296 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Kdr the American Bee JoumaL 



Ventilation of Bee Cellars, 



S. CORNEIL. 



Mr. Allen Pringle's article, on page 

 167 of the Bee Jouunal, pretty fully 

 meets the requirements of " a rousing 

 article on how to ventilate a damp 

 cellar." He says it is scarcely practi- 

 cable to put in a sub-earth pipe after 

 the cellar is built, but I found no dif- 

 ticulty whatever. We just carried the 

 excavation up to the cellar wall, and 

 then broke a hole through for the 

 pipe. After the stones were again 

 ijuilt in, and the earth replaced, all 

 was close. If possible, sub-earth pipes 

 should be laid as much as 5 feet below 

 the surface, because it is said that at 

 that depth the thermometer ceases to 

 show the daily fluctuations of tem- 

 perature. The temperature is prob- 

 ably nearly .50^, which is said to be 

 the uniform temperature of springs of 

 water after running forj some dis- 

 tance under ground. It will be read- 

 ily seen how much easier a uniform 

 temperature can be maintained in a 

 cellar, the walls of which are sur- 

 rounded by soil, a little below 50^, than 

 in a room above ground whose walls 

 are exposed to strong winds and the 

 temperature constantly varying. 



Mr. L. C. Root, who winters from 

 100 to 200 colonies with uniform suc- 

 cess, takes the supply of fresh air 

 from a warm room above. To do this 

 successfully there should be a strong 

 exhaust current from the cellar to the 

 stove pipes or chimnies above, and 

 the only opening forj the ingress of 

 air should be through the floor, as far 

 as possible from the point of egress. 



The ventilation of repositories not 

 connected with artificial heat is often 

 very faulty. Air has weight, and it 

 requires force to lift or move it out of 

 an apartment in order tliat pure air 

 may take its place. Perfect ventila- 

 tion is never automatic. I think if 

 the particulars regarding Mr. Doolit- 

 tle's new wintering cellar, for in- 

 stance (see page 741 Bke Journal 

 for 1882), were submitted to a com- 

 petent engineer for an opinion, he 

 would be likely to say that under 

 some circumstances the current would 

 move in the desired direction, under 

 other circumstances there would be 

 nocurrfiitat all, and again, that the 

 current might flow in the opposite 

 direction from that desired. I have 

 long held the opinion that Mr. Doolit- 

 tle's bees were either killed or half 

 poisoned by their own breath, in his 

 old "mud hut." The idea has been 

 recently thrown out that while bees 

 are in their semi-torpid state, it is bet- 

 ter thiil the surrounding air should be 

 foul, because they will not live so fast, 

 and will come out younger in the 

 spring. I think this "i)osition is un- 

 tenable. It is true the respiration is 

 lower while they are apparently dor- 

 mant, but if supplied with pure air. 



they will make the fewer respirations 

 per minute. They, at all times, con- 

 sume some food, and for the purpose 

 of combustion some oxygen is re- 

 quired. If the air only contains a re- 

 duced proportion of tliis, they will be 

 obliged to breathe faster to get the 

 necessary quantity, like the traveler 

 who said he had to drink a great deal 

 of water in order to get a little tea, 

 only in tlie case of the bees, the extra 

 q^uantityof foul air re-breathed is posi- 

 tively injurious. In regard to supply- 

 ing bees with pure air, it is like what 

 the squaw said about the whisky on 

 being remonstrated with for having 

 taken a little too much. Her reply 

 was that a little too much is just 

 enough. So with the bees, we need 

 not be afraid to give them, if possible, 

 a little too much pure air. The want 

 of an exhaust current in such cellars 

 as Mr. Doolittle's, may be very simply 

 remedied by placing a large lamp in 

 the pipe leading to the outer air. 

 Some of the best engineers recommend 

 using lamps or gas jets, as a make- 

 shift, to ventilate small apartments, 

 and I see by the report of the Board 

 of Health for Ontario, that such an 

 arrangement is used successfully for 

 ventilating a part of the General Hos- 

 pital at Toronto. Those who may de- 

 sire to get all the details will find 

 them in Gouge on Ventilation, pub- 

 lished by D. Van Nostrand, N. Y. 



My observations on the condition of 

 the air in my cellar during the past 

 winter, have led me to the conclusion 

 that if we are to have the dampness 

 as well as the temperature under our 

 control, the sub-earth pipe must be of 

 a material which is impervious to 

 moisture. The pipe bringing air into 

 my cellar is of pine plank, having a 

 cross section of 36 square inches, and 

 running 140 feet through a wet soil. 

