1250 



GLEANINGS IN BP:E CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



and have the watei- run on two sides of the 

 (.•ellar around the ))ees. If such a cellar is 

 made warm enough, l)ees will winter well 

 and remain quiet until late in the spring. I 

 have one such cellar. Formerly I had a 

 board floor under the bees; Imt the past two 

 vears I have dispensed with the board floor, 

 and had my cellar bottom covered with flag- 

 stone and cement except the ditch where the 

 water ran that was left open. The bees have 

 wintered well. I would make the walls 20 

 inches thick, and lay them double in cement 

 as far tlown as there is any danger of freez- 

 ing. I would have two or three windows for 

 convenience when the bees are not in the cel- 

 lar. I would have an outside door 4 feet 

 w de at one end of the cellar. I would also 

 have another outside door to cover the cellar- 

 way; or if the cellarway goes in on a level, 

 then I would have the doors 18 inches apart 

 to keep out the cold. I would not have the 

 cellar wall protrude over about 8 inches above 

 the ground. 



"1 would put a building over the cellar. 

 The sills should lie on the wall in cement, so 

 as to make it tight. Where the floor timbers 

 are laid on the wall, saw oft" short pieces 

 from the same kind of timljer and place them 

 just even with the inside of the wall, and be- 

 tween the floor timbers. Nail these pieces 

 fast. That will form an air-chamber betw^een 

 these blocks and the sills. Then I w^ould 

 make the floor double, and fill in with eight 

 inches of sawdust between the floors and 

 make the rest of the building for a store-room. 

 I would have a trapdoor or some other kind 

 of door to open into the building over the 

 ])ees, to be used when needed for ventilation. 

 I don't care very much whether the cellar is 

 a dry one or not, so far as the bees are con- 

 cerned." 



"Mr. West, would you confine the bees 

 with wii'e cloth while in the cellar?" 



"No, sir. I close the entrance while car- 

 rying them into the cellar, and I make quick 

 work of it; and after all are in and properly 

 piled up I would light my smoker and fill 

 the cellar quite well with smoke, and then I 

 would as quickly as possible remove the en- 

 trances from the hives and close up the door 

 and make the cellar dark." 



" What temperature is best?" 



"I prefer from 40 to 45 degrees." 



"Mr. West, you say you don't care very 

 much whether the cellar is wet or dry, or in 

 a clay soil or a dry sandy soil." 



"Not very much. I don't want stagnant 

 water in the cellar." 



"What would you cover your hives with 

 in the cellar?" 



"Mr. Jones, that depends very much on 

 the cellar. You will have to learn how to 

 winter your bees in the cellar that you use. 

 In a dry sandy soil, with a warm cellar, I 

 would use nothing but a plain board cover. 

 If the cellar is damp and a little too cold I 

 prefer two or three thicknesses of burlap with 

 a Heddon slatted honey-board tacked on 

 over this. I also have a couple of sticks 

 across the top of the frames to make beeways 

 under the quilt." 



"Mr. West, when do you carry your bees 

 into the cellar?" 



"About the 20th of December." 



"When do you carry them out?" 



"About April 1." 



"Do you carry any out before, and carry 

 them back into the cellar again if any shouki 

 get the dj'sentery?" 



"No, sir; not very often. It would dis- 

 turb the rest of the bees; and I should lose 

 more than I gain. While the bees are in the 

 cellar I disturli them as little as possible — 

 especially so the latter part of the winter." 



"Mr. West, how do you carry your bees 

 into the cellar?" 



"My cellar that I have previously been de- 

 scribing, under my house, where my son 

 David now lives, there I carry the bees in on 

 a bee-carrier, one man going ahead ami one 

 after. We carry three hives at a time. 

 The bee-yai'd is back of the house, and on 

 a level with the cellar bottom — no going up 

 and down stairs. See Fig. 5." 



FIG. 5. —HOW N. T>. WEST CAKKIES HIS BEKS 

 INTO THE CELLAR. 



"Mr. West, when you draw bees from your 

 out-apiaries to winter, do you put them into 

 the cellar at once?" 



"No, sir. I unload them at a convenient 

 place near the cellar, not often more than 

 twenty rods away, and let them get one or 

 more good flights before I put them into the 

 cellar." 



"I believe you draw bees on a wagon to> 

 the cellar sometimes, do you not?" 



" Yes, sir. Some of my apiaries are twenty 

 rods from the bee-cellar; and, in fact, I draw 

 my bees from the apiary to this nearby cel- 

 lar. I have a lumber-wagon, and I make a 

 platform large enough to carry 16 colonies 

 on the bottom tier. I use a holater-spring 

 under the platform." 



