184 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



with 12-foot posts, and is built against 

 the east end of my barn, which has 

 also a cellar under it. The new cellar 

 is divided east and west through the 

 middle, and the north half is the part 

 I use for bees. In the west end of It 

 is a cistern 5,^x15 feet, and a door in 

 the east end opening directly into the 

 apiary. The ground slopes consider- 

 ably to the east, which gives an easy 

 passage without any steps or stairs, 

 and at the same time enables me to 

 bank the cellar up to the sill on the 

 north and east sides, except where 

 the door is. I consider the position 

 of the cellar on the northeast corner — 

 taking the two buildings as one — a 

 great advantage. It is thus protected 

 both from the prevailing cold winds 

 of winter and from the heat of the 

 sun in the early spring. 



I have in this cellar 219 colonies, 

 and the mercury has stood almost 

 continually at 4r5!>^ ^ to 46°, Fahr. Con- 

 tinued extreme weather will cause it 

 to vary a little, but not much. 1 now 

 think that it would have been as well 

 to have put 300 colonies into it. The 

 building itself is divided nearly 

 through the middle into a shop and 

 honey-room. The shop is of sufficient 

 size to accommodate a horse-power 

 and saw-table. The floor and all the 

 walls are filled with sawdust, as is 

 also the ceiling of the honey-room. 

 There is, too, tarred paper in all the 

 outside walls. The windows are hung 

 on pivots at the middle of the side- 

 rails of the sash, thus making it easy 

 to let out any bees that may be 

 brought in with cases of honey. 

 Above is a large, well-lighted room 

 for storing, etc. The doors are all 

 bee-proof. The chimney is built from 

 the bottom of the cellar, and in it is a 

 galvanized smoke-flue fitted to re- 

 ceive pipes from stoves in the honey- 

 room. Within the chimney and out- 

 side this flue is ample space for ven- 

 tilation, and provides the best condi- 

 tions for securing that object, which 

 can be taken advantage of when 

 thought necessary by means of the 

 ventilators placed in the chimney, 

 one near the bottom and one near the 

 top of the cellar. 



Cellar Temperaturb for Bjees. 

 —The discussion at the Detroit Con- 

 vention, last December, indicates 

 that a great change is taking place in 

 the opinions of prominent bee-keep- 

 ers with regard to the best cellar 

 temperature for wintering bees. It 

 appears that several bee-keepers have 

 wintered bees very successfully in 

 cellars where the temperature was 

 mucli above what has hitherto been 

 thought best-^sometimes running up 

 even to 9(P and 100°, Fahr. ; and it 

 seemed to be the general sentiment 

 that it would be better to raise the 

 temperature of our cellars to about 

 .55°, Fahr. Since in bee-culture, cir- 

 cumstances are so likely to alter cases, 

 I should raise the temperature of my 

 cellar very gradually. 



Sectional Brood-Chajiheks. — 

 Two events of the past year in apicul- 

 ture demand some attention. They 

 are, the publication of the book, 

 "Success in Bee-Culture," by JSIr. 

 James lleddon, and his " new hive." 

 The hive, in its important features. 



is, I believe, entirely original. Against 

 its originality even Mr. A. I. Root can 

 only say that years ago he thought of 

 making a hive somewhat on this prin- 

 ciple ; but his hive was to have no 

 frames— simply slats nailed across to 

 hold the combs. 



It was at least 80 years ago, when I 

 was but a lad, that my father put me 

 to making bee-hives, for he used to 

 keep a few bees, and I was the me- 

 chanic of the family. He gave me an 

 old hammer and an older saw, whose 

 condition was worse than even its age 

 would indicate, and some rough 

 lumber one foot wide. Under his 

 directions I made each hive by cut- 

 ting four boards about two feet long, 

 nailing them together into a long box 

 without top or bottom, and then saw- 

 ing it into three equal boxes. I then 

 with saw and jack-knife cut out 

 notches in the top of each part and 

 put slats across. These three sections 

 were to be placed one above another, 

 and to be interchangeable. I suppose 

 when the top one was found full of 

 honey, the honey was to be cut out 

 and the empty one put under the 

 others. I do not remember of helping 

 to cut out any honey. The bees dis- 

 appeared ; it was during the time of 

 those renowned winters when bees 

 never had the diarrhea. But remem- 

 ber, I claim priority over Mr. Root. 



