482 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



this so repeatedly in our own experience we 

 wonder that more bee-keepers do not avail 

 themselves of the plan instead of shipping 

 their honey ofE to the big cities where it 

 comes into fierce competition with the honey 

 sent in by other bee-keepers. 



Gleanings offers its congratulations to the 

 young lady who is brave enough to go inside 

 a wire-cloth cage and handle live bees be- 

 fore a crowd.— Ed. 1 



THE WINTERING PROBLEM. 



An 



Ideal Bee-cellar; Some Ventilating 

 Problems Neatly Solved. 



BY R. F. HOLTERMANN. 



[When we called on Mr. Holtermann last January 

 we naturally had a curiosity to see his new mammoth 

 bee-cellar which he had recently constructed, and 

 which he believed was about as complete and perfect 

 in all its appointments as any thing- that had ever 



AN INTERIOR VIEW LOOKING 



been constructed. The opportunity to see it was 

 gladly accepted. We have inspected a yood many of 

 the bee-cellars in the United States and Canada, but 

 we are free to say that we have never run across any 

 thing- more unique or nearly perfect in its general 

 arrangement than this combined extracting-house, 

 work-shop, and bee-cellar underneath. The whole 

 structure is made of solid concrete— that is to say, 

 the foundation walls as well as those above g-round 

 are made of cement and sand iioured into wooden 

 forms a good deal after the manner of those described 

 in our issue for November 1, page 1363. 



Mr. Holtermann does not say any thing about the 

 very roomy work-shop and extracting-room in the 

 story above ground. This has a large stove, all the 

 modern appliances for extracting and liquefying hon- 

 ey, and a few necessary tools for making and putting 

 together supplies, Mr. H. thus describes the cellar. 

 —Ed.] 



The individual bee-keeper can understand 

 and solve the wintering problem only as it 



is studied in all its bearings. If individual 

 stock and variety of bee, stores, and their na- 

 ture, position, and previous treatment, the 

 manner in which the bees are protected dui'- 

 ing the autumn and winter are not taken in- 

 to consideration in coming to conclusions, 

 but little progress can be made when we seek 

 to detect the eft'ect of winter repositories un- 

 der certain conditions. Temperature and 

 moisture undoubtedly play an important 

 part in the question; but the one who con- 

 siders this alone is like the man who builds 

 a fine house upon an unknown foundation. 

 We as bee-keepers jump too much to conclu- 

 sions, and then spend our reasoning powers 

 and energies in defending ground perhaps 

 hastily and injudiciously taken. 



INDIVIDUAL AND VARIETY. 



The variation in individual and breed has 

 long been recognized by breeders in other 

 lines of livestock. The mountain sheep and 



the Down each 

 requires 'cer- 

 tain environ- 

 ments to be at 

 its best. So 

 with bees. I 

 am satisfied 

 that no one 

 variety of bee 

 will do best 

 under all con- 

 ditions. In our 

 northern win- 

 ters we require 

 a bee with a 

 strong consti- 

 tution. Long 

 confl n e m e n t 

 requires good 

 digestive and 

 assimilative 

 powers and a 

 nervous tem- 

 perament not 

 easily upset. 

 A nervous 

 strain may 

 bring on di- 

 arrhea. Irri- 

 tability, as a 

 rule, is not an 

 indication of 

 nerve strength 

 What can be done by selection in breeding 

 corn and other crops can be done by selec- 

 tion in breeding Ijees; but if done, the mi- 

 croscope, the finely balanced scale and ac- 

 curate measure, the chemist, and the winter 

 x'epository, with facilities for conti"olling tem- 

 perature during long periods — these, com- 

 tsined with patient investigation, will deter- 

 mine what points do bear on successful win- 

 tering and bee-keeping, and what are ideal 

 conditions at which the bee-keeper shall aim. 



STORES. 



So far as I know, we want abundance of 

 stores, free from germs of fermentation. I 

 believe that bees are and can be successfully 

 wintered on honey rich in pollen; yet this 



DOWN THE AISLES OF THE HOLTERMANN 

 BEE-CELLAR. 



