VJJ, 



GLEANINGS IN BZE CUJ/IURE 



1367 



Before any water is put on. shovel it over 

 repeatedly, mixing it so that the cement is 

 thoroughly distriljuted and the color uni- 

 form. When thoroughly mixed, sprinkle on 

 water with a watering-pot, turning the mass 

 over with a shovel again until it is of aljout 

 the consistency of thin mortar, or so that it 

 will pour readilj^ from a bucket into the 

 forms. 



On a large job. dump the wet concrete in- 

 to a Paddy's wheelban-ow. and then pour it 

 in the form as shown in the illustrations. On 

 a small job like a bee-cellar, mix the con- 

 crete in the cellar itself, providing you can 

 get the necessary room between the braces. 

 The cement could then be poured in an or- 

 dinary coal-bucket, and from that dumped 

 into the forms. 



Any one intei'ested in ^the various uses of 

 concrete on the farm, how to make concrete 

 hitching-posts. concrete water-troughs, con- 

 ci'ete soft-water cisterns, concrete cellars. 

 walls or buildipgs of any construction, would 

 do well to send to the Atlas Portland Cement 

 Co.. 30 Broad St.. New York, for their circu- 

 lar and booklet giving elal)orate illustrations 

 showing how to do general concrete work. 

 It even goes so far as to show how to make 

 a concrete stove, concrete dwelling-houses, 

 and concrete Hoors for stables. Among oth- 

 er uses for concrete are silos: and for liee- 

 keepers in particular, concrete hive-founda- 

 tions. 



The great feature about concrete construc- 

 tion is that it is something that unskilled la- 

 bor, if intelligent enough to follow proper 

 instructions, can do and make a nice job. 



CELLAR WINTERING OF BEES, 



A Vestibule Containing a Stove Necessary 

 the Advantages of Si>eoiaIly Designed 

 Bottom-boards: Providing an En- 

 closed Space Under the Hives. 



BY O. L. HERSHISER. 



Cone! ailed from last issue. 

 My bees, being all in out-yards, and it be- 

 ing necessary to place them in the cellar im- 

 mediately on bringing them home, as there 

 is no suitable place to set them to allow of a 

 flight before placing them in the cellar, some 

 dej^arture from orthodox methods became 

 necessary. The necessary special require- 

 ments resulteil in the evolution of my com- 

 bined hive-stand and bottom-board (patent 

 pending). This device is so constructed that 

 it meets every re(|uirement of a bottom- board, 

 and also, when closed, enables the moving 

 of the bees anil their long confinement in the 

 cellar without their Hying about or becoming 

 bothersome to operatives in any way. It is 

 so constructed that the bees have ample ven- 

 tilation and room to cluster directly under 

 the brood-frames. They remain so confined 

 all the time they are in the cellar, and until 

 placed on the summer stand again. Thei'e 

 are. therefore, no deail liees scattered aljout 

 the cellar tioor: Init all dead fall on the Moor- 



board, where they remain until the hives are- 

 carried out in the spring, or, if it is wished 

 to do so. the bottom-boards may be with- 

 drawn as often as is desired, while the bees 

 are in the cellar, and the dead l)ees scraped 

 and cleaned therefrom. The bees are in- 

 stantly confined for moving and cellaring, 

 and admitted to flight when removed from 

 the cellar and placed on their stands. This 

 devit-e has been thoroughly tested under very 

 severe conditions, with highly favoral)le re- 

 sults. Some notes have been taken which 

 will serve to illustrate the ease and rapidity 

 of handling bees in placing them in and re- 

 moving them from the cellar when confined 

 to their hives by means of wire screen as 

 used in this device. 



Dec. 4. 1905. I commenced at 9 : 30 in the 

 forenoon, and by noon I had closed the hives 

 (by means of my bottom-boards) of 88 colo- 

 nies of bees, and hauled them in two sleigh- 

 loads a distance of | mile, carrying them a 

 distance of about 75 feet to the cellar-door. 

 After dinner, by three o'clock in the after- 

 noon I had them safely placeil in the cellar, 

 all with the assistance of one man all the 

 time and a boy teamster and his team from 

 10 o'clock until noon. The temperature was 

 at about the freezing-point, and a few live 

 Vjees drojjped on to the tioor-])oards. After 

 the ])ees were placed in the cellar, a brisk 

 tire in the furnace soon raised the tempera- 

 ture to a point which enabled the live bees 

 to regain the cluster, after which the cellar 

 was allowed to cool. On account of exces- 

 sive heat in the middle of the winter, and 

 the impossibility of keeping the cellar at an 

 even and proper temperature, the results of 

 summer wintering for that season were not 

 as satisfac-tory as might be wished, the loss 

 reaching nearly or quite 20 per cent. The 

 story of too high temperature was plainly 

 told by the fact that there was not a deail 

 colony on the Ijottom tier next to the cellar 

 tioor. l)ut all such were very strong, and with 

 only a few dead bees. Nearly all the dead 

 were found to be on the two top tiers. The 

 hives were piled up four and tive high. 



A year ago last winter I made my first ex- 

 periment in wintei'iug Ijees. in consideralile 

 numbers, confined t(j their hives, although I 

 had tried it on a small scale the winter pre- 

 vious. One hundred and thirty-five colonies 

 were placed in the cellar, confined as describ- 

 ed. Four-fifths or more or the colonies 

 were nuclei, occupying from three to five 

 Langstroth combs. Most of these could not 

 have been wintered out of doors. Many of 

 them were rather light in stores, probably 

 (•ne-fourth of them having less than 16 His. 

 each. They had been fed up on sugar syrup 

 late in the season. The average loss in 

 weight per colony, in wintering, was a little 

 in excess of 7 11)S. for four months of confine- 

 ment. My winter loss from this lot was 2 

 colonies which died of starvation, and a few 

 that swarmed out and joined other colonies, 

 which was ilue to the inadvisal)ility of setting 

 Ijees out in the middle of a hot day such as 

 it was on the 28th of March of that year, the 

 temperature being nearly 78 tlegrees F. all 



