328 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



it. How such statements came to be 

 made is more than I know. 



The highest temperature that was found 

 when a thermometer was used, was 90°; 

 and all of the colonies were clustered on 

 the outside of the hives, but not in one 

 mass altogether. In the seven winters 

 that I had bees in this particular cellar, 

 tests were made two or three times each 

 winter until the last winter; when I did 

 not go there until March. Then I was 

 sent for to "see what ailed the bees." 

 Upon going there, I found the bees, 225 

 colonies, all in a solid mass on the hives 

 — there was no part of a hive to be seen ; 

 yet all the bees were as quiet as though 

 clustered upon the outside of their hives 

 on a damp, muggy morning in August. 

 I did not take the temperature at this 

 time, as the opening and closing of the 

 doors would have admitted fresh air and 

 aroused the bees to such an extent as to 

 set them to running, which would have 

 been very likely to have caused the loss 

 of the whole lot. As it was, this lot of 

 bees came through in the best condition 

 of any lot that I ever wintered in my 47 

 years of experience with hundreds of col- 

 onies. The only loss was that of one 

 queen. This lot of bees, with the help of 

 a half interest in another lot of about 100 

 colonies, stored 22,000 pounds of comb 

 honey the next season. 



The first winter that I used this cellar, 

 nothing unusual occurred, as onh' 100 

 colonies were placed in it. The highest 

 temperature found that winter was 65°. 

 The next winter, 150 colonies were put 

 into the cellar. There was no ventilation ; 

 and a large part of the bees were found 

 on the outside of the hives. The next 

 winter more bees were put in and the cel- 

 lar was ventilated to carry off the heat, 

 yet I found the bees lying out at every 

 visit. In all of these visits the tempera- 

 ture was taken both in the cellar and out 

 doors. Instead of having no thermome- 

 ter, as has been reported, I had hvo. 



This cellar was a damp one; although 

 no water stood in it. When I found the 

 bees in a mass outside the hives, the cel- 



lar bottom," near the hives, was covered 

 with bees; and the bees appeared to be 

 getting water; and I have no doubt that 

 this had much to do with their coming 

 through the winter all right. 



When wintering my bees in this high 

 temperature, I learned one thing to a 

 certainty; and that is, if there is any dis- 

 charge from their bowels under these con- 

 ditions it is in a dry state. There was 

 not a speck to be seen on the hives or 

 combs; and no litter to be found in the 

 hives an}^ more than in mid summer. 



The reason why I have not continued 

 to winter my bees in such a high tem- 

 perature is because I moved them home 

 where I have a large cellar in which they 

 have always wintered fairly well; and, as 

 I feared that I might not get the right 

 conditions in a reconstructed cellar, I let 

 well enough alone. I have heard of onlj' 

 one man who made a success of winter- 

 ing bees successfully in a high tempera- 

 ture. I have no file of bee papers to 

 which to refer, as I give away ni}- pa- 

 pers as soon as I have read them, so 1 

 can not say positively who he is, but I 

 think that his name is Dayton. 

 De Kalb Junction, N. Y. Oct. 25, 1S99. 



SELLIXG HONEY. 



Commission .Men and Some of Their Tricks — 

 How to Deal with Them. 



\V. O. VICTOR. 



FRIEND H., I have been sick for some 

 two weeks, and am just able to sit 

 around the house, so decided to write an 

 article which I would offer you for your 

 journal. 



In addition to our former acquaintance, 

 I will introduce myself further by saying: 

 I have kept bees since 1883, having kept 

 as many as 600 colonies at once, have 

 sold as high as 56,000 lbs. of honey in a 

 single season, shipped one solid carload, 

 made one sale of 15,000 lbs. direct to con- 



