668 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Wintering Bees in Cellars, Ven- 

 tilation, Etc. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I think that my bee-cellar is about the 

 thing in which to winter bees. My bee- 

 yard slopes gently to the north (I wish 

 itjwere southeast, but I had to take such 

 as I had), while near the west end is a 

 slight sag through which flowed a small ■ 

 brook in wet weather, but which was 

 dry the larger part of the summer. This 

 brook now has an underground passage, 

 so as to be entirely out of the way. West 

 of the brook is a knoll, or rise of ground, 

 facing the east, and rising at the rate 

 of about four inches to the foot. Into 

 this knoll I dug about 30 feet, or so 

 that the back end of the hole was about 

 10 feet deep, measuring straight up the 

 west bank. This same hole was about 

 9 feet wide, and for a trial, it was 

 boarded up at first, a roof put over, and 

 3 feet of earth put on top of the roof. 

 Herein I wintered my bees quite success- 

 fully, thus proving the value of such a 

 place for wintering bees. 



When the boards became rotten I tore 

 all down and put in a good wall of stone 

 mortar, on top of which I put a good 

 strong roof, which was covered with 3 

 feet of dry earth, and over the whole 

 was a larger roof so as to keep the earth 

 and all under it dry. Since then the 

 "strong roof" rotted out, and I now 

 have the cellar covered with flag stone, 

 so that the whole is a permanent thing, 

 and will last long after I am no more in 

 this world. 



The first cave or cellar did not have 

 the outer roof, consequently the dirt was 

 kept wet by rains and snows. I find the 

 latter much better, as the dry earth 

 seems to keep a more even temperature 

 than did the former. 



The east end wall is 24 feet from the 

 west, and here is the entrance door, so 

 that the cave is in reality only 24 feet 

 long by 6% wide by 7 feet deep, inside 

 measure. Two feet out from the en- 

 trance door is another door, and still 

 2 feet further out is another door, and 

 in front of this last door is an ante- 

 room 4 feet square, which has a door to 

 that, so I have to open four doors every 

 time I go into the cellar. As these doors 

 all fit nicely, I have three large dead-air 

 spaces through which the cold air must 

 pass to get into the cellar, and yet the 

 first mentioned door is the coldest part 

 of the cave or cellar, as is readily shown 

 by the moisture collecting in drops 

 upon it. After the bees are put in here, 



all is shut tight, and left so until spring 

 after the bees are put out. 



Before remodeling the cellar the last 

 time, I put in a sub-earth ventilator 100 

 feet long, and some 4 or 5 feet deep ; 

 also a ventilator at the top, both of 

 which could be controlled at pleasure. 

 From much manipulation of these, 

 through a term of years, I finally left 

 them shut all the while, and as the bees 

 did better with them shut, and as the 

 temperature could be better controlled 

 with them shut, they were left out en- 

 tirely in the last construction, and I now 

 would not have them back again on any 

 account. 



On no one point did I ever go with 

 more caution or more "fear and tremb- 

 ling " than on this ventilation matter, 

 so that no one need tell me that I 

 " jumped at conclusions" regarding it. 

 I am positive that a properly-constructed, 

 wholly-underground bee-cellar needs no 

 more ventilation than will naturally 

 come through walls of mason work and 

 the earth. 



After the bees are put out in the 

 spring, the doors are fastened open and 

 left so all summer, so that the heat shall 

 dry all out as much as possible prepara- 

 tory to another winter. By thus leaving 

 it open during the cool and frosty nights 

 of October, it so reduces the tempera- 

 ture of the cellar and ground around it 

 that it stands about 47° after the bees 

 have become quiet. 



As winter proceeds it gradually lowers 

 until it reaches 44°, varying only from 

 43° to 45°, no matter what the temper- 

 ture is outside, whether 70° above zero 

 for a week, or from 20° to 30° below 

 zero for the same length of time. Herein 

 is where such a cellar has the advantage 

 over a cellar under a house, and it makes 

 no difference as to the temperature, 

 whether there is one colony or one hun- 

 dred in this cellar. The whole is con- 

 trolled by the temperature of the earth, 

 or very nearly so. 



Why I say " very nearly so " is, that 

 to the west of the cellar, about one rod, 

 is 30 feet of fence, which causes the 

 snow to drift over the roof and cellar 

 from 3 to 8 feet deep, and this snow has 

 a little to do with the matter ; but I 

 have never known a lower degree than 

 41 to be reached in winters when we 

 had no snow. 



(Jnless a cellar would maintain an 

 even temperature of from 41° to 47°, I 

 should prefer bees out-of-doors in chaff- 

 packed hives, and this temperature, too, 

 whether bees were in it or not. 



