292 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



out. The difference in favor of the last lot 

 of bees mentioned was so noticeable that I 

 feel satisfied our friends would have agreed 

 with me that these bees were in much the 

 better condition. 



Now, then, it may seem that I am going 

 to agree with our correspondents. But this 

 winter we have had continually cold weath- 

 er. The temperature in our machine-shop 

 cellar has varied scarcely a degree. The 

 doorway to the cellar has been open all the 

 time during the last two months. Those 

 bees are all quiet, and from present indica- 

 tions will remain so until the time arrives to 

 set them out permanently. But, understand, 

 we have had a winter that is more like the 

 winters experienced by friends Hatch, Towns- 

 end, and Doolittle. There! when we take 

 into consideration the difference in winters 

 and localities I think we shall quite agree. 



WHEN BEE-CELLARS SHOULD AND SHOULD 

 NOT BE VENTILATED ; DOOLITTLE CEL- 

 LAR IN particular; should the 



FLIGHT OF OUTDOOR BEES 



BE KEPT UNDER 



CONTROL ? 



In his regular article in this issue Mr. 

 DooHttle rather discourages giving ventila- 

 tion to bees in a winter repository— advises 

 leaving them alone from the time of putting 

 them in the cellar until the time of taking 

 them out in the spring— at least this is his 

 practice. He does not bring out the fact, 

 however, that locality has every thing to do 

 with this question of ventilation. 



For years friend Doolittle has been able to 

 maintain a temperature of 45 degrees in his 

 bee-cellar, with a variation of not more than 

 two degrees. There is only one cellar in a 

 hundred that will hold such uniformity of 

 temperature, irrespective of conditions, out- 

 side. While the temperature can be kept 

 uniform at the ideal point, 45, ventilation 

 from the outside by means of ventilating- 

 tubes or sub-earth flues would be of no ad- 

 vantage, and possibly might do a positive 

 injury, in that the outside air would so mod- 

 ify the temperature in the cellar from high 

 to low that the bees woufd get stirred up to 

 activity and come out in much worse condi- 

 tion than if they had no ventilation. 



A good many of our subscribers in a mild- 

 er climate, if they were to follow implicitly 

 Mr. Doolittle's practice, would, I think, 

 meet with disaster unless they could have 

 precisely the same conditions he has in his 

 cellar. We have tried repeatedly to winter 

 bees in our locality on the plan Doolittle 

 describes, and almost every time we have 

 lost half the bees, the survivors being so 

 weak as to be practically good for nothing. 

 We recently built one cellar on much the 

 same lines as the Doolittle plan, first with- 

 out ventilation, and over half the bees died. 

 Why ? Because the temperature inside 

 could not be controlled. In our locality we 

 have in midwinter a good many warm days, 

 the temperature sometimes going up to 70. 

 This may last a good part of a week, then 



the mercury may go down below zero. Ex- 

 perience has shown that extreme cold is not 

 nearly as detrimental as a very warm spell 

 lasting for several days, for this modifies 

 the temperature of the earth so the cellared 

 bees are aroused to an unusual state of 

 activity by reason of the temperature going 

 up to 60 or 65. In the bee-cellar where we 

 have had such good success we have given a 

 large amount of ventilation— had to because 

 the temperature would vary all the way 

 from 40 to 60. The outside air freshens the 

 inside air, and at the same time lowers the 

 temperature slightly. 



Toward the close of Mr. Doolittle's article, 

 in the last paragraph, he discourages open- 

 ing and closing entrances of outdoor- wintered 

 colonies to prevent the flight of the bees. 

 As mentioned elsewhere in this issue we 

 allowed a part of our outdoor bees to fly 

 two weeks ago when the sun shone warm 

 and it was thawing well, and the rest we 

 kept confined. The lumber-yard men re- 

 ported (and I saw the same thing myself) 

 that the snow for several hundred yards 

 around was dotted with bees that were 

 chilled in the snow, and, of course, would 

 never come back. Obviously, if we had kept 

 the entrances closed those bees that were 

 lost by the thousands would have been saved. 

 Later on when it becomes warmer they can 

 take flight without loss. 



Years ago Mr. Doolittle advocated this 

 closing of entrances the same as I have been 

 doing of late. He now doubts whether it 

 pays. The one experiment mentioned con- 

 vinces me that it has already paid here in 

 Medina. The straw thrown over the en- 

 trances does not prevent ventilation. It 

 shuts out the light of an inviting sun when 

 the bees ought not to go out, and prevents 

 cold drafts from blowing into the brood-nest. 



No less a man than W. L. Coggshall, prob- 

 ably one of the most extensive bee-keepers 

 in the world, concludes that the strewing of 

 sawdust in front of the entrances in spring 

 is time well spent. If the bees need venti- 

 lation they can push the sawdust away ; but 

 in the mean time the warm air is confined, 

 preventing the chilling of brood, so vitally 

 necessary early in the season. 



But even the outdoor closing of entrances 

 is something that hinges largely on locality. 

 In Vermont and many parts of York State, 

 where there are deep snows almost up to 

 the time of warm weather, the entrances 

 are closed automatically by the snow. Some 

 years ago Mr. A. E. Manum, of Vermont, 

 sent us a photo of one apiary where the 

 hives were almost entirely covered, he him- 

 self standing waist deep in the snow. At 

 the time, he reported that this snow was 

 worth to him many dollars in bees and brood 

 that were saved. Well, now, we who live 

 in a locality where there is less snow should 

 provide a substitute; and I know of nothing 

 more available or better than loose straw or 

 old hay— any thing that will shut out the 

 direct rays of light and prevent chilling 

 drafts of air at the entrances in weather 

 too cold for a safe flight. 



