262 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



This leaves two aperatures three feet long 

 and six inches wide — ample for the flue — 

 and not admitting any perceptible light. 



HOW SAWDUST KEEPS OUT THE FROST. 



Near the door a flight of stairs, two 

 feet wide at the lower end and three at 

 the top, affords means for descent. Cov- 

 ering this stair-case are three trap doors, 

 two thicknesses thick. Two of them open 

 up against the roof, and remain open in 

 the summer, and when putting in the 

 bees. But the two doors do not cover the 

 stairway when closed. These two doors 

 are covered with sawdust the same as the 

 ceiling, but between these doors is a nar- 

 row one, hinged so as to swing back on 

 the sawdust covered ceiling. This door, 

 furnishing a narrow passage, 18 inches 

 wide, and three feet long, affords an easy 

 entrance in winter without opening the 

 two larger doors. I used this door, on 

 on very hot nights in spring, as an extra 

 ventilator. But the extra flues I have put 

 in will, I hope, render extra care unnec- 

 essary. 



I have wintered over 100 colonies in 

 this cellar. It will hold 125 and leave 

 floor space sufficiently ample for sweeping 

 and keeping clean. The temperature has 

 never been down to freezing; generally it 

 is about 40°. 



Of course, the cellar is absolutely dark, 

 and free from air currents that are per- 

 ceptible. 



The lumber does not swell; the hives 

 remain as dry as when put in; and there 

 is no musty odor in the air. With my 

 added ventilators, I can put my bees 

 in the cellar in November, and go to Cuba 

 and stay until April, if I please, and come 

 home and take out as many colonies as 

 were put in. 



SPRING IS THE CRiTlCAIv TIME. 



But they do not all pass the winter 

 equally well — not even in the "perfect 

 cellar." At least, they never have. None 

 failed entirely last winter, but eight gave 

 out within three weeks after being set out. 

 About 25 were not as good as the best, 

 three weeks after putting out. The spring 



was of the worst, and indifferent colonies 

 suffered most. They had no honey or 

 food to live on, except buckwheat and 

 fall weed honey. The coming winter I 

 expect to have the cellar remain from 30° 

 to 35° all winter, and not run up to 50° 

 in the hottest days of March and April. 

 This hotter period, March and the fore 

 part of April, is the the most destructive 

 of bees in a cellar as well as when out of 

 doors. My unparalleled ventilation will, 

 I hope, modify the loss. 



IT IS THE BEES THAT FURNISH 

 THE HEAT. 



It is well known that bees furnish the 

 heat in cellars or other repositories. The 

 earth is never above 35°, and a room below 

 the surface of the earth must be more than 

 six feet deep to keep it above freezing 

 in our northern winters. Of course, nice- 

 ly plastered walls are of the temperature 

 of the earth on which the plaster is put. 

 So this kind of a cellar is good for the 

 earth temperature, and if the bees have a 

 temperature above that, the earth would 

 modify the extra heat much more than 

 with wooden or non-conducting walls. 

 While it is true that bees do winter in 

 unvitalized air, I am satisfied that in pro- 

 portion as they use little air that that little 

 needs to be as good as the best. 



Perhaps it may be well to say that I 

 have an extra or special bottom board to 

 my hives, for winter only. It consists of 

 a solid one-half inch board the size of the 

 bottom of my hives, with a 2 x 2 inch 

 square piece nailed to each end, on which 

 the hive rests. This gives two inches of 

 space, open front and rear, for the bees to 

 drop their waste into, and separates them 

 entirely from the hives above and below, 

 and uses less room than a regular project- 

 ing bottom board. Space is of value in 

 cellars. 



My bees were so quiet and cool in the 

 warm spring days that I had them taken 

 out of the cellar at noon, rather than take 

 the risk of storms. They flew at once. I 

 used two days for putting them out. 



If my extra flues help me as I expect 

 they will, the bees can always be put out 



