THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



345 



straw between the doors. Its walls and 

 roof are entirely of ground boarded up, 

 and the Ijee-house is placed above it. 

 This kind of a repository is certainly bet- 

 ter than a house-cellar, which is often 

 enough out of the ground to become' very 

 cold, and in which one places all sorts of 

 vegetables that are apt to more or less 

 vitiate the air. The bee-cave is made 

 only for the bees, and they are there in 

 perfect quiet. 



A WISCONSIOX BEE-CELLAR. 



Some of the Details of its Construction. 



There are some men who not only wish 

 to know of the principles in regard to 

 the making and management of things, 

 but they also like to be furnished with 

 exact details. It is for the benefit of 

 snch that I copy the following article 

 from the American Bee Journal. It was 

 contributed by Mr. I\I. Barnes, of Wis- 

 consin. 



My cellar for wintering bees is i6 x 20 

 feet, and 6 '2 feet deep. It has a stone 

 wall one foot thick and 3 feet high, then 

 from where the wall rests the cellar is 

 dug out 3'i feet deep in yellow clay, and 

 is smaller all around by one foot than 

 the inside of the wall, thus leaving an 

 offset of one foot all around the cellar. 

 The sides of the cellar are left sloping, so 

 that there is no danger of the dirt caving 

 off. 



There are two outside doors made of 

 tnatched pine, being two thicknesses of 

 lumber, with a parting strip of oak one 

 inch thick all around the doors and be- 

 tween the two thicknesses of lumber, 

 thus making a dead-air space in the doors. 

 One door shuts even with the inside of 

 the wall, and swings into the cellar, and 

 the other door swings outward, and is 3 

 feet from the inside door. The wall at 

 the door extends <lown as far as the bot- 

 tom of the cellar. The opening at the 

 top of the doors and between them is cov- 

 ered with a trap-door, which is covered 

 with galvanized iron. This trap- door 

 can be raised when the other doors are 

 closed, and secured, and the space pack- 

 ed full of straw or planer-shavings, if 

 necessary 



From the outside door there is an en- 

 trance-way dug, and in this there is a 

 ventilator, 30 feet long, 8 x 10 inches 

 inside measure, made of 2-inch oak plank. 



The outside end is wide open; the inside 

 end extending inside of the cellar 3 feet, 

 and the opening is closed with a register. 



The upward ventilation is secured by a 

 common 6-inch stove-pipe, the upper end 

 coming down within 4 feet of the bottom 

 of the cellar, the upper end extending 

 through the roof of the building used for 

 a shop over the cellar, making the pipe 

 22 feet long, thus causing plenty of draft. 



I now have the wall outside graded with 

 dirt to the top of the wall, then 10 inches 

 of old sawdust as banking around the 

 building. 



I moved mj' bees into this cellar Nov. 

 28, 1898, and kept a thermometer there. 

 Up to Dec. 14 I found that the tempera- 

 ture was 41 degreees above zero — a little 

 too cool, still the bees were quiet, and I 

 thought the temperature might rise as the 

 cellar dried out, as it was quite new. 1 

 had 96 colonies in the cellar, and could 

 have put in 50 more without crowding. 



I wish the older ones in the bee-busi- 

 ness would show me my errors, and where 

 my cellar may fail. 



This issue of the Review is devoted 

 quite extensively to bee-cellars and their 

 management, and, for that reason, as 

 well as because it contains criticisms of 

 the foregoing, I append the following, 

 which is also taken from the American 

 Bee Journal. It is really, in one sense, a 

 continuation of, or sequel to, the other 

 article by C. P. Dadant that appears in 

 this Department this month. 



BEE-REPOSITORIES. 



It is Better to Build them Substantial and 

 Mouse-Pro(»f. 



I was just preparing to write an addi- 

 tional article concerning bee-repositories 

 for winter, when I noticed, on page 626, 

 the article by \Vm. M. Barnes, whom I 

 know to be a practical bee-keeper, and I 

 would suggest that those readers who 

 are interested in this matter re-read his 

 statement. I do not believe that I would 

 build exactly as he has done, and as he 

 kindly invites criticism, I will state where 

 I would suggest changes, but I take no- 

 tice that he reports success, and this is 

 sufficient to give hi.s cellar a good point. 



As I said before, the proper tempera- 

 ture is the main need, though a moderate 



