ventilate the cellar, and it will furnish all 

 the ventilation needed. I should also prefer 

 that the kitchen stove be not over the bee- 

 apartment. In the early winter I leave the 

 cellar-door open a good deal of the time: 

 and in the spring, when necessary to quiet 

 the bees, I leave the cellar-door open nights. 

 "I pile my bees up in rows, in all cellars 



FIG. 3. — HOW N. D. WEST AKKANGES HIS HIVES IN THE CELLAR. 



winter bees in. The farmei's' cellai's as I 

 find them are usually aljout ITXSS feet, in- 

 side measure. I make a partition of boards, 

 or hang up old carpets across one end of the 

 cellar, making a room 12x17 feet for 100 

 stands of l)ees. I can put in 1(50 colonies if 

 necessary. I leave a four-foot doorway open 

 l)et\veen the liee-room and the vegetable- 

 room, so that the bees van have the benefit 

 of the whole cellar for ventilation. I close 

 this do(jrway with a piece of carpet when nec- 

 essary. If a board partition is made it 

 should not touch the tioor above, because 

 people walking on the tioor above will jar 

 the Itees below. If the cellar is a damp 

 ground Hoor, then I make a board tioor about 

 foiu" inches altove the cellar bottom. This 

 floor should not be connected with any other 



as seen in Fig. 3. This gives an excellent 

 opportunity for me to walk in the alley be- 

 tween the rows at any time during the win- 

 ter, and know the exact condition of the 

 bees. If any hive entrance should get clog- 

 ged up with dead bees I can. with a wire 

 hook, rake them out. I also sweep the floor 

 l)etween the rows twice during the winter. 

 When bees are packed away in such a cellar 

 very close without these alleyways they will 

 winter well when the weather is continuous- 

 Iv cold up to the time you want to set the 

 liees out: Imt when an exceptionally warni 

 winter occurs, especially the latter part of 

 the winter, the bees become uneasy and waste 

 rapidly, and then you can not take the ad- 

 vantage of cooling off the cellar by a thor- 

 ough ventilation or by setting pails of ice or 



