484 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



and floor, entering the cellar at points A, A. 

 Then there is a stairway, C, which is cover- 

 ed by two doors at the level of the ground, 

 and again closed from the cellar by two 

 doors. Through these doors the 'bees are 

 brought in and out. 



Ground plan of cellar. Inner compartment, E, has solid 

 concrete walls extending to ceiling. Opening E communi- 

 cates with a sub-earth ventilator. I). When in-rushing air is 

 too cold a lire Is built in the stove, tempering the air. when it 

 passes upward to the ceiling, passing into the square box 

 wooden flues shown at D I) D D, in Fig. 3, where it is distribut- 

 ed to every point in the cellar. 



1 inch openings for circu/dfion 

 but not draft. 



/»/ z. 



'9 



Perpendicular elevation of bee-cellar, showing the square 

 box ventilating-flue with its one-inch holes as shown in dia- 

 gram 3. 





F 



Fre^h Air 





F 



<Q 



Fie;. 3. 



Horizontal plan showing scheme of ventilation. Room B 

 has solid concrete walls to prevent danger from fire from the 

 stove ate. Under the stove is the sub-earth-ventllator open- 

 ing that supplies fresh air. which, if too cold, is warined and 

 then forced through the distributing-flues D D D D. which are 

 perforated by one-inch holes. The flues 1) D are closed at the 

 ends, and all air must pass out at the holes indicated by the 

 arrows. F F are ventilators carrying foul air and moisture by 

 means of flues extending through the roof. 



D is a 12-inch glazed pipe with waterlime 

 joints 8 ft. under ground. This entei's the 

 cellar in the compartment E, a coal-stove 

 standing over this opening. In this com- 

 partment, if the air is not sufficiently temper- 



ed by its passage under ground it can be 

 warmed before it passes into the cellar. 



In Fig. 3 the system of distributing fresh 

 air is shown. The illustration is not quite 

 correct as to the central compartment, how- 

 ever. B is supposed to be the same central 

 compartment as E in Fig. 1, and the distance 

 between it and the west wall should be great- 

 er. At the top of this compartment, on the 

 west side, are pipes, D, D, D, which carry 

 the fresh air to the north and south end of 

 the cellar, E E respectively being the noi'th 

 and south ends. From there through many 

 one inch openings (see arrows also, in B, 

 Fig. 2, and the method of turning the corner 

 of the wall), the fresh air is evenly distrib- 

 uted through the cellar and carried off in a 

 more or less foul condition through open- 

 ings in the bottom of the chimney F in Fig. 1, 

 and at ventilators F F, in Fig. 3, said venti- 

 lators showing thi'ough the roof on either 

 side of the chimney shown in the exterior 

 half-tone view of the cellar. 



I have a curtain this winter on the north, 

 south, and west walls, and find it assists in 

 equalizing the temperature. This winter I 

 have had more or less of air passing through 

 all the air-passages, yet have kept a sufficient- 

 ly high temperature half the time without 

 fire. 



Two years ago I darkened all the windows 

 in the bee-house above, and partially opened 

 a trap-door which leads by means of a stair- 

 way alongside of the center compartment to 

 the cellar floor. This, however, gave too 

 rapid variations in temperature and was 

 abandoned. During the last strong gale, with 

 the wind reaching a velocity of over 60 miles 

 an hour, in 24 hours a change from 59 to 12° 

 was experienced; and with no change in the 

 dampei's in the ventilators there was a vari- 

 ation of only 2^° in the cellar. 



In visiting my cellar, Mr. Editor, you 

 noticed that the stocks of bees in the twelve- 

 frame Langstroth hives were powerful large 

 clusters of bees hanging under frames with 

 full capacity. This, of course, has an influ- 

 ence on the number of bees found dead on 

 the floor. Again, the bottom-boards on my 

 hives are pretty clean of bees; but up to Jan. 

 23, by measure I swept If bushels of dead 

 bees from the floor. 



Brantford, Can. 



[As we go into the shop above we lift a 

 large trap-door, light a candle, and descend 

 into the lower regions. All is quiet, save 

 now and then a little zip, zip of a flitting 

 bee lured by the light of the candle. The 

 air feels about 46. It smells fresh, notwith- 

 standing there were from 400 to 500 colonies 

 in the cellar. There were but few dead bees 

 on the cellar bottom, and at the time of our 

 visit one could go all over the cellar without 

 stepping on a dead bee. Mr. Holtermann 

 showed us the inner compartment where the 

 stove is located, and which is used for tem- 

 pering the air when necessary as it comes in 

 from the sub-earth ventilator. Notwithstand- 

 ing it was a cool brisk morning, and our ears 

 tingled in the open air, even after a brisk 

 walk, the air in that inner compartment 



