132 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



ougli ventilation is very essential 

 ^ where the cellar is damp. 



This room should be made of 

 good, sound matched lumber, so 

 that its sides shall be tight, and so 

 constructed that there is a space of 

 at least one foot between the walls 

 of the room and the cellar walls ; 

 two feet or more would answer 

 still better. To ventilate this 

 room, pass a five-inch stove-pipe 

 through the floor overhead and at- 

 tach it with a '^T" entering it into 

 the stovepipe at some distance 

 above the stove, so as not to affect 

 the draught of the stove. 



The benches upon which the 

 hives are to be placed should be 

 about one foot high, and I prefer 

 that these benches be made short 

 so that when putting the bees in 

 and taking them out in the spring 

 but few of the colonies need be dis- 

 turbed at one time. These benches 

 should not touch the sides of the 

 room, and if they rest firmly on the 

 cellar bottom, they may be piled up 

 several tiers high without being 

 subject to any jar from above. 



While a properl}^ arranged cellar 

 is important, yet success in winter- 

 ing will depend largely on the con- 

 dition of the stocks and the manner 

 in which they are placed in the 

 cellar. The experience of different 

 beekeepers seems to vary greatly 

 as to the desirability of giving up- 

 ward ventilation. 



Hetherington Bros, of Cherry 

 Valley and>. H.Elwood of Stark- 

 ville, N. Y., cover their frames 

 with a tight cap, allowing no up- 

 ward ventilation and succeed best 

 in this way, but they winter in 

 clamps built partly above ground. 

 We can winter bees much more 

 successfully in our cellars by plac- 

 ing a quilt over the frames so as to 

 allow the moisture to escape ; also 

 we consider it very essential to 

 have an opening in the bottom 

 boards of tiie hives, directly under 

 the clusters, so that the bees may 



be certain of their freedom, and 

 they are also much less liable to 

 become confined to the hives as is 

 often the case when the entrance 

 becomes closed by the falling of 

 dead bees. 



There is a great diversity of 

 opinion as to the desirability of 

 ventilating the cellar from the out- 

 side at the bottom. I am, how- 

 ever, fully convinced that it is not 

 desirable to bring in air through a 

 tube which shall admit of a draught 

 of cold air. If air is to be ad- 

 mitted it should be brought for 

 some distance underground or 

 warmed outside of the room con- 

 taining the bees, and admitted to 

 the room in a manner that shall 

 not disturb the bees. Test the 

 room with a thermometer, and if it 

 can be kept at a temperature of 

 from 45° to 48° without lovver ven- 

 tilation I should prefer it. 



To winter bees so that all stocks 

 will come through populous enough 

 to stand our cold spring months 

 will yet require much hard study 

 ere it is thoroughly mastered. 

 Very trul}' yours, 



L. C. Root. 

 Mohaiok, N. Y. 



EXCHANGES. 



The Standard Langstroth 

 Hive and Framk, by L. L. Lang- 

 stroth. — Before inventing my 

 movable frames I used bars, in a 

 hive with movable top and bottom, 

 by which the bars could be worked 

 to much better advantage than by 

 side-opening doors. My latest 

 style of bar hives was 18| by 18| 

 by six inches deep, all in the clear. 

 At that time (1851) honey, to 

 bring the best price, had to be in 

 combs built in neat glassed boxes, 

 and this shape of the hive gave an 

 unusually large surface for sucii 



