1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



367 



My cellar has shown a temperature about 

 freezing during the last two weeks in Janu- 

 ary and the first three in February, and I 

 am not worried about them. I visit them 

 once a week with my lantern, and clean off 

 the bottom-boards and sweep up the floor, 

 taking note as to their stillness and the 

 dead bees I sweep up. The light and noise 

 arouse them, and they set up a slight mur- 

 mer of appreciation all around, as much as 

 to say, "We are glad you came— please 

 come again." The death-rate for the three 

 weeks above mentioned was about the same 

 each week, and the temperature about the 

 same. If one of you bee-keepers who win- 

 ter bees in the open air could step into my 

 cellar, out of the two feet of snow in my 

 yard, you would realize how vastly more 

 reasonable it is to keep them thus than to 

 trust them in the wind and snow incident to 

 summer-stand exposure. But that is not all 

 there is of a cellar for bees. Such a cellar, 

 dark, cool, easy of access in summer, is a 

 great convenience. In case of a number of 

 swarms clustering together they can be put 

 in as many hives as you wish, and set in the 

 cellar half an hour to demonstrate how 

 many have queens ; and if not all, the miss- 

 ing one can be quickly supplied. 



I mention this as it has often been sug- 

 gested that all old queens be clipped ; and 

 while it has not generally been said that 

 swarms having clipped queens usually clus- 

 ter together, it may be well to arrange so 

 that, if they do, they can be so managed as 

 to keep them from going to the woods. 

 Such a cellar will pay any man 25 per cent 

 on the cost of it every year, and last as long 

 as he is likely to use it. It will be said that 

 a cellar can not be made that will be dry in 

 any other than sandy soil. Practically I do 

 not know; but if Portland cement will hold 

 water in a cistern it is reasonable to pre- 

 sume that it will also keep it out of a cis- 

 tern. I have no doubt that a Portland- 

 cement cellar can be made in well-drained 

 clay soil just as well as in sand. Were I 

 living in a clay region the experiment would 

 be made. 



Farwell, Mich. 



[We constructed a cellar somewhat on 

 Bingham lines— a sort of cistern under the 

 ground with a building on top. The sides of 

 the cellar and the ventilator were exactly 

 the same, and yet we were not able to 

 secure as good results as did Mr. Bingham, 

 and why ? Our brickwork did not keep out 

 the water as it should have done, or rather, 

 perhaps, it is more correct to say the drain- 

 age was bad. A cistern built in a sandy 

 soil would be perfectly dry, and the only 

 moisture would be that from the breath of 

 the bees. With a dry cellar, and plenty of 

 ventilation, perhaps one can allow the tem- 

 perature to go down almost or quite to freez- 

 ing without serious results. I question very 

 much whether it is possible to make a per- 

 fectly dry all-underground room in a clay 

 soil, even if the walls be well cemented. 

 While all cisterns will hold water in our clay 



soil, yet I have noticed that, when the water 

 was all out of these cisterns, the natural 

 seepage of the soil from without would force 

 its way through the bottom and sides ; and 

 yet that outside seepage of hard water 

 would stay out when there was a pressure 

 of soft water inside. 



I wish to indorse the sentiment that a 

 dark cool cellar is a good place to put bees 

 that are mixed up in swarming time. It is 

 also the best place in the world to put a col- 

 ony or nucleus that is being robbed out. We 

 will say there is a nucleus or weak colony 

 that is full of robbers. Carry the whole 

 thing downstairs, robbers and all. Keep them 

 there four or five days. Possibly it might 

 be well to give them a little smoke to stop 

 possible fighting ; then when they recover 

 from the effects of it they will begin to 

 make up an entirely new family. When 

 taken out, several days after, the robbers 

 as well as the robbed will be all one colony, 

 and, what is more, what was once a nucleus 

 will be a fair colony to defend itself. — Ed.] 



TEMPERATURE FOR BROOD-REARING. 



"Good morning, Mr. Doolittle. Can you 

 tell me what is the right temperature for 

 brood-rearing?" 



" Well, Mr. Brown, I can tell you of some 

 experiments I have made alorg the line of 

 finding out in the matter." 



"But I mean in the spring of the year, 

 when we have cold frosty nights." 



"Do you think it requires a higher tem- 

 perature at that time?" 



" I do not know that it does; but I know 

 it is necessary to contract the hive and pre- 

 serve all the warmth from the bees in that 

 contracted hive possible, to secure the best 

 results." 



' ' There is no doubt abourf; the wisdom of 

 keeping the bees as warm as possible, but 

 that contracting part may not be advisable. 

 We will talk about that later on. First, I 

 want to say that by several tests during 

 nights when it was cold enough so that ice 

 was formed on ponds of water as thick as 

 window-glass, I have found that the bees 

 would not allow a temperature lower than 

 92° in the center of the brood-nest." 



" What! as high as that?" 



"Yes; and that with colonies so weak 

 that they could hold brood in only two or 

 three combs; and the strange part of the 

 matter is, the strongest colonies did not 

 keep the temperature more than one or two 

 degrees higher." 



"I did not suppose it required quite so 

 high a temperature; and now I believe all 



