642 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Oct. 12, 1899. 



boxes are about three inches larger than the ventilator, 

 which they telescope about two inches each. A similar 

 ventilator is provided for each of the two windows, so that 

 a free circulation of air is admitted without the possibility 

 of light entering- the cellar. The temperature of the cellar 

 is held at from 40 to 42 degrees, which prevents breeding, 

 and holds the consumption of honey down to a minimum, 

 and at the same time retains the vitality of the bees to the 

 greatest possible degree. 



The j'ard was to remain as it appears in the engraving 

 until about Sept. 20, when the extracting-supers are to be 

 removed, the hives weighed, and the bees fed where neces- 

 sary. Each hive should contain about 30 pounds to com- 

 mence the winter. About Nov. 17 the bees will be trans- 

 ferred to the cellar, where they will remain till the time ar- 

 rives to set them out in the spring. 



We would draw attention to the proprietor of the apiary 

 sitting in the shade of the tree in the foreground. He is 

 wearing his bee-veil attacht to the rim of a straw hat, 

 drawn tightly from the rim and tuckt under his braces and 

 drawn tightly across the breast, which holds the veil away 

 from the face and neck, thus making a sting in those re- 

 gions impossible. After the photograph was taken, Mr. 

 Pettit recognized that his trouser legs should have been 

 tuckt inside his socks, that he would appear like a bee- 

 keeper at his work. When the trousers are thus tuckt in 

 the bees cannot walk up inside to create trouble for them- 

 selves and the individual wearing the trousers. We would 

 also point out the solar wax-extractor sitting in the fore- 

 ground, near the clump of flowering shrub. It is set on a 

 pivot, on which it can be revolved to face the sun thruout 

 the day. 



A COMB-HONEY HIVB AND ITS ARRANGEMENT. 



Bj' following the description of Mr. Pettit's hive, some 

 important points in his system of comb-honey production 

 will be understood. 



1 represents the cover, beneath which is a cushion 2 

 inches thick, of soft, fine hay, and beneath this is a cotton- 

 cloth, of hard, white cotton-duck, which rests on the sections. 



2-2 are section supers, one-quarter inch deeper than the 

 sections used. Mr. Pettit's are 17's inches square, inside 

 measurement, each holding 36 sections. 



3, queen bar or excluder, which covers the brood-cham- 

 ber, admitting only worker-bees to the supers. 



4, brood-chamber. 



5, wedges of wood one inch deep in front, graduallj' 

 tapering to a point at the back. These are used in summer 



\^ Mm^m^ 



Pettit Co»ib-Honey Hive amt Aryangement. 



to allow ventilation, and they also raise the front of the 

 hive so as to induce the bees to go up the side-walls of the 

 hive and the brood-combs near the back of the hive. 



6, floorprojects 3'2 inches in frontof the brood-chamber. 



7-7, stand of two 6-inch boards and two 7-inch. This 

 rests on bricks, as shown. 



8, comb-honey supers, same as 2. 



9-9, divider set on two of the sides of the super, as 

 shown in position. It is Js-inch thick, and has 's-inch 

 holes, thru which the bees pass to the sections. 



10, section in position, resting on T tins 12, and against 

 a divider. The section is filled with light foundation of 

 good quality, within 3/16 inch of the bottom. With sec- 



tions fitted with foundation in this way the bees fill them 

 evenly. 



11, bee-space of 5/16 inch, created by six blocks num- 

 bered 13 on divider number 9. The advantage of this extra 

 bee-space at the sides of the super is to allow for a double 

 quantity of bees to keep up necessary animal heat, which 

 is advantageous to the finishing up and capping the combs 

 in the sections. 



The Indoor Wintering' of Bees. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



PLEASE allow a stranger to ask j'our opinion or advice in relation to 

 a wintering- place or house for my bees. I have in mind to build a 

 house with double walls, fi, 8 or lb inches between the outside siding- 

 and inside ceiling-, and fill the space with div sawdust, have a 

 double floor filled in the same way. Seven feet between lower and upper 

 floors. I can carpet or cover the upper floor with sawdust. I will be very 

 glad to have 3'our opinion in the matter. Also, how much space does it 

 require to place 75 to 100 hives with bees, and the best and most proper 

 way to ventilate the room ? Any suggestions will be thankfully received. 

 Yours truly, R. R. Jackson, Allamakee Co., Iowa. 



We have often heard of bee-houses being used similar 

 to the one mentioned in the above enquiry, but have never 

 seen or tried them ourselves. Any repository in which the 

 bees may be kept at an even temperature slightly above the 

 freezing-point may be considered as a safe place to keep 

 bees over wititer if the place is also dry and quiet, tho the 

 latter consideratioia is of less importance, as it is evident 

 that bees do get used to noise and the trepidation which is 

 common in noisy sports. 



The question of proper temperature is by far the most 

 important in this connection. It often happens that mis- 

 informed people try to winter their bees in empty rooms 

 where the changes of temperature, altho less sudden and ex- 

 treme than out-of-doors, are still quite great. These at- 

 tempts have almost invariably proven failures. This is 

 very easily explained. When the temperature is low, say 

 below the freezing-point, the bees have to consume a quan- 

 tity of honey proportionate to the rigor of the weather, in 

 order to keep up the bodily heat, which, in a healthy colony 

 should never get below the temperature of the blood. This 

 consumption of stores necessarily causes their bowels to 

 become more or less distended with fecal matter according 

 to the qualitj- of the food — less if the food be of best quality, 

 more if of dark honey or honey loaded with pollen. 



In a natural outdoor wintering the bees will, at the first 

 warm day, have the necessarj' opportunity to unload their 

 bowels, but if they are confined in a room they will become 

 restless and will suffer, and eventually die. On the other 

 hand, in the same repository, when the temperature is 

 higher than necessary, they feel the natural instinct to 

 take flight and also become restless. They often try to 

 rear brood, and this adds the necessity of securing water, 

 which adds to their discomfort when in confinement. 



If one had but two or three colonies and plenty of leis- 

 ure, and was so interested in the bees that he would be sure 

 not to forget them, they might be confined in anj' dark 

 room, so it was sufficietitly sheltered, and take them out on 

 warm days. This would of course be much better than out- 

 door wintering, but it is not possible with a large number 

 of colonies, owing to the work it would entail, and the fact 

 that sotne winter days are warm for a few short hours onl)-, 

 so the colonies that were taken out last, out of a lot of 75, 

 might not have a fair opportunity to take flight. 



In years past we were in the habit of wintering two 

 of our apiaries indoors ; in otir home we have a portion of 

 our cellar partitioned o&' from the main part purposely for 

 the bees. We have not used it of late because the winters 

 have not proven injurious. When our bees were in the 

 cellar, my father, who has a great taste for experiments, 

 used to go to the bees several times in the week, and at dif- 

 ferent hours, to ascertain their condition. He invariably 

 found that they were quiet at a temperature between 40 and 

 45 degrees, Faiir. Below this point they would show bj' 

 their hum that a little warmth was needed. Above it they 

 were also restless, and an occasional bee would stray out of 

 its hive and fly up to the light brought in. 



I remember that an old York State bee-keeper had pub- 

 licly stated that the bees could stand a very high tem- 

 perature when in the cellar, provided the moisture in the 

 air of the cellar was adequate to the rise in temperature. 

 This he so strenuously maintained in public arguments 

 that I took pains ,to interview him at a convention, and 

 found out, to my great surpri.se, that he had no thermome- 

 ter in his cellar, and was only " guessing" at the tempera- 

 ture mentioned by him. 



A thermometer costs but a trifle — from 25 to 40 cents — 



