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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



winter a single colony of bees. A cellar 

 below the surface of the earth receives 

 warmth from the earth; and, if the 

 cellar is covered in such a manner as to 

 sufficiently retard the escape of the heat, 

 the temperature in the cellar will remain 

 above that of the outside air. The reason 

 is that the heat is constantly replenished 

 from the earth, the same as the warmth 

 in a room is kept up by the fire in the 

 stove. A cellar above ground will, of 

 course, receive some warmth from that 

 part of the earth's surface that is covered 

 by the cellar, but not nearly so much as 

 when the cellar is below the surface of 

 the ground. In the latter case there is 

 no chance for the heat to escape except at 

 the top. 



A repository above ground can be made 

 a success onl} when a large number of 

 colonies are placed in it. A large 

 number of colonies generate consider- 

 able heat; and, if they are packed closely 

 together, and closely surrounded by walls 

 of some material that is a poor conductor 

 of heat, the temperature in the cellar will 

 be sufficiently high — it may even go too 

 high unless there is some provision to car- 

 ry off the heat by means of ventilation. 

 This whole question of cellar wintering is 

 one of temperature. Don't understand 

 me as saying that temperature is the only 

 thing to be considered in the matter of 

 successful wintering, as there are several 

 others; among which is that most impor- 

 tant of all — food. What I mean is that 

 ventilation and moisture have but little 

 bearing only as they effect temperature, 

 or the results of temperature. In a dry 

 atmosphere bees can endure a much low- 

 er temperature than they can in a damp 

 atmosphere. If a large number of bees 

 are closely packed in a small space and 

 surrounded b}- non-conducting walls, the 

 heat will sometimes accunmlate until the 

 temperature is too high. If the cellar is 

 well ventilated, this extra heat is carried 

 off. This is the bearing that ventilation 

 has on the subject. I doubt the necessity 

 of ventilation for the sake of furnishing 

 the bees with fresh air. Bees, in winter. 



are in a state bordering on hibernation, 

 as that word is popularly understood, and 

 the amount of air necessary for their 

 maintenance is very slight. I have sev- 

 eral times wintered bees successfully in 

 clamps where they were buried two feet 

 deep under frozen earth. When bees 

 settle down into that quiescent state that 

 accompanies successful wintering, their 

 need of air is very slight indeed. When 

 their winter nap is ended, and spring 

 arouses them to activity and to brood 

 rearing, more air may be needed. It is 

 then, if ever, that special ventilation is a 

 benefit; but, as all that is needed can be 

 secured by the occasional opening of doors 

 or windows at night, if it ever becomes 

 reall}^ necessary, it scarcely seems neces- 

 sary to go to the expense of laying sub- 

 earth pipes. I should not do it, nor ad- 

 vise it. I found none in the cellars of 

 Wisconsin. All of them had upper ven- 

 tilators, or openings, to allow the hot air 

 to escape. The cool air can find its way in 

 at the cracks and crevices; and, as the 

 ventilation is to reduce the temperature, 

 this answers every purpose. 



In this issue of the Review is an inter- 

 esting article b}- Mr. Ira Barber on the 

 subject of temperature in bee cellars. I 

 have no doubt whatever that he did win- 

 ter his bees with most excellent success 

 in a much higher temperature than is us- 

 ually found in bee-cellars. It certainly 

 was so high as to drive the bees from their 

 hives. Mr. Barber thinks that it is pos- 

 sible that the bees sipped up water from 

 the cellar bot'om; and that this helped 

 them to endure the heat. I certainly 

 should not advise any one to try the ex- 

 periment of raising the temperature of 

 their bee-cellar to such a degree as Mr. 

 Barber has reported. I don't understand 

 Mr. Barber as lecommending it. He re- 

 ports it more as an interesting experience 

 that goes to show that it has been possible 

 to winter bees as these high temperatures, 

 rather than to advise such attempts. At 

 least, that is the way I understand him. 

 When he found that he was wintering 

 his bees successsully at a lower tempera- 



