10 



GLEANIiXGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



'* By using- the cell-plan, and having a 

 system perfect enough so that the queen may 

 emerge from the cell within twelve hours 

 after being given to the nucleus, 3'ou will 

 usually have a laying queen in said nucle- 

 us in ten days from the time of giving the 

 cell. Then in order to have your nucleus 

 hold its own as to bees, this queen should 

 be allowed to lay four or five days before 

 sending her off." 



"Why should she stay so long? I should 

 think she would lay enough in one or two 

 days to keep the nucleus good." 



"Undoubtedly she would did the bees 

 bring her eggs to perfection; but I have 

 found that, as a rule, if the queen is taken 

 away when the combs contain only her eggs, 

 the bees will remove or devour the most of 

 them;when if a part have hatched intolarvse, 

 all will be preserved, and in this case our 

 nucleus is strengthened in bees according 

 as the queen lays eggs." 



"Then I shall not be likely to get three 

 queens a month from a nucleus?" 



"No, I think not; for we have yet to con- 

 sider the loss of queens on their wedding- 

 trip, as hinted at before, when in some 

 seasons quite a few fail to return, while 

 others are sometimes balled on their return 

 till they die, or are valueless, either for 

 sending ofif or for home use; and anj' or all 

 of these things make the matter of any cer- 

 tain number of queens from any nucleus, in 

 any certain time, very uncertain." 



"What has been your average?" 



"My average number from a nucleus, 

 during the i>ast fifteen j'ears, has been 

 about two a month, and that is about the 

 way I feel safe in calculating. Some nuclei 

 do bt tter, others not as well, so it is always 

 well to calculate on having a few more nu- 

 clei than you really think 3'OU will need to 

 fill all orders; and even then if your case 

 proves any thing like mine you will be 

 obliged to return money for some unfilled 

 orders at the end of the season." 



"Well, perhaps we have talked long 

 enough on this matter. I think I can cal- 

 culate very well from what I have learned. 

 I now wish to ask you something about a 

 winter repository for my bees for another 

 year. I have determined that this shall be 

 the last winter I will leave all of my bees 

 outdoors, and I wish to commence operations 

 this winter while I have leisure time to 

 work." 



"What kind of repository did you think 

 of building?" 



"There is a clay bank near my bee-yard. 

 If I dig into this bank a hole some 24 to 30 

 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 7 feet deep, 

 walling the same with stone, the front end 

 of which will be out of ground considerably, 

 will it be too damp for the bees?" 



"I think not if well drained, and proba- 

 bly it would not be too damp if not drained 

 at all, only so that the water may not come 

 up about the hives, should a sudden freshet 

 occur during the winter." 



"But do you not consider dampness in- 

 jurious to bees?" 



"No, not under certain conditions. I be- 

 lieve I am right in saying that none of the 

 bee fraternity have ever positively proven 

 that dampness is injurious to bees. May I 

 ask a question? Is not a damp cellar the 

 best to winter bees in? A moist air is pro- 

 motive of health in our houses — why not in 

 bee-cellars? In many places, schoolrooms 

 are not considered fit for pupils unless there 

 is a dish of water on the stove or other heat- 

 er, continually giving moisture off into the 

 air." 



"Is it not thought that dampness causes 

 bee-diarrhea?" 



"It is so stated by some, but I believe 

 dampness in winter repositories is one of 

 the agencies in causing bee-diarrhea only 

 when the temperature is so low as to con- 

 dense the vapor on the inside of the hives 

 and combs. In all of this talk on this sub- 

 ject it would be well to consider the dif- 

 ference in effect on animal life between a 

 warm damp atmosphere and a cool damp one 

 for cellar wintering. It is the cold damp 

 atmosphere that is to be dreaded; and un- 

 less that front end of }our proposed cellar 

 is well covered with earth I should fear too 

 low a temperature during cold spells in 

 winter, which low temperature would cause 

 the dampness to be detrimental to the bees. 

 I should be much more concerned to have 

 the temperature entirely in my control than 

 about dampness." 



"What should the temperature be to se- 

 cure the, best result?" 



"From 43 to 48 will do pretty well; but a 

 steady temperature of 45 is as near perfec- 

 tion as can well be obtained. Give me a 

 cellar that will not vary from 45, and good 

 stores, and I have little fear as to how the 

 bees will come out in the spring. This I 

 say after many j'ears of successful cellar 

 wintering, and after watching others who 

 have invariably wintered their bees well 

 also." 



"Well, how can I fix that front end?" 



"After you have your cellar or bee-cave 

 built, cover the front end over with from 

 three to four feet of earth, and over the 

 whole put a roof so that the dirt may be 

 kept dry at all times of the year, and I 

 think you will find you have something 

 that will be a joy to you for years to come, 

 no matter whether you have two hundred 

 colonies or twenty to winter therein." 



"How deep would you go into the 

 bank?" 



"The deeper and further back you go in- 

 to your knoll the more even will the temper- 

 ature be likely to keep; and the more even 

 the temperature, if it is as high as 45 or 

 above, the more successful will the bees 

 winter. I have used successfully a cellar 

 (very similar to the one you propose build- 

 ing) for 26 years, with the exception of one 

 winter when I used an oil-stove in it, when 

 I lost heavily through the poisonous vapor 

 given off into the room by this stove." 



"I must be going now, and I thank you 

 for 3'our advice on all of the many points 

 we have touched upon." 