But let us return : The brood-cham- 

 ber of Mr. Heddon's hive (or perhaps 

 I should say a single section of it) 

 holds eight frames of the capacity of 

 five Langstroth frames. For a brood- 

 chamber, one, two or more of these 

 can be used. They are interchange- 

 able, reversible together or separ- 

 artely, and you could not fail to get 

 refractory bees into the sections for 

 comb honey by putting them between 

 the two parts of the brood-chamber, 

 using a queen-excluding honey-board 

 to confine the queen to one of the 

 parts. There are several other ad- 

 vantages to be derived from it, as it 

 seems to me, on account of its sus- 

 ceptibility to manipulation, and every 

 change can be made off-hand and 

 without handling a single comb. I 

 have faith in the hive. Look out for 

 a revolution ! 



The book is also new — made on a 

 new plan. It has kept largely out of 

 the fields occupied by other works on 

 apiculture. It has sought pastures 

 new. It has been prepared for the 

 use of the specialist, and the author 

 never loses sight of practical advan- 

 tages to be gained from every opera- 

 tion. Indeed it is a direct answer to 

 the question, " How can the greatest 

 pecuniary success in apiculture be 

 attained V" and the answer is made 

 full and complete by entering into 

 all the details of practical work. No 

 bee-keeper can alford to be without it. 



Lapeer,ot Mich. 



Read at the Indiana Convention. 



Cause of Loss in Winter, 



CHAS. F. MUTH. 



The "pollen theory" was brought 

 up, I believe, by Mr. James lleddon, 

 and has had an abundance of discus- 



sion in connection with wintering 

 bees. The best bee-keepers differ 

 widely in this matter,and the problem 

 seems still unsolved. The causes of 

 bee-diarrhea are very likely the same, 

 but appear different because looked 

 at by different persons and under 

 different surrounding circumstances. 



Pollen is a nitrogenous food and 

 wholesome ; without it the existence 

 of the bee would be an impossibility. 

 The larvae derive from it their body ; 

 and it is essential to animal growth. 

 Pollen preserves for years its nutri- 

 tious qualities, if kept dry, but it 

 sours in a damp place, like other 

 farinaceous matter, and swells over 

 the brim of the cells. In such condi-' 

 tion it has lost its wholesomeness, 

 and is not any more the pollen we 

 were talking about. Bees will get 

 sick if they are obliged to use it. 

 About the same can be said of honey. 

 It will keep forever in a dry place, 

 even in open vessels, and exposed to 

 the sun ; but it will sour in a damp 

 cellar, and the tendency to sour will 

 increase with the height of the tem- 

 perature. Sugar syrup will sour in a 

 warm place which need not be damp. 

 Many reports, from a number of bee- 

 keepers, stating that sugar syrup 

 would not save the lives of their bees, 

 sustain my argument. 



There are several points which we 

 should remember when preparing our 

 bees for winter, viz : Bees can create 

 a great amount of heat when in a 

 cluster and well supplied with healthy 

 food. The next is that their exhala- 

 tions condense into water when the 

 outside air is colder than the tempera- 

 ture of their hive. The moisture will 

 increase with the falling of the tem- 

 perature, and if it cannot escape as 

 fast as created, the combs and the 

 insides of the hive will become moldy, 

 and their honey and pollen turn sour- 

 become decomposed. I do not think any 

 one has yet seen a colony of bees that 

 died with the diarrhea without moldy 

 combs and sour honey in those parts 

 upon which they clustered. 



Perhaps most of us remember the 

 box-hives without a bottom-board, 

 and each corner standing on a pebble 

 or ix block an inch or two above a 

 plank. Moldy combs and diarrhea 

 were unknown to the bees of those 

 fortunate bee-keepers, and if a loss 

 in winter occurred, it was a case of 

 starvation every time. Those igno- 

 ramuses had accidentally an advan- 

 tage over us scientifics. Let us make 

 a note of it. 



If you want moldy combs and your 

 bees to have the diarrhea during win- 

 ter, cover the hive up tightly and con- 

 tract tlie entrance to about an inch or 

 less. The severer the winter the 

 more tlie bees will be affected. Try 

 it, and if you lose most of your bees 

 by diarrhea, take any scape-goat you 

 please, but do not blame the pollen 

 nor the fall honey. If you want bees 

 to winter well, confine them to their 

 brood-chamber and let each colony 

 have plenty of honey. Fall honey is 

 as wholesome as the best clover, and 

 it makes no difference whether the 

 most of it is capped or uncapped ; nor 

 is there any difference as to the 

 amount of pollen that is left for them. 



