316 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



It is said that sub-earth pipes are being 

 discarded. They are usually made of wood 

 or porous tile, open at the joints, in either 

 case admitting moisture and foul air from 

 the soil. The only advantage gained by 

 bringing the air through a sub-earth pipe is 

 that, no matter how cold the weather may 

 be, the temperature of the incoming air 

 never varies mure than from 'ST to 42= in 

 this latitude, and we have had the mercury 

 about as low as it can go. If the sub-earth 

 pipe is impervious to moisture, as it must 

 be if it is used at all, outtide air at say 10° 

 above zero, and having 80 per cent, of sat- 

 uration, will enter the cellar at about 40°, 

 and ;{8 per cent, of saturation. Of course, 

 the air will be equally dry, no matter how it 

 is brought in, when it is warmed up to this 

 temperature. 



My neigiibor, Mr. Webster, heats his brick 

 dwelling by means of a furnace in the cellar. 

 A brick partition cuts off the furnace room 

 from the bee cellar. There is a door in this 

 partition, which is opened, from time to 

 time, to let warm dry air into the bee depart- 

 ment, and draw the cool damp air out. Mr. 

 Webster has wintered 100 colonies and up- 

 wards very successfully, in this cellar, for 

 several years. 



If I were building a bee cellar, I should 

 have it wholly under ground, on account of 

 the greater ease in keeping a steady temper- 

 ature. I should cement the floor because it 

 would then be drier, and more easily cleaned. 

 There is no truth in the statement which we 

 sometimes see, that the uncemented floor 

 absorbs foul gases from ihe air, making it 

 less foul. If cementing the floor makes 

 any difference at all, in the condition of the 

 air, it is the other way about. Ground air is 

 always ricli in carbonic acid. The cement 

 helps to keep the ground air out of the cel- 

 lar. To dr.tw off the vitiated air, I should 

 have a 7-incii pipe, and if possible more than 

 one, leading from near the cellar floor to a 

 chimney in constant use. I should want to 

 know by an anemometer how many times 

 per hour the air is changed. I should have a 

 small room, cut off from the bee apartment, 

 by a heavy brick or stone partition, and into 

 this room I should bring the outside air, 

 either from above ground, or through a sub- 

 earth pipe. If from above, I should keep a 

 coal stove going when needed, if through a 

 sub-earth pipe a kerosene oil stove, as recom- 

 mended by the editor, would perhaps do. 

 To admit the warmed air into the bee apart- 



ment, I should have registers at the top of 

 the partition, and to draw off cold air from 

 the floor, I should have registers in the par- 

 tition at the floor. In drawing off cold air 

 from the floor, and sending it back warmed, 

 there is no danger of getting an undue pro- 

 portion of carbonic acid gas. The caibonic 

 acid gas of breathed air does not separate 

 and fall, by its superior wtight, to the floor, 

 as is often stated. The belief that it does 

 so is a popular fallacy. 



I have said nothing about the carbonic 

 acid produced by the consumption of honey 

 pari passu with the production of aqueous 

 vapor, the proportion of which can readily 

 be ascertained by means of a Mason hygrom- 

 eter, because with such ventilation as is 

 recommended above, the one will be removed 

 with the other. Nor have I said any- 

 thing about the proportion of oxygen 

 necessary in the air for the generation of 

 heat, because in the pure air introduced, as 

 recommended, the quantity of oxygen will 

 be right. 



Unless the hives themselves are ventilated, 

 so that the waste products can pass off into 

 the surrounding air, as fast as produced, 

 ventilating and warming the cellar will not 

 save the bees. In the atmosphere recom- 

 mended by the editor, or perhaps one a little 

 warmer, the covering of the hive may be 

 removed. This will keep the bees dry and 

 healthy. 



Dr. Miller and C. W. Dayton are quite cor- 

 rect as to foul air making the bees uneasy. 

 This was, I think, shown very clearly in Mr. 

 Doolittle's case, when, in order to keep the 

 temperature of his cellar up to that advo- 

 cated by Mr. Ira Barber, he burnt coal oil in 

 his cellar all winter, without any provision 

 for carrying off the products of combustion. 

 By the way, it may be worth while to state 

 that when the supposed high temperature 

 of Mr. Barber's cellar was being discussed, 

 I wrote him, inquiring how he knew that the 

 temperature of his cellar was from fi0° to 90°. 

 He replied, saying that when he had finished 

 putting in his bees, he found the temperature 

 was l'>0% and that when he returned to set 

 them out the following spring, he found it 

 was iK)°. In the mean time he did not see 

 the bees, nor were there any observations 

 made as to the temperature. Most of us 

 have noticed that thedisturbance occasioned 

 by placing the bees in the cellar, causes a 

 rise in the temperature, and that as the bees 

 quiet down, vhe temperature falls. There is 



