1204 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15 



the right in 

 Fig. 2. Pass- 

 ing down the 

 cellar - way, 

 and turning 

 to the right, 

 you come to 

 the door that 

 opens.- into 

 the bee-room 

 as seen in 

 Fig. 2. The 

 backs of the 

 hives face us, 

 so the light 

 will not shine 

 into the en- 

 trances e X - 

 cept that you 

 see four hives 

 at the ex- 

 treme east 

 that are fac- 

 i n g you 

 That east row faces in that direction because 

 the window is back of it, and it is better not 

 to have the light shining directly into the 

 entrances when the window is open 



FIG. 3.— INTERIOR VIEW OP THE BEE-ROOM. 



FIG. 4.— CLUSTER OF BEES UNDER FRAMES: TEMPERA 

 TURE OF CELLAR 43 DEGREES. 



Fig. 3 is a flashlight picture showing some 

 of the hives — a difficult thing to get, as the 

 passageway between rows was less than four 

 feet. In very few of the hives are clusters 

 of bees to be seen below the bot- 

 tom-bars. An east wind was 

 blowing, and the cellar temper- 

 ature was 48 degrees. But it 

 probably would have looked all 

 the same if the temperature had 

 been 50 or more. The bees do 

 not cluster down as they did be- 

 fore the furnace was in the cel- 

 lar, although the temperature is 

 now five degrees higher than 

 then, and I don't think the hives 

 were ever heavier with bees and 

 honey than the past winter. I 

 don't know what should make 

 the difl:erence, unless it be that 

 now the cellar is so open that 

 it is much like outdoors as to 

 pure air. 



I have seen ( no doubt many others ha\ e 

 seen the same thing) in a warm spell, toward 

 spring, bees hanging out of the hives in great 

 clusters in the cellar, with the temperature 

 no higher than 50 degrees. I 

 never saw any thing of the 

 same kind outdoors at the same 

 temperature — did you? Now, 

 why shouldn't 50 degrees crowd 

 the bees out when in the open 

 air just as much as in the cel- 

 lar? Can you explain it in any 

 other way than the difference 

 in the quality of the air? If the 

 bees do not hang out at 50 out- 

 doors, why should they in the 

 cellar if the air is just as pure? 

 Well, you see my bees have a 

 good deal the same as outdoor 

 air, the cellar being so open, 

 and so they behave as they 

 would outside. At least, thai 

 is the best explanation I can 

 give. 

 Look at the cluster of bees under bottom- 

 bar in Fig. 4. At the time that was taken 

 the cellar had been cooled down to 43 degrees. 

 A week later it was made 24 degrees warm- 



FIG. 5.— CLUSTER OF BEES UNDER FRAMES; TEMPERA- 

 TURE OF HIVE 67 DEGREES, 