 I found that the air, as it entered the 

 cellar, was excessively moist when it 

 should have been comparatively dry, 

 on account of the increase of tempera- 

 ture as it passed through the pipe. 

 The relative humidity was generally 

 from 90- to 95^, but sometimes the air 

 was completely saturated as it en- 

 tered the cellar. For instance, on the 

 Sth of March, when the air outside 

 was 2- above zero, the air entered the 

 cellar at 30^, and was fully saturated 

 with vapor. N"ow, air at 2^ is capable 

 of containing nearly six-tenths of a 

 grain of vapor per cubic foot when 

 saturated, but the air outside was not 

 saturated, and consequently contained 

 less than that quantity. Saturated 

 air at 36 contains about 2>2 grains of 

 vapor per cubic foot. Therefore, in 

 passing through 140 feet of wooden 

 pipe, tlie air must have acquired at 

 least 2 grains of vapor per cubic foot. 

 Again, on the 8th of April, the air 

 outside was wai'mer than that in the 

 cellar, but the nights were still cold. 

 In the evening, as the temperature 

 was falling, I watched till the ther- 

 mometer outside and in the mouth of 

 the pipe in the cellar, showed exactly 

 the same temperature, 42^. The rel- 

 ative humidity should also have been 

 the same, but there was a difference 

 of 23^, the relative humidity outside 

 being 67'-', and that of the air as it en- 

 tered the cellar 90°. 



My conclusion is that for sub-earth 

 ventilation, we require vitrified sewer 

 pipe securely cemented at the joints. 

 In this way only can we have damp- 

 ness under control and exclude foul 

 gasses. It is possible that with such 

 a pipe the air might be found to be 

 too dry. The exact degree of humid- 

 ity at which bees can be kept in a 

 cellar for six months in the best health 

 has, I believe, yet to be determined, 

 but until we have more information 

 on the point, I think it will be safest 

 to aim at about the average relative 

 humidity of summer ; in Ontario this 

 is 74-' of moisture out of a possible 100^. 



Your readers may desire to know 

 how my bees wintered in such a moist 

 atmosphere. I am pleased to be able 

 to report that they did pretty well. 

 On the 3d of November last, I put in 

 65 colonies, and on the 16th of April, 

 I carried out 64 alive. One had 

 starved, three were weak, and another 

 has since been found to be queenless. 

 There was not a square foot of moldy 

 comb in the whole lot. There was a 

 little spotting in some of the hives, 

 but so little that it need not be taken 

 into account. When they were set 

 out, the discharges were not copious, 

 nor yellow and watery, but small and 

 dark colored. I had no swarming-out 

 or other troubles, although they were 

 set out promiscuously between seven 

 and nine o'clock in the morning. 



Possibly some one will say that this 

 experience is rather against the 

 theory I have been advocating, that a 

 damp atmosphere is one of the main 

 causes of dysentery, but wait a little; 

 the above is only a partial statement 

 of the facts. Evaporation will take 

 place in an atmosphere having a rela- 

 tive humidity of 90- or 95°, provided 

 the air in contact with the evaporat- 

 ing surface is constantly changed. 

 The wash will dry in such an atmos- 

 phere it there is a wind. My bees 

 were in very moist air, but they had 

 very good ventilatiDii, and had the 

 means of keeping as warm as they 

 required to be. My cellar is small, 

 the cubical contents being only 660 

 feet, or when the hives are in, say 500 

 cubic feet of air. There are two ex- 

 haust pipes connected with stove pipes 

 above, changing the air very fre- 

 quently. Two colonies of bees in 

 closed-end Quinby frames were placed 

 side by side separated by a thin ve- 

 neer of wood, and these were tiered 

 up three in height.. The frames were 

 raised 2 inches above the bottom 

 boards, and one side of this space 

 was left open. The hives were cov- 

 ered with thick quilts of sheep's wool 

 over a " Hill's device." A peep under 

 these quilts at any time would find 

 the bees quiet, dry, snug and cosy. 

 On account of the heat being so well 

 conflned by the quilts and of the heat 

 from the adjoining cluster, many of 

 the colonies clustered out in the open 

 space between the bottom board and 

 the frames, the greater part of the 

 winter; some of them for 120 days. 

 Some bee-keepers would probably call 

 this " high pressure " as to the tem- 

 perature of the air in the cellar, but it 

 was not, for a thermometer placed 

 midway between the floor and ceiling, 

 averaged about 40^. Early in the 



