274 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL-. 



ble to ward ofif the ill-effects of confine- 

 in en t. 



If we could only tell in advance what 

 the coming winter would be, we would 

 know whether to put the bees into the 

 cellar, or to protect them on the summer 

 stands. If bees could only have one or 

 two good, purifying flights during the 

 winter, I should prefer to winter them 

 in the open air. But of this I cannot be 

 assured, and, as they winter no worse in 

 the cellar in a warm winter than they 

 do in a severe one, I prefer the latter 

 plan. It is possible that the house- 

 apiary may yet furnish the advantages 

 of both methods — warmth and an op- 

 portunity for flights when the weather 

 permits. 



In the cellar we can control the tem- 

 perature, also the moisture to a certain 

 extent. If we give them sugar stores, 

 we then have everything under our 

 control except the length of the confine- 

 ment, which will not usually vary suf- 

 ficiently to undo our plans. It is only 

 by cellar-wintering that we can have the 

 same conditions year after year. 



Just a few more words about stores : 

 Ordinary colonies in a warm cellar con- 

 sume about two pounds per colony each 

 month. These stores are taken from 

 the center of the hive. By feeding each 

 colony seven or eight pounds of sugar 

 syrup at the end of the season, it will be 

 stored in the center of the hive, and it 

 will be largely this food that the bees 

 will consume during their confinement. 

 This is almost the same as their having 

 all sugar stores. Where a man winters 

 his bees year after year with no trouble 

 from diarrhea, all these precautions are 

 unnecessary. They are for the man 

 who does have trouble. 



To recapitulate: If the honey of my 

 locality was uniformly good, I would 

 give but little attention to the food. If 

 it frequently proved unsuitable, I would 

 feed sugar late in the season. I would 

 leave the bees in the open air until there 

 was slight prospect of their enjoying 

 another flight; yet I would wish to have 

 them in the cellar before the advent of 

 snow-storms and severe cold. I would 

 take in the hives with no bottom-boards, 

 and stack them up with two-inch blocks 

 between the hives. I would carefully 

 watch the temperature, and never allow 

 it to go below 40°, nor above 50'A The 

 temperature can be kept up by the use 

 of an oil-stove, but I would have a hood 

 over the stove, and a pipe to (;arry off 

 the gases of combustion. If this pipe is 

 connected with a stove-pipe in the room 

 above, it will also help to ventilate the 

 cellar when there is no tire in the oil- 



stove. I would also have a wet bulb 

 thermometer in the cellar, and not allow 

 the degree of temperature marked by 

 the wet bulb instrument to approach 

 nearer than 3° to that of the dry bulb, 

 with a temperature of 45°. 



Just as soon as it was warm enough 

 in the spring for the bees to fly, I would 

 remove them from the cellar. This may 

 be two or three weeks, or a month 

 earlier than steady warm weather may 

 be expected, but it will be seen that an 

 early removal shortens the confinement 

 that much. When a bee has retained 

 its feces three or four months, a further 

 retention of three or four weeks may be 

 all the difference between death and fair 

 health. But I would not leave the bees 

 without protection. I would pack them 

 the same as I would in the fall if they 

 were going to be left out-of-doors all 

 winter, only I might not do it in so 

 thorough a manner. So thick packing 

 is not needed, and it may be held in 

 place in the most simple and cheap 

 manner. A super filled with sawdust 

 will answer for top packing. 



Flint, Mich. 



Bce-Keeping; in the iSanta Ana 

 Valley, in California. 



WHtten for the American Bee Journal 

 BY DR. EI.ISHA GALLUP. 



I now take up my pen for the purpose 

 of writing for the old established and 

 reliable American Bee Journal once 

 more. It was my old and first love in 

 the form of a bee-journal. 



I am going to tell you what two young 

 boys have done here. They began, in 

 the first place, to take bees and honey 

 out of dwellings, stores and churches. 

 They received pay in the most cases for 

 cleaning them out and removing them, 

 and got the bees and honey for nothing. 

 They also picked up many swarms on 

 the weeds, in trees, etc. They made 

 their own hives. Two years ago they 

 moved their bees into the foothills, and 

 established an apiary. This season they 

 have secured 2U tons of honey, and have 

 sold several tons at 6 to 6>2 cents per 

 pound. 



The Santa Ana valley is a great place 

 to rear bees, as they swarm from April 

 1st up to the middle of October, and can 

 gather honey at any time sufficient to 

 live on in winter or summer. Some- 

 times they store quite a good quality of 

 honey, but not often. The valley lioney 

 is mostly of a very inferior quality, but 



