1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



hours of each day from 11 to 4 o'clock. J 

 noticed bees every morning working on pol- 

 len blossoms, but before noon every bee 

 made a rush to the orange-trees. 



The honey is line and very heavy. I have 

 some chunk comb orange honey in shallow 

 frames that is excellent. 



Redlands, Cal., May 11. 



CELLAR WINTERING 

 LERS. 



AT DR. MIL 



High Temperature Does no Harm if tlie Air 



is Pure; Why Bees Cluster Out in a 



Cellar. 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



Wintering bees in a cellar with a furnace 

 is quite a different affair from wintering iu 

 a cellar where the problem is to keep the 

 temperature sufficiently high. After several 

 winters' experience I know at least a little 

 more about the matter than I did; and, as 

 between the two, I think I'd take the furnace 

 every time. You may be interested to take 

 a few peeps to see how things appear when 

 the bees are in the cellar. 



First, an outside view. Fig. 1. No hives to 

 be seen there, but 1 wanted you to see how 

 the outside door is kept during a large part 

 of the winter. Sometimes when the ther- 

 mometer goes down below zero, especially if 

 windy, the cellar-door is entirely closed, and 

 a good deal of the time it is half closed, prop- 

 ped up with a stick; but for each day it was 

 entirely closed last winter, I suppose it was 

 open ten days as shown in the picture — possi- 

 bly twenty; but last winter was a mild one. 



KIG. 1. — OUTSIDE DOORWAY TO DR. MILLER'.S 

 BEE-CELLAR; THIS IS KEPT OPEN NEAR- 

 LY ALL THE TIME. 



FIG. 2. — ENTRANCE TO THE BEE- ROOM IN DR. 

 miller's CELLAR. 



That picture was taken Feb. 20, 1 p.m., and 

 the door was open all night the previous 

 night, and throughout the day, Feb. 20, ami 

 yet the thermometer in the cellar stood at 50 

 degrees. You will easily see that the picture 

 is a snap-shot, with the sun shining brightly, 

 which shows that a good deal of light can be 

 endured. To be sure, no direct light shines 

 on the bees, but the inside door is wide open, 

 and at the back of the hives nearest the door 

 one could see to read coarse print. The tem- 

 perature at the time the picture was taken 

 was, as already said, 50 clegrees, and that's 

 about the usual temperature throughout the 

 winter. It could be kept lower by having 

 the window open, but that would make it too 

 cold for colonies near the window, and on 

 the whole the bees seem to do well at 50. 



You will see that the door that is open is 

 covered with snow, and the heat of the cel- 

 lar has thawed the snow from the upper part 

 of the other door, and it is wet from the 

 melting snow just above the snow-line. 



That cellar-door is on the south, as you 

 will see by the shadows; and after going 

 down five steps there is a landing of five or 

 six feet before you come to the door in the 

 cellar wall, which door is always kept wide 

 open since the furnace is in the cellar, as it 

 opens directly into the furnace-room, the fur- 

 nace standing about 12 feet north. 



Notice the stone wall at the right in the 

 cellarway. That same stone wall you see at 



