30 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



at a temperatere of from 44 to 48 degrees, is 

 the very best place to winter bees. I agree 

 with him in the matter of ventilation and 

 temperature, and 1 also agree with him ij 

 he does not mean to have his cellar too wet. 

 The term "wet" as applied to a cellar might 

 mean one slightly damp, and another one 

 with pools of water standing on a muddy 

 florr. I can hardly believe that Mr. Alex- 

 ander means this. The average cellar will 

 not be absolutely dry, if vmder ground, where 

 a lot of bees are confined. To my notion, if 

 we specify a dry cellar we shall get one wet 

 enough to conform to the I'equirements of our 

 correspondent. A hundred colonies of bees, 

 for example, in a cellar 15X30, will give off 

 a large amount of moisture through their 

 breath. This moisture will condense against 

 the sides of the hives and against the sides of 

 the cellar or any surface cooler than the 

 cluster of bees. 



It is not clear just how much ventilation 

 Mr. Alexander allows. I infer, however, he 

 does not change the air in the cellar very 

 much, but leaves the hives themselves so 

 open that there is a circulation of air in the 

 cellar, or from within the hive to without the 

 hive. 



With regard to disturbance, what Mr. 

 Alexander says is true, and yet it may be a 

 little hard to harmonize his statements with 

 the fact that our shop-cellar bees have all 

 kinds of racket above them and yet they win- 

 ter nicely. Right over our cellar where our 

 bees are, thei'e is the rumbling of machinery 

 and the dropping every now and then of a 

 heavy weight or the trundling of a heavy 

 truck; and the vibration of the building, and 

 I might say of the foundation, is continuous. 

 But here is where the explanation lies: The 

 continuous noise does not disturb bees nor 

 human beings like a sudden shock after con- 

 tinuous quiet. I have been in 

 cellars, which, on entering as 

 carefully as I might, caused no 

 little disturbance on the part of 

 the bees; and on the other hand 

 we could go into our cellar and 

 wheel heavy trucks through it all 

 day, and the bees would scarcely 

 notice it, because they have be- 

 come accustomed to it. I suspect 

 the case is something like this: 

 My dwellinghouse is located close 

 to our factory, and only about 500 

 or 600 feet from the B. & O. Rail- 

 road, and 700 or 800 yards from 

 an east and west road, the North- 

 ern Ohio, and on these roads 

 trains are snorting through at al- 

 most every hour of the day, and at 

 times in the night; and yet those 

 of us who are aeccustomed to it 

 very seldom notice or hear it. 

 Another fact: Some thirty years 

 ago I used to sleep in our factory 

 when we were running night and 

 day. My room was directly over 

 several buzz-saws and a planer; 

 but very soon I became accus- 

 tomed to the noise so that it did 



not disturb me. Going back to the bees in 

 the cellar, I suspect that the occasiotial romp- 

 ing of children directly over a bee-cellar 

 would cause mox'e disturbance than if the 

 children romped on that floor every hour of 

 the day. 



I notice that Mr. Alexander does not ad- 

 vise winter flights except toward spi'ing, and 

 even then only when the bees become uneasy 

 or affected with dysentery. I agree exactly 

 with him here, and his recommendation has 

 been right along with our recent practice. 

 Whenever bees become uneasy it has been 

 our experience that a good fly restores them 

 to quiet. 



This whole article is based on an extensive 

 and long experience, and it will bear careful 

 reading, both on the part of the veteran and 

 the beginner in the bvisiness. — Ed.] 



GRAVENHORST'S SYSTEM 

 MANY. 



IN GER 



The Peculiar Form of his Hive and Frame. 



BY W, K. MORRISON, 



Germany, the land of modern science, 

 Wagnerian music, and lager beer, is very 

 proliflc in apicultural literature, which we 

 naturally expect in a country of apiaries and 

 printing-presses. Even if they are numerous, 

 these bee-books are by no means vain repeti- 

 tions of each other. On the contrary, many 

 of them are quite original, particularly in 

 the science of Apis mellifica, where our 

 friends stand preeminent. If any criticism 

 is in order it might be stated the Germanic 

 bee-authorities are too self-centered, not 

 copying the good points of American and 



GRAVENHORST HIVE INVERTED, SHOWING HO\\ THE 



COMBS ARE REMOVED (BOTTOM UPWARD), AND 



THEIR PECULIAR SHAPE. 



