798 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sept. 15 



In connection with this plan he uses his 

 small miniature nuclei, which have been 

 condemned bj' some of our subscribers, and 

 which have, in fact, proved to be a failure 

 in the hands of Mr. Doolittle and ourselves. 

 Swarthmore then pertinently remarks, in 

 his letter referring to the matter: 



Now, Mr. Editor, since your Mr. Phillips is success- 

 ful in at least two Swarthmore practices, is it not pos- 

 sible that he might be just as successful with the fer- 

 tilizing boxes? I shall run these boxes after frost, 

 and call to witness some of the men in whom you 

 place more confidence than vou se«in to place in me. 

 1 can show that temperature has not much to do with 

 1 he success of these one and two comb boxes when 

 the principle of their handling is understood. Per- 

 haps vour Mr. Phillips may be able to improve them, 

 and thus carry on a work that you yourself admit is 

 irapoitant. 



In another letter I am asked to make him 

 a visit, and see these small nuclei working 

 successfully day after day, turning out lay- 

 ing queens by the wholesale. But the ex- 

 tensive arrangements we are making to take 

 care of our business another season will 

 make it impossible to get away now; but I 

 hope to see next season what Swarthmore is 

 doing. He has certainly originated some 

 very unique as well as short cuts in queen- 

 rearing; and while at first they seemed to 

 be of doubtful value, our Mr. G. W. Phillips 

 has been and is now making several of them 

 pan out well. It is reasonable to suppose 

 that, if Swarthmore can make these small 

 nuclei work, we can do it; and I therefore 

 propose to give the matter a trial next sea- 

 son. 



Mr. Phillips told me that I had made it 

 none too strong in saying that two virgins, 

 or a dozen, can be introduced at a time, if 

 necessary, and that as soon as one virgin 

 is removed another one may be released in 

 three or four hours, practically wasting no 

 time in introducing. By the old plan of 

 giving one queen to a nucleus at a time he 

 can not get more than one laying queen on 

 an average in less than 12 da>s; but by his 

 new one he is able to get two laying queens 

 from a nucleus in a week on an average. 

 This means that the queen-breeder can 

 more than double the output from an aver- 

 age nucleus; and even he who rears queens 

 for his own use can have fewer nuclei, and 

 queens laying and ready for business in 

 much less "time. To the queen breerler and 

 the honey producer alike the dual-virgin 

 plan is invaluable. 



A MODEL BEE-CELLAR IN MICHIGAN. 



Mr. James Hilbert, so well known to 

 our readers as an enterprising and pro- 

 gressive bee-keeper, and a neighbor of A. 

 1. Root up in Northern Michigan, has one 

 of the best-constructed bee-cell.urs in the 

 country ; and on my la.st trip I secured two 

 photos showing it inside and out. The cel- 

 lar proper is half above ground and half 

 below. The upper story is a general work- 

 shop and honey-storage room. The struc- 

 ture is situated on a side-hill, and is built 

 in such a way as to make it not only frost- 

 proof but so as to give it a uniform temper- 

 ature. I wrote to the owner, asking for 



some data regarding its general construc- 

 tion, and he writes as follows: 



The cellar is 14 x 21 inside. It is built 3 feet under 

 ground and I feet above. The foundation is a s'one 

 wall ?> feet deep with six-inch studding on the wall, 

 boarded both sides, and filled in with sawdust. There 

 are also inch cleats nailed on inside, and lathed and 

 plastered, making a one inch dear-air space. 



In building the stone wall we laid in 2x6 plank, let- 

 ting them project 2 inches, and lathed and plastered 

 on these, making a dead air space on the stone wall, 

 to do away with the dampness. 



)ii one coriur there is a tile drain, or intake, for 

 fresh air, leading out 6 rods under ground. 3 feet deep. 

 The cellar is built on higher ground, which makes it 

 very convenient for underground ventilation. There 

 is also a ven.ilator leading out thiough the roof 12 

 inches square This comes within 3 feet of the cellar 

 bottom, and is arranged to shut off too much draft. 

 The outside has been leinforced with a foot of sawdust 

 coming above the cellar a foot, with tarred felt cover- 

 ing the whole. The floor above is made frost-proof 

 by nailing on ceiling, filling in with sawdust between 

 the ceiling and floor, and nailing inch strips to the 

 ceiling, and then lathing and plastering. Tnis cellar 

 has never bt en cold enough to freeze, the temperature 

 ranging from 41 to 45. I can put in 200 eight-frame 

 hives it necessary. I have wintered 150 in this cellar 

 very iiceh-. It stays very dry and nice all winter. 

 The upper part is used as a workroom and for extract- 

 ing. The cost was about S150. 



Bingham, Mich. James Hilbert. 



It seems that our friend found that the 

 stone walls projecting above ground were 

 hardly sufficient to keep out cold in severe 

 weather: he therefore protected it with ex- 

 tra sheeting packed with sawdust. This is 

 shown in the half-tone, reaching half way 

 up on the building, or just covering the 

 lower room or cellar proper. 



An interesting fact in connection with 

 this cellar is worthy of recording here. 

 Mr. Hilbert puts his bees in the cellar 

 along when cold weather comes on; but in- 

 stead of shutting the bees up in the dark, 

 as is the practice with most bee-keepers, he 

 leaves the door open until along in very 

 cold weather. Then he closes the cellar, 

 and leaves it closed until near spring, or 

 when the bees are to be taken out. The 

 advantage of such a procedure is this: The 

 bees are given a large amount of ventila- 

 tion during the fore part of winter, and at 

 the same time they are protected. When 

 the weather gets tcx) cold the door is closed, 

 when the temperature is maintained at 40 

 or 45° throughout the winter. One would 

 naturallj' expect that the bees would fly 

 out with the doors open; but Mr. Hilbert 

 says that, as he manages, they do not. 



This repository embodies some of the 

 principles of the Bingham, such as a venti- 

 lating-shaft from the roof. The upper sto- 

 ry, as explained by Mr. Hilbert, has a 

 double-thickness floor packed with saw- 

 dust. In these two respects the Bingham 

 and Hilbert are verj' much alike; but the 

 latter is much more expensive, and, per- 

 haps I might say, a more useful building. 

 The cellar is more get-at-able; the bees 

 can be more readily carried down through 

 the covered doorwaj', going down only two 

 steps. There are two doors — one on the 

 extreme outside and one in the cellar proper. 



F^or a perfect wintering-cellar I have not 

 seen any better; and if one desires some- 

 thing really first-class I would advise him 

 to build on the line shown by Mr. Hilbert. 



