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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



The Perfect Bee Cellar 



Given at the National Convention Meeting at St. Louis, Thursday 



Morning, Feb. 19th, 1914 



By E. S. MILLEK, Valparaiso, Ind. 



( - What I have to say will 

 probably be of little Interest 

 to beemen in the South, but in 

 the North, wintering is an im- 

 portant problem. 



There is no such thing as a 

 perfect bee cellar, not yet, any more 

 than there are perfect beekeepers. 

 Some of us, however, wlio have 

 been studying the wintering prob- 

 lem, have, we think, arrived a step 

 nearer its solution. In the absence 

 of a better definition, I would say 

 that a perfect bee cellar is one that 

 will not only winter all colonies, 

 but also will bring them through 

 practically as strong as when 

 placed in winter quarters. 



It has been estimated (Rept. 

 Mass., State Ins. of Apiaries, 1912) 

 that in the winter 1911-12, about 

 forty per cent of the colonies in 

 the Northern states perished. It is 

 probable that the average annual 

 loss exceeds twenty per cent. My 

 average annual winter loss in the 

 last five years has been less than 

 one per cent. I attribute this re- 

 sult to the fact that I have at- 

 tempted to apply scientific princi- 

 ples in making the conditions right,, 

 acting upon the theory, that if all 

 the conditions are right, there 

 will be no losses. 



Now what are some of the most 

 important of these conditions? First, 

 there should be a nearly constant 

 temperature of about 4 5 degrees. 

 Secondly, there should be a con- 

 stant and abundant supply of pure 

 air passing through the cellar. 

 Third, the humidity should be 

 normal, that is, the air should 

 be neither too moist nor too dry. 

 Other important conditions are 

 strong colonies and sufficient stores. 



To insure proper temperature 

 conditions, the cellar should not ex- 

 tend above the surface of the 

 ground. The ordinary house cellar 

 built partly above ground is not 

 suitable for this purpose, for the 

 reason that the variation of tem- 

 perature will be too great. Provision 

 also should be made to prevent the 



escape of heat at the top by mak- 

 ing it frost proof and as nearly 

 air tight as possible; and, further- 

 more, the temperature of the in- 

 coming air should be modified 

 before entering the cellar. This may 

 be accomplished either by passing 

 it through a room or air chamber, 

 according to the plan of Mr. Alex- 

 ander, or by conducting it for a 

 considerable distance underground 

 through an eight or ten inch tile, 

 the latter being the less expensive 

 construction. A series of tempera- 

 ture readings at the outside and 

 also at the inner end of such a 

 conduit, show that the air is effect- 

 ually warmed in cold weather and 

 cooled in warm weather by its 

 underground passage. 



The best temperature for a bee 

 cellar is a question not yet defin- 

 itely settled. I have wintered one 

 hundred colonies without loss 

 when the thermometer inside indi- 

 cated from 3 6 degrees to 40 de- 

 grees for months, but I find that 

 they come through in a much bet- 

 ter condition when kept above 45 

 degrees. 



The next and perhaps the most 

 iraportant thing to consider is 

 proper ventilation. Without artifi- 

 cial heating there seems to be 

 but two practical modes of bring- 

 ing this about. Both should be 

 used. One is by utilizing the pres- 

 sure due to difference in tempera- 

 ture within and without the cellar 

 and the other consists in taking 

 advantage of wind pressure. The 

 wind pressure is horizontal, there- 

 fore I would extend to the wind- 

 ward or westward, an eight inch 

 tile to a distance of about seventy- 

 five or one hundred feet. This tile 

 is placed under ground below frost 

 line and enters the cellar near the 

 bottom. Whenever the wind blows 

 from southwest, west, or northwest, 

 there is a strong current of air 

 through the tile, and even when 

 there is no apparent movement of 

 air outside, a considerable current 



