142 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



it should stand at from 43 to 46 de- 

 grees, and ill no case should it lall 

 lower than 42 degrees. If constructed 

 in this way, it will not change its tem- 

 perature more than from one to three 

 degrees during the winter. Have 

 tight fitting triple doors, making two 

 dead air spaces. 



6. Two thermometers should be 

 placed in every bee-liouse or cellar, 

 one opposite the bottom and the other 

 opposite the top row of hives, the 

 former indicating 43 and the latter 46 

 degrees. 



7. None other than the cushions in 

 the cellar and bee-house, and for those 

 on summer stands use fine dry saw- 

 dust. 



Beeton, Ont. 



ANSWERS BY PROF. J. HASBROUCK. 



1. In wintering bees out-of-doors, 

 I want the top of the nest just as tight 

 as it can be made. The more enam- 

 elled cloth and propolis the better, if 

 they are well put on. I do not want 

 the moisture, and the warm air which 

 carries it, to go out that way. I am 

 very decided about this, because I 

 have taken a great deal of ti-ouble to 

 find out the effect of upward ventila- 

 tion, and I know it is evil and that 

 continually. When the enamelled cloth 

 is covered by non-conductors and the 

 sides are similarly protected, so that 

 the moisture is not condensed against 

 them, I find that it gets out at the en- 

 trance with sufficient rapidity to cause 

 no trouble. I am satisfied, moreover, 

 that bees winter best, if there is a 

 tight board cover immediately on 

 top of the non-conductor over the 

 frames. The reason for .this is, I sup- 

 pose, that this arran<>ement closes the 

 top more tightly than otherwise. This 

 is so different from the prevalent opin- 

 ion that I must give a little of my ex- 

 perience in confirmation of my 

 position. I begun using movable 

 frames in a " long idea " hive with no 

 upper story. I used to put two thick- 

 nesses of woollen cloth over the prop- 

 olized covering and down the sides 

 of the frames, as they hung in the 

 middle of the long box and the cover 

 down on that. The bees always win- 

 tered finely, and I didn't know what 

 dysentery and dwindling were. After- 

 ward I put my bees all into chaff-hives, 

 with upper stories and chaff cushions, 

 and immediately I began to be plagued 

 with all the "winter troubles" of 



which other people were continually 

 talking. Last fall I began to think 

 seriously of how much better " I used 

 to do it," and I concluded to try the 

 old methods on some new single walled 

 hives, which I had made, containing L. 

 frames. I put the woollen cloths over 

 the top and a cover with a two inch 

 rim coming tight down upon the 

 clotlis, and let them stand out-doors. 

 They wintered strikingly better than 

 the chafl-hives. If I ever winter 

 those chafl-hives out-of-doors again, 

 I should prefer a close fitting board 

 tight down on some woollen cloths 

 over the frames, instead of the chaff 

 cushion. But if I could winter bees 

 in-doors as safely always as I can by 

 this arrangement, I would never again 

 leave any out, and thus save the $1 a 

 hive which out-dbor wintering costs 

 extra. My personal experience in 

 in-door wintering is limited, but I 

 have had the opportunity of studying, 

 for several years, the experiments of 

 a friend who thinks he has brought 

 wintering down to a fine art. From 

 what I have observed, I think success- 

 ful in-door wintering requires that all 

 covering, unless it is quite " holy," 

 should be removed from the tops of 

 the frames, aud that the entrances 

 should be closed. 



2. In this location, about Thanks- 

 giving. 



3. I would pile them up solid as 

 high as convenient, setting a hive on 

 top of the one below, with pieces of 

 i inch stutt" between. The bees should 

 nearly fill the room, so as to keep up 

 the temperature in cold weather. 



4. [Ovving to a mistake in copying 

 this question, it was not understood 

 by Mr. II.— Ed.] 



5. I have a 7 inch pipe-hole near 

 the top of my wintering cellar leading 

 into a flue of the chimney which runs 

 up three stories above, and warmed by 

 another flue in the same chimney into 

 which goes the pipe of a strong heater. 

 I depend upon the air getting in 

 through cracks. I found this ventilat- 

 ing '-system " prepared for me, when I 

 came to the house, but it is efficient; 

 and something equivalent to it, I 

 believe to be necessary for successful 

 cellar wintering. In a very warm 

 spell, I would open the doors at night. 



6. 45° as nearly as possible, above 

 rather than below. That is the tem- 

 perature at which bees standing out 

 begin to feel very sleepy, and yet a 



